Narkasur

Diwali in Goa is predominantly about the slaying of Narkasur by Krishna, unlike the interpretations and celebrations in rest of India. The days before Diwali see youngsters enthusiastically building these effigies, which are the center of attraction on Diwali eve, with Goans all over the state getting out at night in their cars, jeeps, bikes and on foot, to soak in the revelries, before they are consigned to the flames early in the morning.

Competitions all over the state nowadays feature more and more "sophisticated" Narkasurs, growling, heaving, shaking their hands and heads in terrifying gestures, duelling with the tiny Krishnas, until, finally, good prevails over evil.

As we do every year, we had our own Narkasurs too. A smaller baby Narkasur that could be carried in hand, and a larger one that we installed on our borrowed Tata Ace pickup and went around town, singing songs and doing naarebaazi. Here's the baby that Mummy (my aunt) made for us:

Sorry, bad light means I do not have better or any more pictures - but if you search my blog with the right keywords, you can see some of our creations from the past :)

While roaming around town, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of the Panaji Church competition venue, with hundreds of spectators eagerly waiting for the competing Narkasur's to arrive - and were welcomed with loud cheers and wild clapping. Lol...

By 1.00, we had consigned our Narkasur's to flames - and it was just in time! A huge downpour rain for the next 45 min ensured that very few of the other demons got their due!