Day 2 and holding

To be fair, I only received one catalog today (Garnet Hill).

We went to an Indian cultural festival at a local high school today.  The ad in the paper said it ran from 2-8, with the cultural program running from 4-6.  We got there around 3:00, thinking we could look around and eat and such until 4.  But there was nothing to do.  There were tables of gorgeous saris, and at least 3 real estate agents, but no food.  It wasn't coming until later.  So Julianna, Lily, and I got a henna'd hand and we went to the hobby store until time for the culture.  Steve and I are both hopeless Indiophiles, but are kind of embarrassed by it, since it seems so...I don't know, colonial? to find everything about India so delightful.  And of course, I know it isn't all masala and Bollywood, so you don't need to fill me in.  But how can you not love this guy?



Daler Mehndi

I would TOTALLY camp out for his concert.  Anyway, the cultural program was a hoot. They couldn't get the sound system working, so there was this woman reading poetry in Hindi.  Some bits were apparently hilarious and she'd crack up and then apologize to those of us who don't speak the language.  She'd say, "Well, you know boys and their flowery language!"  Um, no?  They'd call up someone to say a few words--the police chief came up and said that they're always hiring if anyone needs work.  Not exactly run out of town on a rail, eh?  So anyway, they called up about 6 different people, said the pledge.  Sang the national anthem of the US (We love America!!) and then of India. Fiiiinally, the dancers came out and were adorable and awesome and beautiful all at once.  Young girls, some of them really into it, some of them unable to BELIEVE they had to do this STUPID dance JUST because grandma insists.  GEEZ.  It's always funny to go to some gathering of another culture and note how if you just plug in different clothes, smells, sounds, it's more or less the same deal.  It could have been an Irish folk fest, a Jewish festival, Greeks...whatever.  Same same, only different.