The Playa comes alive and so does your mind.
People always have questions for the people who attend the festival at Black Rock City. The first question that is on everyone’s mind and on their lips is: How was Burning Man? We had the good grace to get a first-hand experience account of Burning Man, and Raj Desai couldn’t have described it any better? Raj Desai is the co-creator and curator of The Lost Party – a multi-genre festival built by the music, technology, visual and performing arts community of India. He also runs ThinkScream, a technology company that focuses on WiFi products and solutions. His company was a part of the Networking team for Burning Man at Black Rock City. As you will see, his pictures tell a story and we were only too happy to relive it. Here is an account of his journey at Burning Man.
Raj: If you ask me how Burning Man was, there is no definite answer to this question, seriously. I can answer this question a thousand times and still not have an answer than encapsulates what or how Burning Man is. It’s completely different from what you would imagine it to be.
Raj: Burning Man is, for the the general audience, a festival that attracts thousands, for 10 days in the desert of Nevada, to celebrate the freedom of expression. The Black Rock City is transformed into a community where all the freaks and geeks from various parts of the world come together each year for different reasons. They could be personal, emotional, mental, physical or maybe, they even come here to find some meaning. But whatever it is, you will find it here, that’s guaranteed.
Raj: All you can tell people is how you perceive it and what it means to you. Burning Man is what you want it to be. Becoming the 3rd largest city in the state of Nevada during it’s existence, Black Rock City, for me, is everything and nothing at the same time. With adults and even children this year, the Da Vinci theme was mesmerising and generated curiosity everywhere.
Raj: It’s a city that comes alive from literally nothing and provides you with a platform for self realisation, self expression and a journey across the spectrum of all your senses. You’re assaulted with the people, the ideas, the light and the general feelings you go through during the course of the days.
Raj: From art pieces that will blow your mind, to camps that will inspire you, to music you cannot get over for weeks, to art cars that will take you on a journey of the Playa and help you party like never before; Burning Man is the culmination of everything that’s right with this world. It doesn’t matter that there’s terror in the world or wars are being waged. In that moment, nothing but you and just you exists in this world that is so beautiful and so accepting, where everyone gets along and there’s nothing that could satisfy you more than what you already have.
Everything is how you want it to be, encapsulated into one environment. You have to be there to believe it.
(Images Courtesy: Raj Desai)