On the day of Dulhendi, when the whole country was eagerly waiting for Holi, the pink city Jaipur was geared up to witness a unique fashion show– of elephants. Though it may sound strange it is true in the land of kings and queens, Jaipur. Over 90 elephants were decorated in different colours and themes by their mahouts (caretakers of elephant) to participate in the elephant festival.
“It is an annual festival, where all the elephants in the city compete with each other to get best decorated elephant shield,” informed Bina Kak, the forest and tourism minister of Rajasthan. The festival began with traditional sounding of drums followed by a procession of elephants decorated like brides with jewellery and other ornaments from trunk to tail. The catwalk was witnessed by 10,000 visitors. The best dressed elephant was given an award.
“Rajasthan has always been a state of royalty. Therefore, not only in Rajasthan but in the whole India elephant-ride was once considered a luxurious ride fit for kings, royal family and nobles. So, in order to stick to our culture we (Jaipur tourism) organise this festival a day before Holi, or Dulhendi, every year,” said Uday Pal Singh, ex-tourism officer of Rajasthan.
This year the festival was organised at the Rambagh Polo Ground in Jaipur and inaugurated by the tourism minister Bina Kak by beating the traditional drums. “The craze for this festival is growing year on year. Earlier we organised it in Chaugan ground of Jaipur. But, seeing the multiplying numbers of tourists and overwhelming response from visitors, we have organised it in the polo ground instead of Chaugan ground as it is bigger,” said Bina Kak.
On the other hand Kolkata based businessman, Sandeep Vaharia, thought one could catch a glimpse of the entire culture of Rajasthan in this festival. He said, “Though I belong to Rajasthan and am a frequent visitor of Jaipur, this is my first chance to be here. I am amazed to see the festival. It seems that whole culture of the state is here like Chakri Dance, Langa Gayan, Tribal Dance and others.”
Among winners in various categories was Champakali who won the elephant decoration competition. Shanti came second and Rani third. While Laxmi was given a special prize because of her jeans apparel.
More than 10,000 people, including a fair number of foreigners thronged the festival and took part in different competition. A tug-of-war was held between Indian tourists and foreigners, which Indians won both rounds. In the Matka Race, Kenny Jurat from Australia won the first round while Round 2 of the same match was won by Kartik Parmer of Singapore. “How can we lose against foreigners on our own land,” said Sakshi a house maker, who was with the Indian side in the tug-of-war. Marcel, from Holland, said, “Though we lost the game we enjoyed it a lot.”
It was not only spectacular procession of elephants and cultural events that drew tourists from all over the world. Tripathi, a businessman from Kanpur was at the elephant festival just to check out how a warm state like Rajasthan, where water is scarce, maintained so many elephants. “Earlier I was surprised when I heard about an elephant festival in Rajasthan. Because it is the home of camels, I wondered how come a festival of elephants. Now I would like to appreciate the efforts of the Jaipur Tourist department because of the way they have maintained so many elephants here.”
