It was easy to forget that one was actually in Australia, and not India, amidst this carnival held in Melbourne to celebrate the Indian festival of Dusshera. The country’s largest Hindu temple, Shri Durga Temple at Rockbank, celebrated Dusshera – a festival that symbolises the victory of good over evil – on a grand scale on October 21. Thousands of people, primarily from the Indian community attended the event along with their friends and family. Dusshera actually was on October 19 but since it was a weekday, the temple organised its celebrations on Sunday. SBS Punjabi reported the event live on Facebook.
Matthew Guy, Victoria’s leader of Opposition and Liberal Party candidate for the post of premier in next month’s state elections was the chief guest. Ms Bronwyn Halfpenny, Thomastown’s Labor Party MP was also present. Celebrity Indian professional wrestler, The Great Khali, was a special invitee. Mr Guy paid obeisance in the temple and sported a mauli (sacred thread tied to the wrist) and a tilak (a paste of sandalwood or vermillion applied on the forehead) after a quick ceremony by the temple's priest. Speaking with SBS Punjabi, he said: "I was here last year. And I think this year is bigger than last year, and last year was big. So this year is very big. It shows how much interest and activity is there around Shri Durga Temple and how interested people are. So it is fantastic, a grand celebration!"
Dussehra’s tradition of Ram Leela (a theatrical and musical enactment of the Hindu epic, Ramayan) was staged before thousands of people who told SBS Punjabi that they deeply appreciated it as it reminded them of their days in India at this time of the year. Some even said that the costumes, sound quality and enactment of Shri Durga Temple’s Ram Leela were far superior to most in their neighbourhoods across India.
(L-R) Matthew Guy inside the temple with Rishi Prabhakar and the temple's priest. Source: Shri Durga Temple/Facebook
Local businesses exhibited their goods and services inside the temple compound. Ranging from real estate and construction, to henna, face painting, bangles, traditional dresses, migration and mortgage advisory services to Indian food catering companies, a wide array of Indian-origin businesspersons had put up a what looked like an exhibition against the backdrop of food stalls and a Ferris wheel while a gigantic effigy of Ravan stared down at them from several feet above.
Reminiscent of a mela (traditional carnival in India), this Dussehra function saw crowds and cars that overtook the length and breadth of the temple’s compound. Food stalls dished out not only tantalising aromas but also traditional Indian fare like chhole-bhathure, jalebi, dosa, sugarcane juice and masala chai. Children of all ages could be seen making a beeline at the face painting stall or hopping around with their parents egging them on for joyrides of the carousel and the Ferris wheel.
Melbourne’s locals of Indian origin who attend such traditional festivals often say that these help them remain connected to their roots and also impart knowledge of their Indian heritage to their children who are growing up in Australia. Hardeep Kaur from Sunshine and Meenakshi Kurl from Craigieburn echoed these feelings shared by many who had come to attend the festival.
The temple's team supervising the installation of Ravan's effigy. Source: Shri Durga Temple/Facebook
Joyrides gave the festival a carnival atmosphere. Source: Shri Durga Temple/Facebook
Those who have attended this festival in the past, have a word of praise for the temple’s organising committee for making improvements this time. Rupesh Duggal from Doncaster East told SBS Punjabi: “last year the traffic outside the temple was so crazy that we had to return from there. This year, the organisers should get credit for reducing that stress”.
While most people were revelling in the festive spirit at the temple’s premises, some were also eager to strike a political conversation. Chaudhary Dharampal, who lives in Melbourne's affluent suburb of Brighton, highlighted how important it becomes for the government in multicultural countries like Australia to promote such events so that every community gets to know the other.
While wandering around the stalls put up by various businesses, one could also get a sense that people were discussing the royal banking commission’s impact on the real estate market. Davinder Pal Singh of Starr Homes, a real estate business in Melbourne, said that people are upset with the dearth of loans to realise their dreams of owning a house.
Australia’s migration policy remains a favourite topic with people of the Indian community. Point Cook's Pratibha Sharma, a migration agent, shared the concerns of her clients over the recent proposal of the federal government to necessitate new migrants to spend their first five years in regional Australia.
Shri Durga Temple’s Dussehra was attended not only by local residents but also had some foreign visitors. Anjali Rajpal who is a software professional from the US and was visiting Australia, said she was highly impressed by the celebrations. "It's great to see how the Indian community lives a life so well-connected to their culture in Melbourne," she told SBS Punjabi.
Ashwani Kumar, who is visiting his son from Amritsar, said that he is pleasantly surprised to see how Dusshera celebrations of Melbourne are grand in terms of scale and cross-community participation.
Rishi Prabhakar, Shri Durga Temple’s Marketing Incharge told SBS Punjabi: “This Dussehra was bigger than ever before. Between 10,000 to 15,000 people attended this year’s Dusshera festival. There were 25 local businesses which had put up their stalls in the exhibition, in addition to six food stalls. The car park was full. From the stage, which was on one end of the open ground, I could see a sea of people till the boundary of the ground. All in all, it was a grand success and there is no other Indian celebration of this scale in Australia. We are planning a Diwali function also on November 7.”
Mr Guy announced at the function that if he is elected as Victoria’s next premier, his government will help this temple build its own community centre so that such events can be organised better.
Another team from Ram Leela walks towards the stage. Source: Shri Durga Temple/Facebook
To listen to this feature in Punjabi, click on the player at the top of the page.
