The sideshow at Alsisar

The Rajasthan village comes alive in more ways than one as it hosts its annual music festival

Feb 25, 2019, 14:07 IST3 min

1/5

RahulAge: 17Class 11 student in Haryana in-charge of renting out the parking space and rooms at his cousin’s house in AlsisarAlthough Rahul did not disclose the rent of the rooms, he said the parking space is for ₹1,000 per car for three days. Additional rooms were built in the house after the festival started taking place in Alsisar, with the objective of renting them out. Rahul’s cousin, and the owner of the house, lives in Singapore. Hence Rahul has come from Haryana to take care of the business. It was his first time at the festival.“I think the festival is okay. I see a lot of people all day, it’s fun.”

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PriyankaAge: 23Manages a homestay, which her family ownsPriyanka lives in Gurugram where she’s studying French to fulfil her dream of living in France some day. She comes to Alsisar during the festival to help her family manage their homestay. A room here costs ₹4,000 per night, and their special home-cooked Rajasthani thali costs ₹300. “We end up earning more in these three days than we do in an entire year.”

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Raju ChauhanAge: 20Chauhan’s stall, Bikaner Food Stall, which is outside the official festival site, sells chocolates, chips, soft drinks and other packed snacks that are all priced higher than the MRP. His masala chai costs ₹20, while bread-omelette sells for ₹100. While this is expensive, it is much cheaper than the price of food within the festival site, Chauhan says.“I heard about this (festival) from a friend and so I decided to come here from Gurugram, and run this stall along with Mahendra Singh Bhati, an Alsisar resident. We paid ₹15,000 for three days as rent for the land on which the stall has been erected.”

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Divyanshi Kanwar Age: 14A class 9 student, she sells water and Pepsi, for ₹50 each, outside one of the festival entrances. This helps her earn about ₹8,000-9,000 in three days. She manages the shop with the help of her family. At about 2.30 am, she was alone at her shop, dancing to the loud music coming from one of the stages inside the palace, and seemed happy. “Everyone in Alsisar looks forward to this festival. I love talking to the people who come here. They wear such nice clothes. I don’t understand this music, but I like it.”

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Jitesh Parashar Sharma Age: 22MBA student from Jaipur, and owner of Sujit Kirana Store “I come here for these three days of the year. I really like the festival. It lifts the mood and vibe of Alsisar. We get to earn money by working for 24 hours in these three days. The amount we earn in three days is what we earn in a year. We have rooms to rent, too, for ₹4,000 a night. For the store, we order extra stock during the festival cigarettes, water and Coke sell the most."

Image by Aditi Tailang