Igas Bagwal Evening, Dehradun

Igas Bagwal, celebrated in Garhwal eleven days after Diwali, had faded in many Dehradun neighbourhoods as families moved from their villages to the city. A residents' welfare association representing nine housing societies wanted to bring it back properly — not as a stage show, but as an evening where children learned to play bhailo, elders sang the old songs and everyone ate arsa and swale fresh off the kadhai. They expected 500 people; 850 came.

The difficult part was fire. Bhailo is a bundle of pine wood lit and swung on a rope, and it is not something to improvise on a community ground surrounded by parked cars. We built a sand-based arena with twelve metres of clearance, placed extinguishers and a water tender on standby and briefed the local fire station. In the week before, elders from the societies trained volunteers to tie bhailo properly.

The programme ran for three hours: a dhol-damau opening, jhumailo and chanchari by women's groups from the societies, a jagar singer, and then the bhailo arena opened to families in rotations. Eleven resident-run stalls served mandua roti, swale, pakodi and arsa. Most of the elders stayed until the last diya went out.