New bonds and proud moments

With the Navratri festival officially over, I wanted to take a moment to tell everyone how proud I was to go watch my wonderful roommate, Dalena, perform every night at the indoor stadium for 10 nights. I must admit, I didn’t make it 2 of those nights because even I was too tired (and I was just a mere spectator!), but I tried to go as much as I could so I can show my support and enjoy all of the wonderful garba dances. There were thousands of people that attended the festivals at indoor stadium, and one night it was even broadcast live to 56 countries around the world! The cameras loved Dalena, and she showed up frequently on the large projection screen (jumbotron type thing), everyone praised her efforts at the end of each night, and she thanked them graciously as always. How she kept the energy to keep dancing all those nights, I really don’t know, but it was purely wonderful. I wish all the other teachers were there to watch as she floated merrily around with her class, as if she has been dancing garba all her life. I hope everyone can really take a chance to watch the video (posted by Dalena), and see if you can see her. Searching for her in those crowds of people was kind of like playing a live game of Where’s Waldo? but with more commotion, and very dizzying, but well worth it.

During this time, we were also able to make friends with one of our co-teacher’s brothers and his wife. He was one of the singers at indoor stadium, so we were able to reintroduce ourselves, and at the end of the end of the ten nights, I am hopeful that we have made another connection in this sometimes lonely city. He and his wife are so funny, and have made a promise to take us to a superb pasta restaurant here in Surat. Oh boy, new friends and delicious pasta here in Surat? Really, what more can a girl ask for?

In the end, I was a little sad I was too shy to learn some garba dances, as it seemed like so much fun to participate, but I had such a good time just enjoying everyone else dancing. It also allowed me to watch the different types of garba dances, the vast number of steps and movements involved, and how much the music influences the pace of the same steps. It was really fascinating to watch it all, and fto see the entire city to come together for these 10 days.