Festivals (read this one first)

In the past 2 weeks there have been two super-cool festivals in Solan. The first was a dance/theater festival with participants from all over the country showing their traditional dances and competing with one-act plays. There were performances in the evenings for a week and on the last day all the groups paraded down the Mall of Solan. The Mall is the name of the main street, every town/village/city has one (at least in the hills, I'm not sure about the bigger cities in the planes) where most of the shops/street stalls are and where the old people goes for their evening walk and where the youth (male and female) go to scope out the opposite sex. (Cultural Tangent #1)
Anyway, the parade was very cool, as each group passed by Nidhi explained to me where they were from and some specifics about their dance. I think my favorites were the Punjabis, with their brightly colored, starched turbans and distinctive rhythm.
I also loved the Hijiras, cross-dressers: two men dressed in pink and red saris laughing and dancing seductively down the street. They were incredibly ugly, but I guess that was the point. And of course there were the Himachal dancers (from this area). Their traditional dance is very simple, basically swinging your hips and turning your hands in the air, but it takes a lot of skill and balance, because the cool thing about the dance is that you do it with stuff balanced on your head √ a tall stack of rings for the women and a candelabrum of sorts for the men. And then you have to pick up a handkerchief off the floor with your teeth while staying balanced. It's really interesting to watch and I'd like to try it sometime.
Then there was the annual Shulini fair, celebrating the time that Solan's patron goddess, Shulini, went to visit her sister. I don't know why that was so important, or what she did with her sister for those three days, but hey, it's cool anyway. It began with a parade - no, it began a couple days before, when the city began showing lights and tinsel everywhere, and people set up tiny stalls selling everything from plastic dolls to wooden flutes to peacock fans and the city got really crowded. But the festival itself began with a parade, bringing the statue of Shulini down from the temple to the center of the city. First came all the other gods, represented by people dressed up and posing (sometimes uncomfortably) on floats and giving out blessings in the form of bindis and handfuls of sweets. We had a great view from the cloth shop of Nidhi's friend's uncle, and we watched and laughed as the huge devils (Bread and Puppet style) danced and spun drunkenly down the street. Finally the little statue came in a covered litter and people surged forward to make offerings and touch the holy object. It was covered in flowers and people were throwing more (marigolds, the most common flower for blessings) from balconies.
Then that evening was the opening performance at the fairground. We had VIP seats - front and center - because Nidhi's best friend's father is the District Public Relations Officer, so it was a great view, but a little loud. It started out with traditional music and dances and then came to the main performance (at around10:00 PM) - a Bollywood playback singer who alternated with a little-known singer whom we actually liked more because he sang better songs. The playback singer had crazy outfits, things you could only get away with on stage (but would be normal in the states) and all sparkly and glittery. She was backed up by five dancers doing funny only-in-Bollywood dance moves - they're too corny to be done anywhere else.
We got back at around 1:30 AM and didn't go the next day because we spent the day/night at Nidhi's friend's house. (Cultural Tangent #2)
On the last day of the Shulini fair two of Nidhi's guy friends took me to the fair (because Nidhi was sick) which was really fun, because most of her friends are girls and it was refreshing to have male company again. It was funny, they walked on either side of me, like bodyguards, and glared at any guy who looked at me too long (which were quite a few, because I'm the only foreign girl for miles and miles, so everyone's looking at me around here). They guided me through the insanely crowded, mud-filled fairgrounds and then one of them got his friend, who worked one of the rides, to give us free tickets and so I got to go on a smaller, faster-spinning version of a Ferris wheel and had a great time. They were really nice and great to talk to, and I hope to see them again, though the gender barrier could pose some problems in that regard - how do we plan a meeting if it's socially unacceptable to call? Sigh...
And that night we went to the performance again, it was a Punjabi singer this time, and I've now decided that I like Punjabi music the best - it's so much fun, and such a beat to dance to. I've vowed to get some and bring it for the aerobics class at UWC - what a change that will be from the ever-repeated 80s rock we're always jumping to!
And next week we're going to Delhi and we're going to a wedding! I'm so excited, I've heard/seen so much about weddings, and I want to see how real ones compare to the Bollywood type. And lots of sight-seeing of course, so next time I get online, I'll have lots to write.