Panaji Carnival is a parade of floats that customarily begins with this float with King Momo declaring that in his reign people should just eat, drink and be merry. Going through the tree lined streets of Panaji this float looks beautiful but kind of raises the hopes for what would follow this float. Did they meet the expectation lets see.
Clowns followed the King Momo's float, entertained the crowd and posed with them.
After King Momo's float, all we saw were floats with social messages - one to save girl child, another to save frogs and crocodiles, to save environment etc etc. After a while I started missing the entertainment factor and it became too much of preaching. Not sure, if that was the idea of the carnival. Last year I could see the crowds getting inside the barricades and dancing with the carnival dancers but this time the carnival dances were few and far and had least enthusiasm to inspire others to join them. I would not blame them though - it is not easy to dance on a mile long route for better part of the afternoon.
Found these use of vibrant colors by two very different women, both part of the same crowd.
Some of the participants of the Carnival wearing colorful masks and make-up. They provided color to the whole environment.
Some men dressed themselves as King Momo and some painted themselves all silver or golden. They happily posed for every camera, even suggested poses to camera carrying spectators. The one in silver was a true artist, I saw him making at least 20 different poses for each person who wanted to get clicked with him.
Finally, it was children in the crowd who brought cheer, specially between the long delays between the floats. These three girls were too happy to pose while for the young children I had to wait and watch and catch them at the right moment.
My take on Carnival - quality of floats can be way better. They can do away with the excessive use of plastic and thermocol. People should be allowed to participate otherwise it becomes very boring to see some preachy floats just passing by. Entertainment - the dosage need to be increased a lot. I do not believe 3 lakh plus tourist came to Goa for the carnival. I did not say any. Most of the people in the crowd were young parents with their children and lots of camera carrying photo enthusiasts. If you happen to be in Goa at the time of carnival attend it, you may be disappointed if you travel solely to attend the carnival.
0 коммент.:
Отправить комментарий