The first planned event on our India trip was to attend the arangetram of Kavya. I have never been to an arangetram in India, but have attended two dozen or so of these events in the bay area.
It was a treat to watch Kavya dance. Sat there wondering when this little kid we are so used to seeing got so mature in emoting! The audience in India is more of an untamed beast. The average age of the crowd that attended was a good 20 years older than the audience in the US, which in itself is not a bad thing. They do not have bladder control though and there is a constant stream of people walking in and out of their seats to hit the restroom.
So here is a tip if you are used to seeing arangetrams in US and you go watch one in India. Get to the front seat!
We also got to hear a few words from the Legendary Chitra Visweshwaran on art forms that have gone to foreign lands and are kept alive and well. She talked about the challenges kids face both in India and abroad but how the parents abroad give that extra priority to keep things going to get to an arangetram or a stage performance and not give up because of "board exams".
Thought of recording it, but then switched the camera off and just listened to her talk.
Hearing that I realized that we put our kids through a lot here in the US and they also push themselves hard because of peer pressure.
Hoping that BB will post pictures or videos of the event in his blog. I am still getting goosebumps going back to that evening.
Promptly after the performance ended, we ran out to find an auto! Yes, that was a real challenge as autos are not easy to find after 9PM in that area and we had to catch the first flight out in the morning to Mumbai!
We had to transcend to another space in short time.
After reaching Mumbai, our plan was to go straight to see San's cousin and her new baby! We had no idea that the supposed 45 minute commute will become a 2 hour plus ordeal! Lunch plan became tea plan and we were exhausted by the time we reached her cousins place.
Then a cute baby made us forget everything!
That was again transcending time. They say you can see god in a baby's smile! There may be some truth to it...
After another 2 hour ride in rains and traffic, we made it to the in-laws place by dinner time, and that was day 2!
Mumbai might drain faster after a quick rain but when it comes to traffic, it is a lot worse than Chennai. At least that was our experience.
Will continue blogging after coming back. . .
