On the day we left, I realized I did have time to spare, so quickly slipped out with the KMC (KM Canon) and took these snaps of the fair on the little roads surrounding the Ragigudda Hanuman Temple, for the birthday of Hauman or Anjaneya, the monkey God

Here’s the notice announcing the festival. It says the festival is from the 29th November to 10th December. A small icon of Hanuman is on the gate itself, and the temple is located on a small hillock. An artificial waterfall cascades down the hillock just inside the gate. I must say I loved this temple more when it was a little simpler…the three of us would often go there and sit on the rock and chat desultorily after the darshan….now it’s all very organized and less spontaneous and natural!

You already saw the picture of the Cheetah at the gate of the temple, and the Rice Your Name stall at the arch. Here are some of the other wares being sold: This picture was definitely inspired by . Those "bananas" are holders for incense sticks..an amazing instance of art imitating life. All too often, there are no incense stick holders around and people just insert the agarbathis into a banana which is kept for puja...and now they MAKE banana agarbathi holders! What next! Here's our local version of mini-Chippendale. The little motor boat goes chugging around the bowl. You want something to read? Some books for the children? No problem! Where else will you find a book of SMS jokes? Here's an assortment of aluminium play pots and pans, gas stoves, plastic toys and other doodahs...see the sweetness on the face of the lady! Here are several birds in a bush, being sold in an upturned umbrella! More plastic stuff...the two colours on some things indicate that they are made of recycled plastic. There are strainers, juicers, mugs, dustpans, even a laughing Buddha.... This is a small, portable merry-go-round... This photo was also inspired by ...these are bands to hold the hair, but I loved the profusion of colours. If you don't want to buy expensive Reebok products, you can just buy the bag and pretend you bought the shoes! Here are Reebok bags on sale... One of the nasty parts of the festival...just think of all the peacocks these feathers came from. Here's some hi-tech fortune-telling. The robot dispenses predictions about the future through the earphones which one lady is wearing. (Note how traditionally, women wear at least one flower in their hair. We have a phrase in Tamizh about happily married women, "Pottum poovumaa irukkaa"...she always wears a bindi and flowers....) The charges for each prediction was five rupees. Want R2D2 to tell you about the tall dark handsome stranger? </lj-cut> I didn't edit or crop any of the pictures as there is so much detail that I love in each! I hope you all enjoyed the Hanumath Jayanti festival!