Par Tot Summer Parade 2007

(Originally written in 2007, edited in 2013)

 

The summer is here. At least according to the calendar. Everyone was saying that this year the summer would be the worst in the last hundred years. And then they were saying the level of water in the rivers had never been so low and soon we shall have the rationing of water. And then, in the beginning of May it started to rain and since then it has continued to rain. Obviusly, they are now talking of water crossing danger levels and risk of floods.

We haven't yet brought up the fans from the basement. Occasionally, early in the morning there is chill in the air so you need a jacket. And in the night, you still need a light blanket.

Rain or sunshine, hot or cold, it is summer time in Bologna (Italy). And I have been so busy, running here and there, hardly pausing to take a breath. Meetings in Geneva, international meetings to be organised in 3 different cities in Italy, a Bollywood film festival complete with Italian subtitles and my sister and her family for her holidays. So there were days of absolute bliss, travelling around, gossiping and talking till my voice was hoarse and then attacks of panic in the middle of the night, when I remembered something urgent that I had forgotten to do.

And lots of photo opportunities and loads and loads of wonderful pictures. And yet, no time to write down my blogs! What proverb can describe this condition? In the sea and feeling thirsty? It does not sound so good, but it will do.

Any way, finally it is all over. Almost. Next week I am off to Africa but in the mean time, I can talk about the summer festival of Bologna.

On Friday, it was the day of the poet Dante. People were reading aloud passages from his Divine Commedy in the city square. It is written in archaic Italian and the language is flowery so I can hardly understand it. Yet, it was wonderful to walk around in Piazza Maggiore in the city centre, stop to listen to words jumping like pebbles on the surface of a lake, without trying to understand them, just letting them enter inside myself. It was so beautiful that it almost made me cry.

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And then Saturday, 9th June was the Par Tot parade day. "Par tot" in local dialect means "for all". Volunteers, mostly students, coming from as far away as Belgium, Portugal and Brazil, were out in the Villa Angeletti park getting ready for the dances, acrobatics, music etc. The air was thick with hash smoke and going around, breathing the fumes, I felt giddy.

Some students were dressed like ancient Hindu rishi-muni or perhaps they were supposed to be ancient Greeks, and were offering their own concotions of a wine mixture to all.

It was a riot of colours. Colours on the faces, in the hair, in the dresses. I especially loved a group of semi-nude girls and boys covered with purple, their hair dipped in liquid white. It was simply wonderful, to be there, to sway with the music of the drums and to smile around like idiots at the strangers.

So here are the colours of Par tot Summer Festival Parade 2007 of Bologna (Italy) for you, with the wish that this rain can go to Delhi and a bit of summer warmth can come here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This post was originally written in 2007