The Kalaghoda Art Fest 2015

13th February 2015

It's 2018 when I post this on my blog just startled to see how time flies! I still can recollect how 2017 brushed through at the speed of a bullet train, with nothing to recollect disgustingly having done the whole year.
Now, before I begin to blabber about my first Kalaghoda Art Fest which was on 13th February 2015, for those who aren't aware of this, let me tell you -

The Kalaghoda Art Festival is the country's largest multicultural festival to preserve the heritage and art of South Bombay. It is a one week festival with different themes like cinema, dance,food, heritage walks etc for the day at different venue at South Bombay.

The previous night I had been making a birthday greeting for a friend of mine whose birthday falls on 14th Feb :) I had a sleepless night worrying about the chores as my mother was out of town. The day began with me bumping into my classmates at the college railway concession queue and few more at the notice board where our semester V marks were put up. Luckily, happy ones they were! I met my friend with whom I was supposed to go. We hogged at the canteen, discussed a few career ideas and then we left as her friend joined us at the college gate. We walked to Kalaghoda where I first saw our university office and the High court closely .

We clicked loads and loads of pics. I tried to pout and horribly failed at it. I finally tried to pose like usually how girls do! I like natural clicks and I am definitely not photogenic if asked to pose. Guys usually dislike the too much of the photo-posing thingy done by girls but her friend seemed fine and was very patient with us.

The stalls were amazing but too expensive for students without internships and pocket money like us.

I tried to capture all possible idols, art work- anything and everything at display. The entrance had a theme Amchi Mumbai- Pearl Academy followed by Paintings and a Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Model made of dustbins. Next to it was a crow idol-"Ek Hota Kau"

         

We then rushed towards the 9xM Jalwa car to get a click before it got too crowded. I held the poster with the dialogue "Goli Maar Bheje Mein" , my friend of "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Tum Nahi Samjhoge" and her friend of  "Dosti Ki Hai Toh Nibhani Toh Padegi"

Later, we saw the classical dance idols, the Vertical Mayhem and amazing paintings of the fast life of Mumbai-Local train and traffic.

The Vertical Mayhem

Vertical Mayhem (Information at display): Mumbai has always had her charm. Apart from carrying the economic weight, she is truly the melting pot of the country. Cultures, languages, food, people,architecture, music, art, commerce and industry have collided in chaos to create this metropolis. Mumbai is deep rooted with her history, she still remains the hub for pop culture and stands as a reflection of India. From her Victorian-Gothic architecture to her giant glass buildings that touch the clouds, her beauty and charm is collective of her paradox. The absolute beauty and chaos that makes Mumbai is a marvel and an inspiration.
The mayhem of the trains, roads and skyscrapers are contradiction to her people,art,culture, architecture, history and sunsets. In a city that never sleeps her vertical spectacle shimmers in the sunlight and lights up the night. There is always something exciting to experience, to touch, to see, to feel and take in. Mumbai is constantly evolving and through her change she has nurtured one of her most spectacular elements- her window panes. From her heritage windows to her metal sliding panes, she tells a different story from every view.

 

Classical Dance Idols

 

After the paintings, we posed at Shaze, saw a robot, the Ting Tong Landlord's Gone Cage, the Disco set up and the Spirit of India visual arts.

Tinge of frame

Spirit of India had displayed the textile heritage, promoting the art of Indian Traditional Textiles by students of Neeta Lulla School of Fashion. We then saw the clock web indicating a message: just like insects we too are trapped in the time web and harder we try to move out of this web the deeper we get trapped in it. Then came the Tinge of frame, A furry/snowy car, another decorated car, Save the Tiger art, The Reverte Wagon(Cart of Hope) where we posed as some learned saints spreading wisdom of hope. 

Save the Tiger

     

Here's presenting to you some beautiful stalls:

  

As I had mentioned earlier, we were too broke to buy anything from there; although I am not much fond of shopping but these stalls mesmerized me !!!

Some of the stalls allowed us to click photos whereas some didn't. We halted at other art sections made by students of architecture college and then sat down for a while exchanging/sharing photos. 

We also spotted the Literature area which got too crowded immediately. 

We then headed towards Cube of Connection which had beautiful messages all over as well as the inside of the cube.

We could get in and read them. One side was quotes from the comics for the kids, other side had quotes by great people, whereas the third side had in general reviews by few people on various topics like technology or some place.

                  

Then came Hug the world :) A huge globe where we posed in anticipation of hugging it as we were not allowed to touch it. A few steps ahead came the Hand Gestures art. Various hand gesture idols were placed on a stand, most of which resembled and reminded me of Bharatnatyam Hastha Mudras.

The place then got too crowded and we moved to the last art form for us which was Camel Tank of Mumbai. They had a camel idol, a tall one indeed which looked pretty real! It had names of places in Mumbai on it's hump and stomach with taps below the name.

 

 

Concluding the outing, we began to walk towards CST station wherein we halted mid-way to sip a glass of sugar-cane juice to combat the afternoon heat. My friend's friend left after the juice break as he had to go towards Churchgate. Outside CST subway you will find a row of eateries where me and my friend had a mysore masala dosa and we rushed immediately to catch our respective locals. Afternoon time!! limited fast trains on the central line! The journey in the train was all about texting my mother my semester V marks, listening to music, day dreaming which brought in a little gloom with the thought of my last year in the college with just a month for it to end.

Now, that as the day penned down in my diary which was put up on the blogger, sadly left alone in the drafts, is finally up on the blog. Now, that I've been an intern for 2 years already.. a year more to kill before I could get eligible to appear for my finals, I do have money, hopelessly drained energy and no enthusiasm left to explore. This is actually very shameful and a sad situation. Since 2015, I have't been to this fest again despite of having my office next to it. But, I need to be at the client's office most of the times and I very well remember 2016 & 2017 I had to be at the extreme ends of the city, not wanting to travel late post work, avoid crowded places and basically be worried about the weekend test series. In 2018, again I miss this as I need to attend training again in the other end of the world.

The conclusion of my post, though is a sad cribbing of my personal life but I hope my 2015 experience could help you travel through the fest and provide quality inputs; especially for my art enthusiast readers.