Darley Street: Season Two, Episode 8 – Colour me a Festival

by Steve Gray
Previous Episodes

Colour me a Festival

The Holi Festival was coming up, on the 22nd of March, the Nepalese community wanted to do something, the usual thing is to shower people and places in coloured powders, they did realise that although fantastic fun for participants it did leave a mess. And other groups would be doing that on the day.

Being fairly new to the community they thought about ways to do it differently, make things colourful, but not create a mess. Bijay suggested brainstorming some ideas and then survey the local shops to see if there was any interest before getting wound up in an idea the locals might not like.

There was some reasonable interest, but people weren't sure about how it might come together, the cost and all that. There were three ideas that came to mind, colourful stickers to put on shop windows. Bright multi coloured flags to hang off street poles, then a colourful wrap idea on the poles.

A group of youngsters from the community showcased the ideas and it was felt that the colourful wrap idea would be useful. They counted the posts and made a sample piece of multi colours then there would be a QR code sticker on each post people could scan for more information.

Locals liked that they would have to have a mess of powdered colours up and down Darley Street, so that swayed their thinking to some degree.

There was also mention of handing out colourful treats as well as some Nepalese folk music, a singer and a musician playing an instrument that was like a violin but played vertically.

It was decided that they would stop in a few spots and play, outside each of the book shops and up near the bakery. They applied for a buskers licence and on the day there were some generous people that flipped coins into the hat they had.

The local council provided some cultural support funding and some anonymous donors added in some more. Mr Madal was probably a serious part of that, but it was all anonymous.

A few of the wraps were made up, but on trial fitting them to the posts, it was decided that they didn’t look colourful enough, yet they involved a lot of very bright colours. Ideas were sought, a local artist said it needed contrast, add in broad black stripes that separated the colours and see how that worked.

The consensus was the idea worked well, the sewers got busy and made wraps that looked like giant leadlight images. The stickers were a little challenging, getting them to stick was the problem, finally a piece of wide clear tape would hold them in place, it was a little messy in places but eventually the installation team got a reasonable end result.

One of the things the test results showed was that a plain and simple ‘wrap’ didn’t do much, yes it was colourful, but that was about it. They decided to add flag-like pieces, some triangular and others rectangular. That might blow about in the breeze on the day, or simply add some interest to what was on offer.

At almost the last minute it was decided that they could make simple scarves out of the off cuts of material, these could be worn by participants handing our colourful lollies in baskets. There was a late night of sewing involved but enough were created to make a good effect. The children of most of the Adults were there with smiles from ear to ear.

In front of the Chapter Two bookshop one of the elders from the community read out a traditional children’s story after the musicians stopped a very interested group of locals gathered for that, which was a nice touch. The wraps went up one night before the Holi festival and stayed up for three days, which made the effect memorable, lots of photos ended up on the ‘Facey Page.’ There was even a photo of Shnuk with a scarf on.

Some of the photos ended up on the local community page and the local paper. The event was well received, someone mentioned ‘I wonder what Mrs Mac would have said about all this!’

The wraps were washed and dried and then put away, perhaps they would be used again next year, perhaps the wider community would catch on to their idea and rather than a colourful mess created for the festival of colour, a more considered approach could be useful. I guess time would tell.

The local primary school did some activities to connect to the festival idea, a colour in image of a few Hindu gods that were selected for positive reflection from the students. This was done a few days before the festival and students were given details their families could use to turn up and hopefully enjoy the festivities.

No two days were the same in Darley Street; people come, and people go. This time there were colorful offerings to gladden the heart.

stevegraywriter.com.au

Steve writes with passion and intrigue, aiming to inspire and or raise awareness of topics. His poetry can take abstract turns, and his 'Odd Angry Writes' on his website are sure to turn heads with his aggressive approach to topics.

A background in Art and Design, as well as teaching, often gives his written pieces a unique creative perspective.

Like many, he is an ADHD person with some neurodiverse edges. A bunch of E books under his belt and some honourable mentions in the Geelong Writers Group puts his work in good standing.