This last weekend, a group of 17 students who were doing a certificate program in microfinance at Chaitanya and some interns from London completed their program and I threw a party for them on our veranda (yes, my entertaining skills have resumed here as well…I haven’t changed that
much). With the little resources we had we went and bought candles and decorated our huge veranda that connects to my room on the second story of the guest house I am staying in. Although our food options were limited, we bought a big cake as well as pomegranates and samosas for snacks. Like a true Persian, I started to panic about there not being enough food but in the end it was more than sufficient.
To make the occasion more special, me and my friend from the U.K. went out and bought special fancy saris for the party. I committed another huge faux pauxs as I failed to take a
local with me sari shopping and bought a red sari that is traditionally worn by brides without knowing it. It was a funny mistake that just added to the plethora of my cultural slips but I still wore the sari and all my Indian friends were so excited to see us embracing traditional Indian clothing, treating us like dolls by pinning our saris here and there, braiding our hair or fixing our bindis and bangles.
S
o the best part of the party was we DANCED, DANCED, DANCED. All of the young Indian girls taught me some of the local Hindi dances from the Bollywood movies as we danced in a large circle, them totally in synch and myself doing my best to catch on. After a few hours of this, I taught them some Persian dances and they LOVED Persian dancing and music. I was so surprised at how quickly they embraced this dancing and picked up the moves. By the end of the night we had danced and jumped around so much that we were all drenched with sweat.
In additional to our elaborate outfits and the dancing, the vibe of the night was so bea
utiful and magical. Everyone looked so beautiful and the excitement and joy that was all trapped in the space of our veranda made the night so memorable. Even in a small little town with power outages, no showers and no furniture (causing us to sit on the floor) the party still felt so elegant-kind of like a very small scale Indian version of a royal ball. That is the thing about India that I have found time and time again…you can have very little yet each experience is truly so rich and beautiful in nature that nothing compares to it.
much). With the little resources we had we went and bought candles and decorated our huge veranda that connects to my room on the second story of the guest house I am staying in. Although our food options were limited, we bought a big cake as well as pomegranates and samosas for snacks. Like a true Persian, I started to panic about there not being enough food but in the end it was more than sufficient.To make the occasion more special, me and my friend from the U.K. went out and bought special fancy saris for the party. I committed another huge faux pauxs as I failed to take a
local with me sari shopping and bought a red sari that is traditionally worn by brides without knowing it. It was a funny mistake that just added to the plethora of my cultural slips but I still wore the sari and all my Indian friends were so excited to see us embracing traditional Indian clothing, treating us like dolls by pinning our saris here and there, braiding our hair or fixing our bindis and bangles.S
o the best part of the party was we DANCED, DANCED, DANCED. All of the young Indian girls taught me some of the local Hindi dances from the Bollywood movies as we danced in a large circle, them totally in synch and myself doing my best to catch on. After a few hours of this, I taught them some Persian dances and they LOVED Persian dancing and music. I was so surprised at how quickly they embraced this dancing and picked up the moves. By the end of the night we had danced and jumped around so much that we were all drenched with sweat.In additional to our elaborate outfits and the dancing, the vibe of the night was so bea
utiful and magical. Everyone looked so beautiful and the excitement and joy that was all trapped in the space of our veranda made the night so memorable. Even in a small little town with power outages, no showers and no furniture (causing us to sit on the floor) the party still felt so elegant-kind of like a very small scale Indian version of a royal ball. That is the thing about India that I have found time and time again…you can have very little yet each experience is truly so rich and beautiful in nature that nothing compares to it. 
2 comments:
I am so happy you are having fun. I can't wait to hear these in person. Love you.
Just wanted to let you know that since your Mom sent me the first blog I've been intrigued by everything you write. What an amazing experience you're having. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us, Roxie.
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