Yesterday in the morning I spent some time taking a nice rest after my five solid days of travel. I had a lot to catch up on, not only on my blog but in my journal and emails too. Sowbe came over for a few minutes in the morning to copy the photos I had taken on the Kerala trip, but other than that it was a quiet morning. My host mother's mother is here for a few days to visit again. She was visiting a temple in Tiripur (?) and was coming back this way. She got up early to make breakfast for my host mother and I (my host father is in Delhi on business), but she didn't eat with us. Instead, she sat at the table and read and chanted from a book- my host mother told me that she wouldn't eat until she had finished this puja.
In the afternoon, my host mother and I went to Nirmala Women's College for an intercollegiate competition- Ahalya (who I stayed with in Chennai) had gone to this college and her mother is a professor there so we were invited to attend. When we first arrived, we got some snack foods that were available for our lunch and walked around the campus a little bit. There were SO many college kids there, both boys and girls, because of the competition. I definitely was stared at quite a bit...after we had eaten a bit, we went to the auditorium where there was a dance competition happening! I was expecting some group dancing- just average because they're not professional, but boy was I shocked! Not only were ALL of the dance groups AMAZING but the costumes and props were absolutely awesome! They were such good dancers, and the music was all really good too. I couldn't help but dance a little bit in my chair for some of the songs....
We had to leave around 6:30 p.m. to get to a Rotary meeting, so we said good bye to Ahalya's mother and left. We got to the meeting around 6:45 p.m. and....no one at all was there...we waited for a while until people started arriving, but the meeting didn't start until 8:00 p.m.! It was a formal meeting with speakers and the there was a small program afterwards where some of the kids that were there showed off some of their talents. Rianna (the girl from New York) and I decided to do something, maybe sing? We went to the back and listened to a few songs on my ipod, trying to choose one that we could sing and ended up choosing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz! We sang acapalla, so I don't know exactly how it sounded, but everyone clapped hard at the end! (Who knows though! It could have been because we're foreigners!)
2 comments:
I'm sure you two performed very well, and the Rotarians weren't JUST being polite.
They probably actually enjoyed your act — and VERY much appreciated your willingness to get up in front of them and entertain them!
Not to mention, they just plain like you. :)
Oddly, I've had many requests (and to a lesser extent, so has Rob) to sing a song for people in India.
I couldn't carry a tune if it had handles. But I'm musical enough that I know my solo, a cappella singing voice is offkey. :( So it's always awkward and embarrassing, and I usually weasel my way out of it.
I think it may be pretty common for Indian girls to take singing lessons. They all seem so willing to burst into song, sing quite well, and are really surprised that I don't.
Funny thing is, I absolutely LOVE to sing — in groups, where I can connect with the tune carried by other voices. Weird, huh?!
Keep making beautiful music.... :D
Madison :)
What's Puja??
I'm taking a World Religions class, and I have a test next week on Hinduism. I need to know what the word "puja" means. Hahaha. I thought it was funny that I saw it in your blog.
We've been studying Hinduism for awhile now. I'm guessing you're an expert on it by now :)
We're watching a movie on India in our class. I can't stop thinking that you're there whenever we watch it.
Miss you!
I'll visit your blog whenever I get the chance.
Mattie
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