Dusshera mela is celebrated with much fanfare and pomp across the country, yet there are a few places where the festival and the fair (mela) associated with it are much renowned for its grandness and scale like Mysore, Kullu, Bastar etc. One among them is my hometown, Kota! This year Ravan effigy at Kota was standing tall at 221 feet, which is a record in India. You don’t believe me? Check out this news article…
Pic of today’s Dusshera in Kota with the 221 feet Raavan effigy in the centre live streamed on Youtube
When I was young, it was like a ritual to go to the Dusshera ground in Kota for witnessing the burning of Raavan. I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old, all the kids of the home were tutored to remember the home address and telephone number by heart in case we get lost in the large human congregation of over 1 lakh of people way back in 1990s. And we remembered and said again and again before leaving for mela: 3-CHA-12, Vigyan Nagar, Kota and the landline number- 428282! Only when each kid pronounced these correctly, then only the family with relatives, grandparents, kids etc. left to witness the “रावण दहन”. I vividly remember that we walked over long distances to reach from the periphery of the mela to the core ground. And then as a kid you have to be careful that you are not trampled upon by the haphazardly moving crowd. Yet, somehow we used to reach in the sight of the effigy and stood our ground. Then, the titular king of the erstwhile state of Kota used to perform puja near the effigy and then shoot an arrow towards the Raavan. The effigy was built to last for over 5 mins, because that was the main attraction of Kota Dusshera, for which people came from far-flung districts also. The atmosphere was crazy with the crowd chanting Jai Shree Ram, the commentary behind the scene about the story of Ramayana, the dust all around, the people pushing against each other when the heat of the effigies reached them. You have got to BE THERE to experience the craze in the atmosphere.
After the “रावण दहन”, the Dusshera mela was off to a formal start for the next 20 days till Diwali. I used to go to the fair often with my grandfather. He had a “Hero Puch” that days and he made me ride it when I was 13 years old with him riding pillion. And for a few years, we used to go to the fair daily where he used to sit for his duty in a stall of Arya Samaj. I used to turn pages of some books there and listened to the conversation of the elderly men for some time.
But, whenever I got bored, I used to go to the “Pankaj Point”! This place was my go-to place everyday because of its charm. And you know what was that? There was a small podium in front of the stall of Pankaj Point (which was a shop for patties, pastry, general items etc.), on which there stood a quiz master in the dress of Spiderman (which was pretty funny 😀 you know) who used to ask general questions about Indian culture, history and current affairs. And as a keen student of history, I used to stand there among the crowd to answer those questions. And you will ask what was the fun in doing that? Because he gave away prizes!!! The method was simple, if you know the answer, raise the hand and the Spiderman will come to you. And the questions were not that tough at times! I remember he once asked- “In which year first war of Indian independence was fought?” And I read that just sometime ago in my book. I was lucky that the crowd that stood was not aware enough barring a few individuals, and also the “more educated” individuals would have no time for such quiz event. So, I raised my hand. Spiderman went first to other people who answered wrong, then he came to me and he gave me the mike. I told the correct answer and he then asked my name. Then, he announced the prize- a bottle of “Liquid Blue” from his shop. Basically, नील ki bottle, wahi jo kapde ko safed karne ke liye lagate hain! 😂 But, I was so happy because prize is a prize afterall! When I came back to home, I showed it to everyone with pride that I won in a quiz contest.
Apart from that, I liked to buy “Mousers” and airguns from the mela. Earlier, we bought some wind firki, wooden swords, bow and arrows, running mouses with a string etc. but that was overridden by the love for guns later. And we also bought चिटपोटी wali gun everytime I went there. Then, 5 rs. softy with pineapple flavour was a must. Then, we used to go for the most exciting part- that is the jhoolas. There was a giant merry-go-round, from where one could see the entire mela turning around your neck. Then, there was a 360-degree rotation gondola that was hell of a ride, basically the cabin used to go around vertically in a circle and the cabin also rotated on its axis 360 degree when it went from top to bottom of the circle. I sat in that jhoola for just one time with my brother, and sweared on God never to go again because it was without safety. I thanked God that we both walked out unhurt. Then, the “maut ka kuan” was again a thrill to watch. Once there were 3 motocycles running in a closed spherical chamber in tandem without any accident. Such delights are now rare. People have many more things to enjoy at home and elsewhere than to go to the mela and enjoy the rides there.
But in a way, such melas connect us to our roots in many ways. One gets to know the culture and traditions of our great nation alongwith the festivities. Also, it takes us back to the times when the means of entertainment were very few in the pre-internet age. So, melas was awaited with much anticipation and craze. There are many programmes also- cultural performances, folk music blaring loud through the speakers (‘काल्यो कूद पड्यो मेला में साइकिल पंचर कर लायो’), Kavi sammelan which has been a part of the Kota Dusshera since ages! The local poets of hasya ras, veer ras, shringar ras recited and sang their poetry in Hadoti (local language) and Hindi. Some were indeed a delight to listen, and sometime we used to sit in the crowd and enjoy those lines. I remember one poet recited a poem titled “Mobile”, because mobiles were a new thing in around 2006. Back in mid-2000s, when the Laughter challenge was a big show, the champions also were invited to Kota for performance.
All in all, going to mela was nothing short of an adventure in itself. There is so much to do and experience in a small congregation. The exchange of ideas, goods, employment to local artisans, kalakars like snake charmers and rope dancers added to the charm. I hope that in the rat race of corporatization and globalization, we don’t leave behind this traditional cultural human heritage of the India of yesteryears. There is a dire need to inform and involve the present generation about such things, otherwise they would lose a connect with the great things of our heritage.
So, when are you going to the mela next time? 😀
Anupam- The Dreamer 
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