Din 184: I want to be heavy.

Today marks the exact midpoint of my gap year! Exactly half of my time off had elapsed at 10:30am, at which time I was getting ready while talking to my darling sister on Skype. I was able to arrange Priya's conversation with Begum (oh, and her grandparents) today.


Our day was spent on preparing for the wedding ceremony of Nani's best friend's niece, which we were to attend tonight. Nani and I spend the morning running a number of errands, including visiting the bank, picking up clothes from the tailor, and eating gelato (so maybe they weren't all errands.)


In the afternoon, we haar-shingaared ourselves and got ready to go.


Today's function was the Mehandi, where all the women on the girl's side have henna applied to their hands. I think the application process is truly captivating -- so I made a video for you all to view below.


Clearly, I was SUPER excited about my mehandi.


Once everyone was all decorated and purty, members of both families performed some dance numbers for everyone. I think the bride-to-be was the only decent dancer in the whole place (because I didn't unleash my Bhangra skills, of course).


I really enjoyed tonight's ceremony! But the marriage itself is tomorrow morning (Indian weddings go on for days) so I need to take your leave now to get my beauty sleep. Half a year down, half more to go!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bygones -- by Marina Keegan

Image
I had a dream the other night that I was checking my email. That dream sucks. And woke to woes of seniors writing love songs for tomorrow and Tomorrow and the melodies That flirt us forward, whispering the next thing and the next thing and  – so we beat on birds flocking south until we circle round and realize maybe maybe all that running wasn’t worth it. Maybe we should build a cabin. Or teach high school. Or use our hands. My palms are smooth as words – Weak with fashion and double spaces. I want everyone else’s club and job and class The grass I sleep in always browner than Than that around erasing dreams To sit and breathe because you Only bank for two years then it's over And twenty two is nothing new It’s just another chance to build For when we’re twenty three And twenty four And time begins to sell for more than Any 9 a.m. to never. We’re not stuck. That's the thing, we're not stuck. We owe no o...
Read more

Din 227: “God took his time making you.”

Image
I awoke this morning to the sound of my students -- what could be better? We started today’s class with 15 minutes of Anapana (the first step of Vipassana meditation), which is designed to concentrate the mind. I have never seen meditators more still or focused than these children! After teaching them the technique, I told them we would be starting every class like this from now on. Meditation is a wonderful tool they can take with them wherever they go, and they are lucky to be starting at such a young age! As the class broke into groups and started practicing numbers for our upcoming Variety Show, I caught up with a few students. Vandna, a sophomore and our oldest student, was supposed to pick her academic stream (cf. major) a few weeks ago, but had been waiting for my return to consult me before making her final decision. She is most interested in commerce and dreams of holding a high position at a bank one day, but her family is advising her to take liberal arts, which has le...
Read more

PSYCHED for summer!

Image
The last few days have been emotional with packing and moving and no more exams and lots more goodbyes. Wednesday night we threw a fabulous surprise farewell party for a very oblivious Reylon, with many of his closest friends and entrywaymates turning out to shower him with love, song, and pizza. Yesterday came my last exam of the year, a truly tragic event -- I stayed in my Latin classroom until the very last possible moment, twiddling my thumbs and staring at my professor and trying to draw out my freshman year as long as possible. I cried when I turned in my test and left the room. In the evening, the Opportunes had our last private gig of the season at the Faculty Club (throwback to our first gig this year!), where our beautiful seniors performed their last public rendering of "Midnight Train to Georgia" amidst laughs from the audience and tears from Bernie. After a night of packing and snacking and New Girl , I fell asleep hoping to stay in...
Read more