Thank you guys for breaking the boundaries and promoting our cultures world-wide. We are very excited to receive participants form outside valley and outside Nepal as well.
Thank you to all contestants for participating and we hope more of our friends from all around the world will be joining too.
The event had been long-planned, not weeks or months but years ago. The first year I came to Australia and had to miss the festival for the first time, I was crestfallen. I thus created a fan page in facebook, where my friends from Nepal would upload photos and I could get glimpses of the festival too. I also began searching the internet for photos and videos of the festival so i could share them on this page, and for others to view aswell.
While searching for videos of jatra in YouTube, I came across a video of an event in London, where they performed the pulu kisi dance during a program inside a hall. I hoped to organise a similar event since then, but I was relatively new to Australia. At that time, I was unaware of any Nepalese Organizations and I was financially constrained, so I was helpless. Years went by and eventually I began organizing "Indrajatra Photography Competition". The event was self sponsored and in the first year, some gift items were promoted by "Canon Imaging School". The responses were good, both for the competition and especially for the page, as it had laid a platform for all jatra lovers, who were abroad, to enjoy the festival online. From the comments during the festival it was obvious that so many people were missing their favorite festival.
This year, I actually had plans to go to Nepal during the festival. I was already very excited, I'd be seeing the jatra after so long. But destiny had other plans. I had to stay here, but i definitely wasn't going to sit idle just watching pictures this year. I approached Mr. Ganga Nemkul (Founder Chinari Nepal), whom I had seen in facebook photos, dancing as Lakhe on different occasions. Because Ganga also has been very passionately involved in promoting the Nepalese culture abroad, he immediately agreed to cooperate. I also approached Mr. Padam Shakya (Advisor Guthi Australia). As this was a typical newa cultural event, and Guthi Australia stood in Sydney representing the newa community, I had a wish that the Guthi would take up the responsibilty. Sarun Tamrakar (President Guthi Australia), along with Padam dai and other Guthi Members(present during the discussion), casted their positive determination.
Despite staying abroad, where we usually have such a busy time, many friends from Guthi came and contributed not only their precious time but their skills aswell. I must say, i didn't expect for such a good structure of the "kisi" and certainly not the 'mask' of the Kisi. Prateek and Kundan (Executive Member Guthi Australia) deserve all credit for the efforts they have put in painting the kisi's mask and body so beautifully and Sarun, being the president of the organization didn't limit his participation only to the executive level but also contributed his time and effort to the building process aswell. Such generosity is rare in most people who have achieved a top level position in any organization. All in all, it was a great experience to be working with Guthi Australia.
After performing some formal rituals and a "samya baji" break, we made it to Darling Harbor where the event was staged. The rain had stopped, but the ground was damp. We marked our territory behind one of the stalls and began our preparations while a few of us went to check on the program schedule. Like any other Nepalese event, the program had begun quite late so schedules were to be kept tight but because we did not require any stage time, that didn't become an issue for us at all. However, it would have been way more fun if we could have integrated our program with some other stage performances, as there were many dance performances in Nepal Bhasa songs. We could have thought of some puns we could play to entertain the crowd IF, we had access to the schedule sheet.
Nevertheless, the program went well. We began our show with the lakhe and jhyalincha dance. Ganga was dressed as lakhe and I took on a very rough appearance of the jhyalincha (we had no other option, it's very hard to find volunteers). After being chased by the lakhe, I ran back to our enclave and came back with the kisi, riding it along the skirts of the tumbalong park, which was bounded by stalls for the day, pretending an search for the lakhe. We got blank responses from many of them, but some spectators enjoyed it a lot and a handful of them paid homage to this mighty ride of the King of The Gods himself.
As we made a circle of the park and made our way through the center, we encountered the lakhe. We performed a shot dual among the crowd and rushed back to our resting area. After a very quick lunch but a long break, when more patrons had filled the space, we marched again. This round was more applauded and people from the crowd also seemed to join us, singing along with us, "la: chagu woyeka! samyabaji!! wolla wolla! pulu kisi". This was a moment of pride, not only for me or for we newa but all the Nepalese people because this culture belongs to the nationa as a whole and is a highly valued asset.
Many foreigners fly to Nepal to witness the festival and this year, we offered them the opportunity to save their flight money and enjoy the festival here in their own country. Hopefully, we will be able to host further events and more complete events in the coming years, with inclusions of Devi Pyankha, Sawa: Bakhu and chariot processions as well. If your support continues, we certainly will!
