Ganesh Chaturthi ending

Was getting a bit tired of hearing all the "Ganpati Bappa Mouriya" shouting and experiencing all the traffic jams caused by the big Ganpati's erected on roads, but today was the last day of the festival when the Ganesh idol was taken from the house or the shrine and immersed in water.

Ganesh idol in a makeshift shrine

When I first heard of this I thought the Maharashtra coast must be littered by thousands of Ganesh idols but then I learned that these idols dissolve in water. There is also strict rules of using nature friendly materials and paints when making the idols.

A family preparing the idol

As all were quite busy onboard, I took alone a few hours off in the afternoon and went with our driver nearby Seawoods Darave to a water tank to see how the immersion ritual was taking place. As I have seen with all hindu rituals it is a complex process with a lot of chanting, clapping, cymbals, flowers and incense burning, but then again, if I'd been born a hindu I would probably think all of it as part of life.

Ganesh Chaturthi processions

Soon enough when I had seen the ritual I headed back to the ship as people were starting to come out with all their Ganesh idols and downtown Mumbai was totally congested, better to stay onboard and watch the festivities on the news channel.

Krishna Janmashtami

As I was out on errands and the end of the day was coming I kept seeing the Dahi Handi's (claypot filled with milkcurd) being rigged over streets, over parking lots and any large open area any sponsor had managed to come over. It was the day of Lord Krishna's birthday and this festival was called Krishna Janmasthami.

Pyramid starting and handi rigged up in the air

The celebration is done by making human pyramids to reach up tot he handi and break it. The people doing the pyramids are called Govinda's. They travel around the city trying to break as many handi's they can as some of them present large cash gifts (given by political parties or wealthy societies).

It was late afternoon and I decided to stay onshore this evening as the breaking of the pots were going to take place then. You could see the Govinda's everywhere on trucks and at the festival sites gearing up for the evening trial. And so I went with Saini to Kharghar and had some chai while waiting for his family to get ready to go outside.


Govindas in Khargar, Navi Mumbai

We could not get a tuk-tuk as all people were going somewhere for the festival so we resorted to walking. When we finally arrived there we learned that the handi was going to be broken later at about 10-11pm. It was too late for Saini's daughters so we walked to the other end of the township to a newly opened Krishna temple to make merit and afterwards we ate prasad. After this it was again back to walking and we arrived to Saini's flat 9pm. Then we watched the rest of the evening Govinda's performing at the more popular sites and I saw a world record being made of a human pyramid of 9 layers high.

Next day I could read from news papers that Mumbaikars had celebrated Janmashtami with great fervour, but not all Govinda's were so lucky. There hadn't been any fatalities but at least 18 are lying in hospital for critical injuries.

Loy Krathong festival

On 12th Nov was the full moon of twelfth lunar month and Thailand celebrated Loy Krathong, it is a festival coming from the Hindu “Deepavali” Festival of lights. Thais believe it is the time to apologize to the water deity the past years transgressions in form of any pollution (showering, cooking, toilet use, etc.) as thanks for giving life to crops and orchards.

Candle floats in front of Laguna

Me and my darling Jira had a float together made of a piece of banana tree trunk which was elaborately decorated with flowers an leaves. To top it off we cut our nails and a piece of hair and placed it on the float together with a few 1 baht coins in order for the water deity to give good life for us the following year.
Initially we drove off to Phuket town as we had some errands there but the whole town was blocked by long processions by school students dressed up in traditional Thai garb. Eventually it started raining as we got our business done so we decided to head for Laguna near Surin beach.

By the time we arrived Laguna the rain had stopped and we joined the long queue of cars snaking down to the (artificial?) lagoon at Laguna. We found a stretch of vacant pavement and parked our truck there and joined the throng towards the water.

The beach was littered by stalls selling all kind of foods, Krathongs, soft drinks etc. People were here also in hundreds. The beach had Greek candles stuck in the ground at intervals so people could light the candles on the Krathong and send it away on the water.

We lighted our Krathong and joss sticks from the candle and while holding onto the float together we gae a prayer to the deity and floated the Krathong on the water and pushed it gently off to join dozens of other Krathongs already floating off into the distance. At least it floated straight and did not capsize like somebody elses float did.

A very short “operation” eventually and when it as done we headed back to our truck and drove off, heading back to our house.

My Indian crew headed off to Patong Beach and as per them it was the same as in Laguna.

Singapore Beer Festival

On last Sunday I went with a colleague Captain out to the Singapore beer festival held at Fort Canning, one of the oldest areas in Singapore. The park was covered in a huge air conditioned tent and of course there was beer, lots of beer and more beer. From all over the world and in all shapes and colours of bottles and taps. I met with Captain Nick on his boat before heading off to Fort Canning and we had some refreshments before, beer naturally. Eventually we arrived Fort Canning at 3pm and people was starting to pour in. We got our tickets and entered the tents and started drinking beer, lots of it. I can't really say anything about the beers as I'm just a consumer, I like beer almost all sorts. I'm not a too keen friend of stouts though, too heavy stuff for my palate. But wheat beers, lagers, ales, amber ales - all goes down the windpipe. Anyway, I had my share of beer and about 9 pm I headed back home with a slight list. All in all it was a nice event, but unfortunately my mobile was pinched there. I was such a bastard that I did a police report on it so next time somebody switches it on the men in blue can jump the user. If I'm here next year I will definitely join it again. What happened next day I'm not gonna tell you.

Cheers,
Jari


Below is an article that I found of the event:

SINGAPORE: Singapore now has its very own Oktoberfest, and the inaugural Singapore Beer Festival is being held at Fort Canning Park.

Beer enthusiasts can get to taste nearly 300 beers, including a hundred which are appearing in Asia for the very first time.

The Asia Beer Awards was held on Thursday at the festival, and the award for Asia’s top tipple — picked by a panel of international judges — went to Brewerkz’s Steam Beer.

Adding to the merriment were comedy acts as well as local and international bands.

"Putting on a beer festival, that's just like throwing a big party" or so people keep telling my friend Tom. Yeah, much like to make great beer you just gotta boil some grain, beer festivals are that easy. Well, not really. But there is a grain of truth in that thought - to be able to put on a good beer festival you have to know how to throw a good party - and in that sense the Singapore Beer Festival (SBF) has got it right. The three guys most responsible for this upcoming event (Irvin, Matt and his brother Tom) have a good party sense. They know the essentials; Good entertainment (music, dancing, a guy to crack a few jokes), nice food and most importantly a whole lotta interesting things to quench the thirst. The beer line-up for SBF promises to pique the interest of even the most discerning beer connoisseurs. Matt and Irvin went all over the world to procure the beers for this event. There will be over 300 beer from over 50 countries across six continents (what, no more beers from Antarctica ?) . It's a pretty amazing list, especially for their first year out.

So - the bottom line; even if they make a few minor mistakes and forget a few of the small, small beer fest details (note: next year order more portable toilets, don't hire the biker gang for back stage security, and #@*! sake - ban the Durian beer!) they will definitely have the key elements covered.

Go see for yourself October 2 through 5 at Fort Canning Park. Over 300 beers from around the world, packed with great entertainment from a cast of international and local artists, (live music, DJs and stand-up comedians some more) and plenty of good Makan.