Dancing In The Dark

Mythology Gets Crazy, Colourful, And Trippy At Madikeri’s Dasara Float Parade.

- Zac O'Yeah

It is late in the night. The hill town of Madikeri bops and hops wildly around huge carnival floats that pump out megawatts of eardrum-blasting disco from onboard sound systems. Elaborately crafted polychrome superheroes and heroines—some up to 15 feet tall—try to outdo each other.

This curious sight feels like a mixture of high heaven and the world’s biggest non-alcoholic outdoor religious nightclub.

I’m totally into it. I’m mesmerised by the frenzied dancers and start shaking my hairy legs to an enticing mix of Kannada pop and Hindi rap. This must be what it feels like to do the carnival rumba in Rio de Janeiro. But I’m not in Brazil. I’m in Madikeri, in the serene and a tad conservative hill station of Coorg (Kodagu). Not on vijayadashmi night though, when all citizens head towards the hotspot of the festivities—near the old fort at the centre of Madikeri. This is the culmination of Dasara, when good wins over evil, and the gods succeed in their annual battle against demons.

It is always the same story: morality cancels out immorality. From a forensic point of view the mythical heroes exterminate the netherworld baddies, like in the Clint Eastwood or Amitabh Bachchan movies of yore. It also feels great to jive all night, as it doesn’t get sweaty in the cool October air and there are ample chilled drinks and snacks in the stalls around. I’ve had some delicious roadside chicken biriyani, spicy gobi manchurian, and of course Coorgi coffee. That is what keeps everyone going, because this all-night rave isn’t fuelled by intoxicants—the police have shut down bars and liquor shops for the day so there’s no public drunkenness or misbehaviour.