Indian Merry-Go-Round In Full Swing

Long queues, hustle-bustle, loudspeakers, colorful blinking lights, carnival rides, blaring music, balloon shooting, candy floss, vanilla softy, aroma of typically cooked Indian food from the streets of Chandni Chowk. Yes, you got it absolutely right I'm talking about our very famous Dussehra Mela. It is always so fascinating to watch hundreds of people from urban and rural India coming together with their families to these places. Melas are so rustic and have an essence of our soil and culture. Though the hygiene standards are still disappointing but the charm of such massive set ups with lots of vibrancy is still intact. The most amazing thing which I find at these fairs are the "carnival rides". If you observe the structure closely, it's not very hi-tech and is not even designed by any qualified engineer. These rides are basically built on old days ethics of jhoolawallas of rural India. Some new editions are definitely there every year but still design and structure is very basic. These joyrides are mostly portable so they are reassembled every time. I seriously wonder about the accountability of these joyrides. Statistics also tell about the weak and poor laws in India for the safety and inspection of rides at amusement parks. Despite of so many death incidents at many renowned amusement parks all across India, government has not made any particular authority to look into these matters. It is high time now to reinforce stricter regulations for all the amusement parks and carnivals/fairs/fests/melas. So whenever you are going to take your family for such adventure rides, keep in my mind, this fun is at your own risk.