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2013 Sikh Parade


Every year on the first Sunday of November, the agricultural town of Yuba City (near Sacramento) holds an annual Sikh parade. The city has a sizeable Sikh community so it's appropriate that the festival is held here. I had attended once in 2008 and five years between the two visits, I have seen how tremendous this festival had grown. In attendance alone, the difference is day and night. People from all over California and USA and even Canada flock to this quiet town and make the city extremely colorful with their beautiful garb.

In 2008, I was able to freely shoot. There were people, many people yes, but it was easy to take my shots. This year, the whole length of the parade route (a mile or so I believe) was jampacked with people. There was hardly any elbow room. It's tough to raise the camera without bumping into some other people's body parts. Hence, I was limited to the number of shots I took. Plus, the weather was extremely windy. In addition, there were more makeshift food stalls offering free wonderful Indian delicacies which cut my shooting time tremendously. Just for the free Indian food alone the 1.5-hour drive from the Bay Area was worth it.

I was people watching. The colors of the Sikh parade:





















An older Indian gent saw me shooting. I stuck out like a sore thumb. Non-Indians were easy to spot, there weren't many of us. He came to me and asked to see what I was shooting. Luckily the last shot I took was this beautiful shot of a fabric.



I told him I was enamored with Indian clothing. He said his wife is wearing a nice garb too and if I'd like I could take her picture. After volunteering his wife like that, I had to take her picture, right :)


She is a charming woman and she was wearing my favorite color.


Then this boy saw what was happening and also asked to have his photo taken. I willingly obliged. People are very friendly and welcoming.

And on the way to the parking lot, I saw a chicken (okay rooster) and I wondered, why did the chicken cross the road?




OUR WORLD TUESDAY



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Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 31, 2014 9:22 PM

    Looks like a ton of fun. Beautiful garb.

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  2. donFebruary 01, 2014 9:49 AM

    A fine series on this festival. I'm glad you could shoot when there was fewer people several years ago.

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  3. carol l mckennaFebruary 03, 2014 1:45 PM

    Wonderful shots of the festivities and great colors for OWT ~ love the last photo of the chicken in the road ~ thanks, carol ^_^

    carol,xxx
    www.acreativeharbor.com

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  4. CynthiaFebruary 03, 2014 4:03 PM

    Beautiful colors, even the rooster is colorful. I'm wondering what they are celebrating.

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  5. CarverFebruary 03, 2014 6:18 PM

    Great shots from the parade. I love all the colorful fabrics and great shots of the people too. Fun last shot with the rooster.

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  6. KusumFebruary 03, 2014 8:52 PM

    Thats interesting!

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  7. AnonymousFebruary 03, 2014 11:34 PM

    Wonderful shots - I just love the colours.

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  8. Minoru SaitoFebruary 04, 2014 6:14 AM

    Hi! It's a very exotic parade. Their weclthings are very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. arabesqueFebruary 04, 2014 6:35 AM

    oh wow!
    the shots are just beautiful,.
    i love the blurry effect and how the camera focuses at this one subject.
    i would've been like you,
    elbowing for more shots. hehe.
    but wait, where's the food? ^0^

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  10. AlFebruary 04, 2014 4:22 PM

    That looks like fun - I love colorful clothing.

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  11. RajeshFebruary 04, 2014 8:40 PM

    Great to know about this. I never had any idea about this before.

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  12. EG CameraGirlFebruary 05, 2014 11:12 AM

    How interesting that the people there wanted you to take their photos. ;))

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  13. sonia a. mascaroFebruary 07, 2014 4:11 AM

    The Sikh parade looks great!
    Love these photos, they all are amazing!
    Thanks for this reportage.

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  14. WordsPoeticallyWorthFebruary 07, 2014 6:05 AM

    The parade looks great. Some nice shots.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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  15. MissyFebruary 07, 2014 1:45 PM

    Nice shots, very colorful ;-) I thought the guy who came to you will do something bad to you hehehe

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  16. Icy BCFebruary 08, 2014 7:09 AM

    They are very colorful people and looked so much fun!

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  17. Ginnie HartFebruary 10, 2014 11:21 PM

    How lucky of you to have witnessed such beautiful sights and people, Maria. And LOL about the chicken crossing the road! :D

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  18. EsmeFebruary 11, 2014 9:26 PM

    This would be fun to attend. Their culture lends to great photography.

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