Inner city life is never dull and this week Langley Park was taken over with a massive stage, two rows of tents, tempting aromas and fireworks, what more could a girl want. This years Swan Festival of Light also taught me about the five ‘f’s’ that underpin a successful community festival.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room
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Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Friendship
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Fireworks
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Food
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
I tried the Dosia, a rice and lental pancake recipe which is 3000 years old. At least I think it was 3,000, either that or 300, I was over the other side of the park near the camels (yes camels) so am not sure I heard it right. Apologies if I have that wrong.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
My Dosia was filled with potato masala. The pancake was thin, feather light, crisp, spicy and served with chutney and samba. A completely new taste for me. I loved it and will definitely be ordering it again if I see it anywhere.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
I marvelled at the thinness the chefs achieved, over and over again without any errors along the way.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
If you don’t feel like a full meal there was also a range of snacks including samosas; curry puffs; vegetable fritters. I tried the savoury lentil donuts which were another great surprise (2 for $3). Why haven’t we seen these at other festivals? I can’t begin to describe the taste other than to say they’re delicious and the perfect size to eat on the run. Someone should enter these into that Recipe to Richest cooking show.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
There was a range of the sweets too including: Bombay Halva; Pista roll; Cham, Cham of ricotta cheese and Ribbon murruku (crisps made from rice) to name a few. Each sweet treat was $2. Pleasingly they came wrapped, or in a container so I was able to bring two home.
On the other side of the park was a fashion tent that oozed rich colour and trinkets.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Fun and entertainment
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Also on the bill was a very talented husband, wife and son trio. The mother, Kavitha Kirshnamurth (I hope I have that correct) is a famous Indian singer who’s sung in many movies evidently. I can see why, while I couldn’t understand what she was singing her range was astounding and the tunes mesmerising.
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
Festival of Light © The Ponder Room |
As I wondered home with a takeaway curry for tomorrow night I pondered:
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How much Perth has changed. An event like this would never have happened during the 1970’s. Back then the most you could hope for in terms of multiculturalism was a pizza and a Chinese takeaway if you were lucky.
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The messages of compassion, love and joy behind the Festival of Light are something we could all be reminded of at the moment.
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Another wonderful example of community spirit and communities joining together.
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The Dosia chefs, along with all the other stallholders are going to have a very long weekend.
It starts from 4.30pm each day and is free to enter.
For more information go to Swan Festival of Light
For more information about the food go to http://www.annalakshmi.com.au/
Fore more information about the entertainment go to http://smv.org.au/
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Music
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Food
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Atmosphere
2 Comments
When all the celebrations come to an end and it is just hard work in the clean up, it is great to get feed back like this. I know we touched many hearts , as reflected in the support of the volunteer force. It is great to know that the community who came and made this a successful festival, took away the feeling of Celebrating together.
Thank you for the feedback/ rumination.
Hi Malika apologies for the late reply. It was my pleasure I had a wonderful time on all the times I visited. Thank you for your feedback, in the same way it is very nice to know that people read your blog. All the best.