Dandiya Night.

Weblog is Diary style. Saturday Sep 30, 2006.

Day started as a usual weekend at around 11 [ok.. for me every day starts at 11]. But this was a forced one, as my cellphone rang to bring me back to the real world. have to get up and get ready to go for a lunch at one of my friend's home. Nothing like having friends, who can be made to invite us, for home lunches, they cooking we eating, fair distribution of effort, right !! So, as usual, I hate driving to the city, but my flatmate, who seems to getting more evil each day [induction effect, huh??] puts a running-nose pose, to forces me to drive.

Weather is cold, drive is smooth, we are leaving the sunny south bay to enter cloudy San Francisco, smart us !! Search for parking was unexpectedly easy, though we figured we didn't have enough quarters to feed the insatiably hungry parking meter. Got change from a bar, fed the meter, climbed 3 floors to find the dear sweet friends sweating. Now its our turn. So we start eating the Yummy vada-sambhar-chutney. [these folks have some talent I must say]. On the side we are playing old fast-paced Hindi songs loud enough to be heard throughout the building [free entertainment for all, unasked!!]. All in all ideal afternoon. Ended with a walk to do some shopping, and trying to find a photogenic face/place. [My friends frown upon my SLR after the debacle at Yosemite. High hopes crash loud, dudes !!]

So here starts the best part of the day. We had plans to go to the dandiya , organized by the ever-enthusiastic group of Indians in bay area. After the usual hassle of coordination between 3-groups, driving down, we finally manage to reach the venue.

We enter the huge hall, full of charming girls donning traditional indian costumes, dancing to the tunes of remixed-garba-songs. All-I-mean-all of we guys are dance-challenged, and all girls with us are pros. We meet another friend-of-friend and his friend there. All we guys except "P" line up beside the gate of the hall watching the girls mingle into the dancing groups. [It was a funny sight, I tell you]. With the music, or possibly discomfort of being mocked upon standing, Vikas [thats me], decides enough is enough. He goes out buys few sets of sticks and pulls the group together to join the girls.

Now the fun multiplies as the the girls are trying to give us crash-course on dandiya. We somehow manage the pull some right moves, Ah.. whoever stays coherent after 10 whirls !! So guys starts to flounder and this friend-of-friend-of-friend [lets call this phrase fofof] girl is really mad at this guy [fof], for not focusing enough to learn the steps, she marches away furiously and stands in the corner. A little of cajoling to get her back to senses, and she is back with us. Another round of swirls, treading, flying sticks, fury, alienation, coaxing. During the break, everybody is exhausted and having a good laugh. One friend names this fofof-girl lady-Hitler !!! [oops.. she is gonna kill me if she reads this.. but then whom am I kidding..google analytics predicts 2 hits on this site, one from my office, other from my home :D].

At the end of the dance, she [fofof] lauds me to as fast learner. [Hehe.. she missed that flying stick !!]. I sheepishly [hard practiced look] accept the honour. At last some recognition !! Day ended with the usual late night dinners at Danny's and the jokes and leg pulling. Another day to remember !!