Black Horse

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Not to be disturbed by the name of this entry, play along and I shall explain the need for such a title.

The annual "Kala Ghoda festival" is on right now. The week long cultural festival enthralls visitors, tourists and artists from all across the country. Special stalls are set-up to offer a platform to budding artists to showcase their talents during the cultural festival. A number of events take place at various venues in downtown Mumbai from 9am to 10pm. The best part about the festival is that you could catch a film, listen to a concert, attend a special class on indian dances, get a portrait sketched or pick up a souvenier, all under one huge roofless venue.

Now coming to the mystery behind the title of the entry, "Kala Ghoda" means black horse. Yep, its that simple. In the early 19th century, statue a top a black stallion was put up at this corner. Later, the statue was dismantled and relocated to a zoo some kilometres away.

I met a nice looking lady (British) at the rock performance. She was trying to make sense of the hindi lyrics that the group was singing. She happened to be standing right next to me. I didnt notice her till she tapped on my shoulder and asked me if I was a local. The beats of the song were foot-tapping and caught her interest. She wanted to know what it meant and stuff about the group. I explained what the stuff meant and the significance of the lyrics. Quite interesting...

Then we got chatting and shared a coffee together. The conversation went on from what we did for a living and how long she has been in India...etc. Then out of the blue she asked me that question that caught me off-guard.

She asked me what the name of the festival meant " Kala Ghoda". I replied that it stood for Black horse. She thought it was a theme name, then I corrected her that it was named after a statue that was no longer here. The statue was removed long ago but the name stuck, so we still call it by the same name.

To avoid more confusion, a painter had painted a black stallion on a huge wall over-looking the venue. That painting is going to stay there for a long time, and hopefully people will catch on to the meaning of the place and relate it to that huge black stallion on the wall...

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