Essays

India is a land of colourful festivals and celebrations. As most of the people live in villages, people do not have many modes of entertainment as are found in cities. Fairs or melas are thus quiet common. It is the favourite event for villagefolks. Fairs are a good time for them to enjoy, entertain themselves, make merry and also sometimes buy and sell their cattle or grains. Some fairs thus have an economic basis while mostly religious beliefs and belief in local saints and great men have given rise to a number of fairs.   

Recently, I had a chance to visit one such fair in a small town with my friend. The fair was a big event for the town where villagers from all the nearby villages had come to enjoy the mela. Since morning, people had started reaching the town. All the villagers with their large families came in huge groups with their luggage. The roads were gradually getting crowded. By afternoon, the whole town got converted into a huge fair-ground. The stalls sprang up from nowhere and the swings got erected. People flocked to visit a nearby temple. The roads were packed by now. 

A large throng of humanity could be seen. The roads looked so colourful with the villagers dressed so gaily- The men were in white starched dhotis and kurtas with colourful turbans, the women in even more colourful attires. Both men and women were loaded with jewels of gold and silver. The children were thrilled and awestruck.

There were stalls all around, of things—imaginable as well as unimaginable. All kinds of edible things were sold and different kinds of toy-shops were there Children were flocking these shops. Swings too captivated all alike—young and old.  There was no space to move about freely. Everyone seemed so excited.

There was great rush at the temple that day. So despite standing in the line for quite sometime we could not get in. So we decided to come some other day. Tired with all the hustle and bustle, my friend and i went at a cold drinks' stall to have one. But, there too the crowd was huge. Somehow my friend managed to get for us something to drink and also to eat. We found ourselves at a safe corner and ate and drank to our glory.  

Then, we bought some toys for our younger brothers and sisters. We kept wandering for another hour or so and then decided to return. It was an exhilarating experience and we thoroughly enjoyed it.