Forever Young (May 28th & 29th, 2005)

Residents of Khotachiwadi organised a 2 day festival called ‘Forever Young’ which promoted the importance of food and culture, tying them together. The idea was that in spite of being a heritage site, Khotachiwadi would remain forever young. Khotwachiwadi is home to people from various religious and social cultural backgrounds. The festival celebrated this diverstity. The Christians put up stalls of East Indian cuisine, a Chinese family made Chinese food, different other residents and organizations put up their own stalls. The corner towards the Christian gully had bands performing western style music. The Hindu community had a Maharashtrian play in English. A Maharashtrian wedding feast was set up in the wafer gully. The festival elicited much interest and were widely reported by the media. The festival was organized by the residents and initiated by James Ferreira and Rahul Srivastava. The program of the Forever Young festival is available here.

Flickr Video

Diwali Sammelan

Diwali Sammelan was started by Mangesh Rane ji in 1932 just after “Civil Disobedience Movement”. This is celebrated annually and continues till now. In 1983 and 2008 this Sammelan completed 50 and 75 years respectively. It is a big celebration in the community bringing different people together.  Mangesh Rane hopes it to go on forever.

Pictures of the Diwali Sammelan through the years- 2008

Dignitaries attending Diwali Sammelan

More photos are available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbzoo/sets/72157626212887255/

Masala festival

There is an upcoming masala festival slated to be held post-monsoon in 2011. The festival aims to revive the interest in the age old tradition of masala pounding and aims to revive the culture and arts.

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Amruta Ponkshe, Anushree Deb, Khushbu Prajapati and Shreya Kalra (TISS Habitat StudioX 2011)