Day 14 - That Just Happened

Ok, I need to start with what happened at the end of today. Cause really, 'that just happened.' I will give the context later but at the Ugadi (new year) procession (parade) I had an Uncle Robb moment. Or at least as it was happening I thought, 'Uncle Robb would LOVE this.' For those of you who don't know my Uncle Robb, he is my Dad's oldest brother and absolutely enjoyed doing things that flirted with his comfort zone. I was standing with uncle and aunty watching the parade. There were dancers, a band, a huge float, a huge row of lights, etc. As the dancers passed, one of them stopped and posed for a picture for me. He had on a mask and had a pot belly that he could make shake like whoa. The dancers continued on for about another 20 ft and then stopped to do some more dancing. People gathered around to watch them. Just then, the same belly shaker came and grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the circle.

-Begin life experience here-
I am typically not a dancer. Ok, I never really dance. If people are going to be watching me, I want to be good at what I am doing. Dancing is NOT one of those things. I didn't really know what I was being dragged into but I just let it happen. Glad I did. He brought me to the center of the circle and started dancing. I really thought of Uncle Robb and a story he had shared about dancing in some foreign country with people he didn't know. Almost unintentionally, I begin mimicking the dancers' moves. This continued for about a minute when another female dancer entered the 'ring' and started having a 'battle royal' with me. They did one move and I repeated. People circled in close to see what was going on. Naturally, as we were 'break dance fighting' I was laughing very audibly. (For those of you who have not heard me laugh, it is pretty loud). The belly man wanted a rematch and so we continued for another couple of minutes with the same routine. In total, it was about 5-7 mins of dancing. When we finished, the crowd reached to shake my hand or grab my shirt as they moved on with the parade. After some time, I was again left in the middle of street laughing at the peculiarity of what had just happened.

The morning began again with Dwarakimama and I on our daily trip to get milk. I played tennis and soccer with the 9th standard kids. I left school early to run some errands with Suhasani and Aprameya. We went to the coolest store ever. I was looking for some authentic India wear and aunty recommended the perfect place. The house converted to a store obtained its product direct from the village where it was hand woven and vegetable dyed. So awesome. To top it off, they gave me what I purchased in a bag made from a newspaper. Needless to say, I left with a smile on my face. Oh yeah, and the best part about it, with Suhasani, we were in and out quickly and there was no pain in shopping. Hurrah.

In the evening, I was invited to Naren's home for dinner. Naren was the boy who I call my 'bodyguard' while we were in Agra. I had met his father at the school a couple of days ago and he invited me for dinner. It, as all the food has been, was awesome. They had some amazing gulab jamun. It was uncomfortable while they served and then watched me eat until I invited them to also eat with me. After dinner we sat in their living room and talked. Most questions that I directed to other members of the family were usually answered by Karan, the father. We talked about Naren's future schooling and career and I entertained his little sister with my 'little tricks.' As they were driving me home, we ran into aunty and uncle at the procession and so I got out there. Glad we saw them cause I had a 'life experience' there (see above if you don't remember what happened).