Punjabi Dancing and an Indian contradiction

First, a dancing lesson. No make that two. Yes, we've had TWO dancing lesson so far (all six of us who don't mind making complete fools of ourselves in front of each other and a very talented dancer). We're learning at least three types of dance in the next five weeks and we've started with Punjabi. A very high-energy dance, it reminds me (in terms of the energy level) of the type dance commonly associated with musical theater. I remember a director once told a group of us musical theater nerds that you should be shooting energy out to the audience so that they'll have no choice but to forcefully receive it. This, the theory goes, will leave them begging for more and leaving the theater feeling energized and happy. This is definitely the goal for the audiences of Punjabi dance as well. According to Wikipedia, it's a dance commonly performed at Punjabi weddings and festivals. A festival begins this Saturday in which men and women (the dance is designed for both genders) will hopefully be dancing in the streets. Punjabi, a fast-paced dance style, requires a good deal of coordination. It also requires some jerking motions that us Americans don't seem to be quite so skilled at. Our teacher keeps saying, "it's very natural, it's just like jumping while sitting," describing this one movement that looks something like a body roll fast-forwarded with more of a kick to it (not a literal kick). The dance is very entertaining and fun to watch--and as us dancers have learned it's also quite the workout. Especially out in the Pune heat. Whew. 


We have a week off after the end of our first course in which we're free to travel the country. I'm going with five other girls up to see North/Northeast India. We went today to the local train station to book some of our train tickets. Little did we know how much we'd learn about India in this little trip. 


The group of us have come to the conclusion that India is a country without rules. For one, the "personal bubble" we take for granted in other parts of the world clearly does not exist and seems to have never occurred to Indians as an even distant possibility. I stood in line for a couple minutes before I realized that people were assuming I was not part of this line because I wasn't physically breathing on the person in front of me. Yes, this means that the foot of space I left between me and them (as a courtesy, for the sake of germs if nothing else!) clearly means I'm not in line. There were times when we were physically standing in front of the window being helped by the attendant that women would nearly shove us over and attempt to hand the attendant their papers. One man asked, when we were four inches away from the person in front of us, if we were in the cue. Seriously?! As for the other lack of rules, don't get me started on the lack of road rules. I'm still wondering why anyone bothered painting lines separating out lanes of traffic going in opposite directions. Everything is relative. 


Another thing that made an impression on me was this man we saw lying on the ground. He was clad only in a white lion cloth sort of thing and he was skinny. We're talking Holocaustal here. I took a picture (below)...which was debatably a terrible thing to do. I gave him money and I think if he knew my reasons for taking the photo he would have allowed it. He didn't seem to mind at the time but I'm not sure he noticed. Anyways, it was absolutely heart-breaking to see this poor guy in such a state. He was holding a few coins in his hand and kept rolling around groaning. When I approached him to put money in his hand, I noticed his eyes were watering and caked with something. He mumbled something in Hindi and I said "Namaste," which is the Hindi word for hello/goodbye/peace. I like to think of it as their Aloha. It's said most often with your palms together held close to your chest (prayer position) and with a slight bow. He mirrored my "Namaste." I walked away (obviously) wishing I could have done more to help him.

The ultimate contradiction...

The area we live in in Pune seems very much sheltered from the tremendous poverty we see in other areas. Granted, we also see wealthy people but they're much less striking. What's most striking is the huge gap that separates these two parties...not that this is India-exclusive. One could take a similar (but less extreme) photo in New York City. 

We leave for Mumbai tomorrow morning! We'll be spending the weekend there... activities are TBA.