All the fun of the festival

I must confess to feeling a little sad today, because if we were in England right now we would, without a shadow of a doubt, be heading to Shambala Festival tomorrow. We've been two years running and it is seriously good fun. English festivals are brilliant because all British reserve and restraint is chucked firmly out the window and festival goers dance, crawl, twirl and waltz, jive, skip, hula-hoop and romp their way through what is essentially a huge field converted into a magical adventure playground filled with music, games, stalls and people dressed in an assortment of weird and wonderful clothing for a few days. So this is just a quick blog to say, we love you India, but we wish we were there Shambala!

The first photo was taken at Shambala '07 and the next three are Shambala '08 with 3 month old Lily attending her second festival (at 2 months she went to Latitude Festival!). Maya loved both her Shambala experiences - highlights were dancing on Daddy's back and swinging in a hammock with the backdrop of an English stately home and ladies in leotards, stockings and wellies. I had a quick look at the Shambala website just to torment myself and see that there are still some tickets going. So if you're at a loose end this weekend, get yourself down there. Immediately. You won't regret it! Here's the website. Failing that, have a quick look at this wonderfully quirky band, Gadjo, we watched perform at the festival last year.

However, before we feel too sad, it's the Ganesha festival going on here at the moment. There are lots of noisy drums and street parties taking place day and night and huge, very brightly painted elephant God statues everywhere you look. Maya likes counting them all as we tear past in rickshaws and now seems just at home saying 'Look!It's the elephant God, Ganesh!' than she was last year around Christmas time when she tore up and down the streets of Cambridge dressed as an angel in mini-evangelist mode calling 'I love baby Jesus!'