Photo by Walter P. Berry

The “big” Rann of Kachchh is a flat, marshy salt plain surrounding an “island” of raised terrain that somehow manages to support life. Every year, the full-moon festival of Sharad Utsav, a gathering of tribal peoples from all across Kachchh, is celebrated. The festival is staged near the village of Loriya, a little over 20 miles north of the Kachchi capital of Bhuj. Last year’s festival attracted a number of foreign visitors, including a group of Rotary Club exchange-students from the United States and Scandinavia, who are studying in various cities throughout Gujarat.

“Near” the village of Loriya turns out to be wildly inaccurate; the festival site is about 10 miles north of town. The weather is hot enough to shrivel the skin, and mercifully, 2006 marked the very last time that Sharad Utsav was held in the scorching month of October. From 2007 onwards, the festival will take place during December’s full moon. The first rescheduled (and hopefully cooler) Sharad Utsav will run from December 22-23, 2007.

Arriving guests had just enough time to drop their bags in the tents with air conditioning before the horse race carnival, one of the festival’s bigger events. At the racetrack, horses and jockeys assembled under the watchful eyes of VIPs, including Gujarat’s Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
The horses and their owners are brilliantly garbed, the horses sporting multi-hued pompoms, tassels and rainbow reins. The five year-old mare Gomati somehow outshines her owner, the turbaned Vanraj Singh Raizada, while the stallion Aditya (“sun-god”) and his owner Nizabhai Multani are equally colourfully decked-out.

The races take place on a straight course, which accentuates the speed of the horses. Out of the far, dust-filled expanses, a string of colours on the horizon marks the arrival of the pack. The distance soon sorts the contestants out, with the winner blazing home in arm-flourishing style.

After the races, dancing began on three separate stages on the extensive festival grounds. Nobody seems to have heard of the word “sleep,” and around midnight a camel train departs for another round of performances, way out on the saltpans of the Great Rann. Spectators ride on wagons hitched to teams of camels. The light of the full moon, shining off the white salt-flats, makes an eerie and unforgettable sight.

Photo by Walter P. Berry

The desert somehow seems to highlight the skills of the dancers. Many of the performers are young tribal girls, who have rarely been out of an enclosed village environment. Consequently and understandably, their shyness really shows through. Some of the other dancers, however, have trained in classical Indian dance forms such as Kathakali and Bharat Natyam, and deliver a superb performance.

During Sharad Utsav in 2006, the first Kachchh Carnival took place on the shores of the historic Hamisar Lake, in central Bhuj. (Like Sharad Utsav, from 2007 on, the Bhuj Carnival will be held in December rather than October.) An astonishing, three hour-long parade of dancers, drummers, musicians, acrobats and other performers presents dance offerings from Kerala, Assam, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Local troupes perform the folk “Raas-garba” and “Dandiya Sword” dances, together with the “Sidi” dance (brought by African immigrants to Gujarat).

There were also the extraordinary ritual dances of the Adivasi tribespeople from the hills of Panchmahal, who are decked out in designs reminiscent of Australian aboriginal dot paintings. The performers, many from local high schools, seem fired up to dance all night.
If this is what Bhuj is capable of, then rock on Carnival 2007!