Me and my mates at the Mela

On a typically wet August day, the flatties and I headed off to West London and the the Mela festival. The Mela is more or less an Indian Festival, and is on a similar scale as the Rise event I went to last year. London's Mela is not the largest, these are in Birmingham and other northern towns with higher Bangladeshi/Hindi popuations.

However, it was still kinda fun on a small scale. Especially since Lucy and Kelly were game enough to take on this massive ride - and be flung about in the air for five horrid minutes:


They said it stopped long enough at the top for a decent view:


This being a London 'summer', they were only up for a minute or two before the clouds rushed in and a thunder and lightening storm began. It was hard taking their picture whilst heavy rain banged my face - Kelly said they were being thrown into the rain upside down - which meant the drops were pelting them feet first!

Once back on terra firma, Kelly, Monique and I headed off for food whilst Lucy looked for some colleagues who were running a stall. After the latest downpour, they had decided to pack up, so Lucy was released from her duties and able to join me checking out the stages. Nothing much took our fancy, as most of the performers were just wannabe DJs channelling Hollywood gangsta or Essex boy youff culture. It didn't feel very authentic.

However, there is always an exception at these events, and we were delighted to find the heritage tent. Inside, the fifteen-strong South Asian Youth Orchestra was about to begin:


I recognised sitars, but the rest were mostly new. It was interesting to learn that such old instruments, played acoustically, have to be retuned in between songs. This took about ten minutes, and it was inidicative of the audience's pleasure that they did not get restless:


We stayed for almost three songs before deciding to leave the Mela altogether. It was getting late, and the trip back home was going to take two hours. Overall, a low-key outing. But I enjoyed myself.