Festival Time! First off: Dussehra

We have been told numerous times that we have come to India at the perfect time. From April through July the weather is over 100 and Aug through September is monsoon season (this year being the wettest in 15+ years). A taxi driver told me last week that this was his favorite time of year. Why? I asked. "With nice weather comes many festivals!" he said smiling with his head bobbing wildly.
 

The first big Hindu festival of the year is Dussehra a.k.a Dasara, Dashahara, Durgotsav, Dasara, Dashain, Vijayadashami and Navaratri. I'll try and give a simple description:

Dussehra takes place on the 10th day of the waxing moon during the Hindu month of Ashvin (around September or October, this year Oct 17). On this day, Rama, the god-king and hero of the great Hindu epic, Ramayana, killed the unrighteous Ravana, the 10-headed demon king of Lanka who had abducted Rama’s wife, Sita.  Basically, it is a celebration of good over evil.  People celebrate by burning effigies of Ravana.  In burning these effigies, people are asked to burn the evil within them, and thus follow the path of truth and goodness, bearing in mind the instance of Ravana.  The timing of Dussehra also marks the end of the blistering summer and start of fall/winter season.  Click here if you'd like a detailed description. 

8 days ago, our neighborhood had it's very own effigie of Ravana erected in a traffic circle about 100 yards from our apartment.  It towered over the trees about 40ft high.  It was quite a spectacle!  Check out the photographs below.

North part of Central Golf Links Rd.

I don't know who was in charge, but a guy would set off (by hand) huge roman candles and then fireworks that shot 300ft in the sky and exploded with various colors (the kind you'd see at a medium sized town's 4th of July celebration...you know....where firemen would set them off 100+ yards away from behind some barrier).  Here, people sat 20 yards away.  Some fireworks exploded a bit low and embers fell onto the happy crowd who just quickly brushed them off their heads and shoulders.  Very amusing to watch!  This continued for about 15 minutes before Ravana caught fire!

Ahhh, no more evil, only goodness!