Outside of work, a lot has been going on over the last week as well. I’ve mentioned several times that it’s the holiday season, which means seemingly nonstop festivals, music, and celebrations. Well the ten day celebration is over now, and the city actually seems a little…quiet. Fortunately I got to experience it a little more before it ended – last Friday several other interns and I visited one of the “Garba” dances at a large resort, the Oriental Palace, on the outskirts of the city. A major event (and remember, they put this one for nine straight nights), it featured live Indian music (with pyrotechnics), food from around the world, and of course, participatory Garba dancing on a large field in front of the stage. Well after watching for a few minutes, several of us finally mustered up the courage (or foolishness?) to jump in! Several young children quickly became our tutors, instructing us (with a language barrier, remember) on the basics of the rhythmic Dandia stick dance. We may have stood out just a little amongst the beautiful, elaborately decorated traditional Rajasthani dresses and turbans, but everyone was exceptionally welcoming to us and we had a great time. After thoroughly exhausting ourselves from all of the dancing, I’m not too ashamed to admit, I went to the world food court and had pizza.
This past weekend, I made my first venture out of the city of Udaipur – indeed out of the state of Rajasthan! I travelled with my host family to the city of Ratlam, in Madhya Pradesh, for the engagement ceremony of one of their extended family members. In addition to experiencing Indian family life and tradition first hand, I also got to see a great deal of the countryside. Highlights include many small villages and temples, Asia’s second largest man-made lake (surrounded by temples and monkeys of course), several bands of itinerant nomad societies and camel caravans, and a world famous cactus garden!
One final note – when I say the holiday season is over, I’m not being entirely precise. Today is a national holiday for Gandhi’s birthday, and two weeks from today is Diwali, which is, I’m told, actually the most important festival of them all. Then starts wedding season…
October 2, 2009 at 8:35 pm |
Who are the other gents with you in this photo?
October 4, 2009 at 7:54 pm |
I’ve definitely decided that although people around the world think of Americans as “partiers,” other nations truly do it better. Sure, we may gulp down enough drinks to lose all inhibitions but any celebration I’ve been fortunate enough to attend in another country has been far superior. They typically celebrate all day…and then for weeks to come! All participants (or maybe most people) remember everything. I bet wedding season is AMAZING. I have 2 Indian weddings coming up and I cannot wait! Have fun, Greg!