Shivaji Mahraj ki Jay!!!

So today is Shiv jayanti. Atleast the state declared one. Doesn't matter very much because I still did not have a holiday.
So today is the great Shivaji's birthday. In fact, all the time I was in Mumbai, this was just another festival (if you can call it that). That's probably due to the more cosmopolitan nature of Mumbai, given that Shiv Jayanti is predominantly important to the Marathi folk. But naturally, it is more important in Pune, the centre of Marathi asmita. And boy is it celebrated with gusto!!!

Every major road, and every nook and cranny in that road has a group of folk celebrating it. This includes a bust of Shivaji placed ceremoniously in the middle of a small clearing and a bit of decoration behind it. In typical Puneri fashion there are loud speakers blasting away songs, abhangas, and other patriotic oriented music (but one place was playing songs about the Indian freedom struggle, which sounded rather anachronistic). It's almost like 50 big and small birthday parties being hosted in the honour of the great Maratha.

I came across this one cranny, where a typical celebration was in progress. There were about 20 odd children in the 10-15 age group dancing wildly to "Get Busy" by Sean Paul!!!?????!!!!????!!!! That was exactly my reaction. What struck me most, is that they neither understood the meaning of those lyrics, nor the importance of the birthday party they were celebrating. What a pity... tch tch...