Monday 18 July 2011

Southampton Indian 'Mela' festival

We went to the Mela on Saturday and had a great time. It was colourful, loud, the food smelt and tasted delicious and the Indian Bollywood music playing on the main stage was great. There was lot's of handsome young Indian men showing off with their dancing and generally having fun.

The nicest part about the Mela is that it is always a big melting pot of cultures and peoples, all enjoying the festival.  Having missed the festival last year we noticed that it had changed and not for the better either.  There were lot's of fairground  rides, shooting galleries, ghost train, and other tacky things that made it seem more like a British fairground rather than the traditional Indian festival that it has been in the past.  Also missing was the more traditional Indian musicians. However it was still a pleasant experience and plenty of portaloos this time which was an improvement.  I hope they get comments about the lack of tradition and get it back for next year.  We had Lamb Biriyani for lunch which was superb.

I hope you enjoy these photo's.

The Main Stage

 Fabulous colourful clothes

Colourful headscarves

Henna Tattooist

Traditional Indian fabric detail

Traditional Dancers and band






Colourful festival goers



A music workshop



These are photo's from a previous year just to show the traditional musicians that were lacking this year.


4 comments:

Caro said...

It's hard to recreate an Indian festival on a gloomy English afternoon! Looks like you had a fun day out and let's hope that the more traditional flavour is restored next year. (Have you written to the organisers?)

Maureen said...

Hi CARO, the weather was actually very good. It rained all morning and then amazingly cleared up for the afternoon. I haven't contacted the organisers, but there is a website for the Mela where I guess comments can be left. I also guess that to make it worth it's while the local council have to make money by renting space to anyone who is willing to pay the fees.

Mark Willis said...

Did they have any stalls selling plants? Like chillis, for instance?

Maureen said...

Hi MARK, no they didn't, but that's a very good point. I do grow lots of Chillies myself though also Coriander.