Dancing at A Gujarati Dandiya Party

I came to the Gujarati Dandiya party with a little knowledge of some songs I used to listen to many years back. The party was held in a hall of a beach resort at night time. I forgot when was the last time I had been in a place that had so much happy vibes. It’s even more joyous than graduation day at my Uni!

They played some nice music and colourfully dressed people danced in big and small circles. Everyone was smiling and enjoying themselves. It might look like some happy cult for someone who is a stranger to Indian culture (if there is any, given how Indians and their music can be found anywhere, including Montmartre).

The three of us joined the crowd, and I was the only person who stood still awkwardly in the crowd instead of dancing to the beat.

I regretted dropping off from my Bollywood dancing class. That shimmy move seems to be useful at that moment. They said people who are bad at dancing have two left feet. I sometimes feel like I am dancing with two left hands. While “dancing” in the circle, I managed to beat my neighbour with the Dandiya stick. Twice. Oops! After that, I saw some of them manage to create smaller inner circles, and nobody wanted to create an inner circle with us, so we left for dinner.

Vegetarian Gujarati Feast

The food was vegetarian north Indian style, and it was really good. I had Pav bhaji and panipuri for the first time. Pav bhaji is a piece of bread eaten with thick curry with small chopped potatoes, and panipuri is more like snack food, a mini-size deep-fried flour with a hole on top of it, the inside part filled with sugar and spices and everything nice. You have to put one in your mouth and bite it. It was so yummy.

A bazaar was also being held outside, and I was instantly attracted to a coloured glass skirt. Show me something colourful and shiny, and I have the need to touch it. After contemplating a few times, I told my friend, and she asked back where I could go wearing that skirt; that question brought me back to the reality of the black and the grey corporate world and, more importantly my not buying anything for a month pact. Oh well, if I  keep thinking about it after this month, I am sure I can find a similar one in Little India.

We went back inside, hoping there were new crowds who would let us be a part of their dancing circle, and once we were in a big one, these two traitors’ friends of mine did the ultimate betrayal. They left me ALONE in the middle of the dance. I swayed for some time before realising they were gone, and I slowly walked out of the circle as if someone was calling me. They were laughing and told me my facial expression was priceless.

Alas, the rest night was fun. We ate some more, shared office gossip, and went home by 1 AM.

I am ready for my next Dandiya party!

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