Once every so often, I decide to see Mumbai from the eyes of a tourist rather than a citizen. Saturday was one such day. I kind of combined the day at the festival with a visit to art galleries and the museums in the vicinity. I shot a lot of pictures - but a vanished USB cord means that i have to wait a couple of days before uploading.

I got to KGF bright and early - by 11.30. The festival was just about coming awake. The scheduled chidren’s Bollywood dance at the amphitheatre (11.30) was possibly rescheduled. Parents with children, making full use of the weekend were begining their day at the KGF. An instant attraction -an instant click point was the giant lemon & chillis warding off evil. And of course a lot of people were fascinated by the giant black and gold lemon exhibits. The helirickshaw - replete with a cracking music system - was the other ‘tourist’ attraction!

The stalls were slowly begining to buzz with both exhibits and customers. But, unlike previous years - this one had more stalls, but they were very run of the mill. The stall that had most customers was the one that had the most ‘made in China’ stuff. I don’t have anything against “made in China” products, but it may have been better if these were handicrafts from NGO’s in China rather than the mass produced stuff that they had. There was a stall from Ranthambore that was selling traditional crafts that were very interesting. As usual the large book sale - which took up around 3 stalls was the one with the most crowds, and possibly the most sales.

Food was a huge disappointment. Unlike the previous years where there was a variety of street cuisine available - this time around there was over priced, over oily and run of the mill stuff from the biggies that inhabit the area. The food outside the KG festival circuit - where you could get mouth watering ragda pattice and spicy bhel was more interesting than the stuff available.

As far as the street performances were concerned, we caught a nice bit of ‘tamasha’ by a couple and their two children. The man was the circus master. The woman the main acrobat, adn the kids were the filler material. As the kids jumped through a hoop of fire, or the woman walked on a tightrope (actually a metal braided wire) - the gasp from the audience was palpable. I was actually expecting one of the NGO’s that had stalls around, to come and stop the performance on grounds of child endangerment, but nothing of that sort happened. The lady afterwards told me to send her the photograph. First i have to find the USB cord!

Finally, I tottered across to NGMA to catch the Oddissi workshop by Ileana Citarista. She was tutoring a bunch of teenagers (seemed like teenagers) on upper body movement. She was fluid, graceful, and each of gestures carried power. I tottered out feeling like a clumsy sack.

I also caught the Bombay Bonanza exhibition at the Museum - not really part of the KGF but could just as well be part of it. A lovely visual history of Mumbai and how she evolved.

Hopefully next year there will be more street in the street festival!