Good vs Evil: Dussera mela

Every year the Hindu community ( not forgetting Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) have the chance to celebrate the Lord Rama's victory over the demon king Ravan. Basically signifying the win of good vs evil. Ravan's defeat is celebrated by burning a huge statue of him to the ground. We've celebrated this every year since as long as I can remember, and always geared up to eat the delicious fair/street type food at the SSDS temple, not forgetting the lucky dip games, and usually epic fireworks ( now banned, so there were none this year).

Statue of Ravan before being burned.  

Delicious Khandvi. I've always loved certain Gujarati foods, which I hardly ever get to eat since we cook it very rarely ( or rather, my mum makes something once in a while, I have no idea about cooking Gujarati food).  I've loved Khandvi since I was little, I believe it's somewhat difficult to make because of the rolling of the fragile dough. From what I know, it's made of gram flour and curd/yoghurt and spices, not forgetting the sesame seeds, mustard seeds and crunchy curry leaves on the top.

Pau bhaji at the Anghiti stall. I was pleasantly surprised to see that anghiti had decided to cook for the fair this year. Pretty good prices too.

My sister had these blurry bhajias which she flooded with chilli sauce unknowingly and then couldn't finish. I came to the rescue of course!

Classic makhni paneer and nan. This was from the anghiti stall. I had a couple of bites and it was delicious. Especially in the rainy weather. Yes, we were getting soaked but also went prepared to eat in the rain with our umbrellas.

This picture is my favourite, obviously. Look at all the jalebis! My all time favourite Indian dessert. A little secret- stick around until the end if you can, it'll become about 200kshs cheaper for a kg. ( if you manage to stay away for that long!).

Finally, Ravan burned as soon as it got dark.

To the ground! 

All in all, a great event. A fun family evening out, and an excuse to eat delicious food. The event is not usually advertised, but it's always around October/November every year, after the last day of Navratri. I had a headache at the end thanks to the loud speakers, and my eyes were watering because of all the smoke ,  but it was time well spent in the end. My brother also won first prize in a drawing competition they had. Quite proud of him. :) 

                                                                      ~risha~