One thing I failed to mention in my haste to get some sleep last night was that while I was at the golden temple I was greatly impressed and soothed by the music that was broadcast throughout the area. I learned later (from, Shera Singh, my internet café owner/guru, that the music is called Kirtan and it is the recitation of the holy Sikh scriptures from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (Sri = "Respect", Guru = "teacher", Granth = "Sea of Knowledge", Sahib = "beloved one"). It goes virtually non-stop for 19 hours a day, every day.
But when I got inside the Golden Temple, I was surprised to find that this was not some recording, it was a live, 4-piece band. The "drum" was a Tabla. There were 2 harmoniums and those guys were doing most of the singing. They were backed up by a stringed instrument played with a bow called a Srangi.
Today I went to the Durgiana Temple and where I ran into some drummers. They were playing and trying to entice folks to start dancing. Now when I was in Africa I decided from the outset that I might never get back there and I was not going to waste time and opportunity being shy about enjoying myself. So I never hesitated when they would invite me to get up and dance to THEIR drumming. In fact, after one such event, an African guy came up to me and said, "You…You number 1 African Dancer!" That was quite a compliment coming from an African.
So when the same opportunity arose today, I took the same course of action. When I did this in Africa the universal reaction from the crowd was utter delight and this was no different. In short order quite a crowd had gathered and even though I'm not particularly interested in being the center of attention, I don't hide from it either. Once again we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Perhaps I'll become the best dancer on TWO continents!
I also learned something about Indian hospitality. While walking along a guy pedaling a rickshaw came along side of me and asked in English if there was anything he could do for me. I said no but he persisted. "Can I get you a gul?" he asked. "A gul? I asked back. "Yeah, can I get you a gul?" Finally I put it together and said, "No, I don't need a girl."
Gotta get up at 4:00 am to catch my plane to Udaipur tomorrow and I'm already up past my bed time. More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment