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Deepavali celebration lights up capital
Fired up: Hindus light sparklers to celebrate the Deepavali festival of light at the Pasar Seni art market in Ancol, North Jakarta, on Saturday
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ired up: Hindus light sparklers to celebrate the Deepavali festival of light at the Pasar Seni art market in Ancol, North Jakarta, on Saturday.(JP/Donny Fernando)
Loud music and colorful traditional Indian clothing amplified energetic dances performed at Pasar Seni art market in Ancol Dreamland, North Jakarta, on Saturday night.
Four hours of Indian cultural performances livened up the city to mark the Deepavali festival.
Deepavali, the Hindu festival of lights, is the most popular annual event in India.
The ancient Hindu festival held between mid-October and mid-November signifies the spiritual victory of light over darkness and good over evil.
This year, Deepavali fell on Oct. 27.
Believers celebrated the festival with a series of grand and solemn events, as well as by lighting fireworks, oil lamps or candles. They also attended events held to commemorate the day wearing their finest clothes to exchange gifts with peers.
At the Ancol celebration, Pasar Seni was illuminated by yellow lights and food stalls serving Indian dishes, while a jewelry and clothing bazaar took place.
Indian-Indonesian Patmini said she came to simply enjoy the festival.
“I’m really interested in this event. People learn about Indian culture,” she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Patmini said she had asked her friends from high school to attend the festival, hoping for a reunion at the venue. “Hopefully this event will be held again next year, so that we can meet up again.”
Jay Shah, who is also of Indian descent, has been living in Indonesia for 17 years. He was eager to go to the festival to network with people of a similar background.
“I’m hoping to get to know people that might [expand] my business,” he told the Post. “Indonesia is a very good place to live and do business, in my experience.”
The 54-year-old man previously lived in Surakarta, Central Jakarta, for 12 years. When he moved to Jakarta, he said that he attended events held by the Indian community as not many Indian people lived in Surakarta.
The event on Saturday, however, was the first Indian open-air festival he attended.
“Since we don't have a big celebration for [Deepavali], I came with my wife to enjoy [the night]," he said.
Few locals were also seen having fun at the festival.
Fauziarrah Marwah, 25, said she was very excited to attend her first India-related event.
“I am used to listening to this type of music. My family plays Bollywood songs every day,” she said.
Her mother first introduced her to Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and Bollywood movies when she was in elementary school. Now the whole family loves Bollywood.
Marwah even hopes to wear Indian clothes for her pre-wedding photoshoot.
Despite the excitement, she said that she was bewildered by the number of Indian people at the event.
“I feel like a minority here. But it’s OK because I’m having fun.”
The event’s initiator, AS Kobalen, head of Gema Sadhana, the Gerindra Party’s wing for religious minorities, said the festival was the largest nationwide and the first of its kind to be open to the public in cooperation with the Jakarta administration.
"Because usually [the Deepavali Festival] is held separately by different communities," he told the Post after the event.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said during his speech at the event that the city administration would attempt to make the festival an annual event in an effort to maintain a strong relationship between the two countries, with this year marking 70 years of bilateral ties, as the Indian community was a part of Jakarta.
“An event like this connects the two countries,” he said.
In addition, Anies hinted that the city administration would "transform" the Pasar Baru shopping area in Central Jakarta into a Little India to accommodate relevant communities in the area and to boost tourism.
The ambassador of India to Indonesia and Timor Leste, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, expressed hope that the festival would “continue to grow to allow people to respect the positive message of Deepavali”.
The committee aims to attract more than 3,000 visitors. It is estimated that around 100,000 Indian people, comprising Indonesians of Indian descent, Indian nationals and ethnic Indians from other countries, reside in Greater Jakarta.
