Dandiya Dhamaka

This weekend was really something else!!

On Saturday we had the Lantern festival in our condo. There was a Lion Dance and the kids had put up a song and a dance. I had choreographed the dance, and believe it or not, I had the same butterflies in my stomach as I have before every one of my own performances. At 33, I think I should have got over such things. Of course, whatever could go wrong did. At first the speakers weren't working and then the CD player wasn't. So we had to stall the proceedings until we could arrange replacements. Jyothi went to get her system, she was wearing a sari, she tripped and fell and had to wear a different sari. Diya fell during the dance. Shiva hurt his shoulder. Oh the list goes on!

But all in all, the kids were really good and made me proud. Arya won a consolation prize for the lantern making competition (although she had a lot of people's popular vote - mine, too;-) Now I sound like a neurotic mom who's deepest darkest secret is that HER BABY IS SECRETLY THE BEST AT EVERYTHING.

On Sunday, we had a dandiya party organized by Tulika and Nandu. They are really very good at this. Tulika had planned everything to the last detail. There was awesome Gujarati food (I had made Aloo Baingan) home-cooked. The theplas, Shrikhand and Kalakhand deserve special mention. I don't remember the last time I ate so much when all the food on offer was vegetarian :-)

It was fun all the way, helping with the decorations, which were these colorful saris and dupattas on the walls, taking photos of those moments which no one should miss and even helping out with the Operation Cleanup at the end. Fun, Fun, Fun! What I should not fail to mention here is that I danced for 5 hours straight, and that was the most I have danced in a long, long time. The Kajra Re solo came up by popular demand (and of course no one enjoys it more than me) and Rajani and I did some real fast dandiya moves. Prakash and Anjali were easily the best sports around, starting from dressing for the part to picking up the steps and actually dancing. They got quite good at it by the end. I was also teaching Jyothi, Nita and Ivy and everyone had a great time.

A bigger treat was to see Arya dancing. She was looking like a doll in her White lehenga choli. It's amazing that this shy little girl has blossomed into quite the social butterfly. So much so that yesterday I had this conversation with her where everyone seemed to be constantly directing all their queries to her at school. Asking her for GK answers, spellings and even her opinion on what they should be wearing at random parties. She confessed that she was quite irritated with all the attention. Her friend Anana was there as well and she told me that she would be really happy if SHE had been the object of all that attention. I so agree! Hoo boy, I'll have to drill some sense into my little girl's head now.