Indian Fantasia

Friday, September 10
7:30 am

    I'm boiling my water for my instant coffee and getting ready to make an egg for breakfast, listening to the people talking on the street outside the kitchen window, either walking to the water pump or the main road, the man walking back and forth selling spices, and naming the lizard on the wall next to the sink.  I think I'll call him…. Jeffery.  I really love it here.  I am feeling like I fit in the more I am learning about India.  Now before you get your panties in a twist and say "Summer, you are blonde, blue-eyed, and amazon height if you forgot"…yes I haven't forgotten… but I'm loving the fact that people take their shoes off in inside places, eating with your hands is normal, people don't question you if you are squatting down to just chill out for a while (you'll see groups of people in squatted circles on the side of the road), and sitting on the floor inside is completely normal! LOVE IT!  Let me start with where I had this realization….
    On Tuesday, Sam, our landlord and somewhat of a father figure, invited Phil, Collins, and I to go to the Sangeet Music Research Institute to see a classical Hindi concert.  We jumped at the opportunity.  We arrive to the entrance of the school and remove our shoes on the stairs before entering.  Everyone mingles and chats barefoot while a man hands out chai tea and a cracker to everyone.  The chai is warm and soothing, and served in a little clay pot cup that you discard when you finish (Im still trying to figure out this system because I think it involves recycling of sorts but the clay is clearly from the earth, and therefore mingles back with the ground quite nicely).  We enter the music "hall"… a large air-conditioned (YES!), carpeted room with a runway separating the left side (seating for women) and the right (seating for men).  Everyone sits indian style on the floor to watch the indian style performers with their instruments on stage. (NOTE:  I now realize that all these years that I have associated "indian style" sitting with Native Americans, that clearly I am mistaken and it comes from India and the common way to sit here). 
    The first pieces were played by this woman on a sitar (she had the most beautiful deep red and gold embellished sari draped across her and the stage, accompanied by a man on some bongo-looking drums, and another woman on a tanpura (Sam told me the name of it…Im guessing some sort of bass thing? I'm already musically challenged so identifying instruments from over here is as good as me naming the bug outside).  The music was enchanting… I was in an Indian fantasia as the vibrations from the sitar hummed through the floor and into the audiences' bodies, the pitter patter of the drums eluding to dancing feet within a jungle.  The music truly evoked the most interesting imagery in my mind.  The following act had a man singing in Hindi with a deep, "OM-chanting-ish", stomach rooted voice.  As the drums got louder at one point this guy started singing faster and basically pulled out some Scat Man-- Hindi style rapping of sorts.  I was captivated for these 3 hours.