Spontaneity

Last night I had my first YES, INDIA! moment.  I’ll start with some background.  Yesterday was a festival called Dahi Handi, which is probably the coolest and strangest celebration I’ve ever witnessed.  I’m not going to go into details about its origin, but I’ve found Wikipedia’s version of Hindu mythology to be quite accurate so check it out if you are interested.  The central concept of this holiday is that you take a bunch of people, stack them several stories high, and try to break this clay pot elevated high above the ground.  Then they are given thousands of dollars in prize money!  Yes, it does look as awesome as it sounds.  The pots, called handi, are decorated with flowers and filled with curd.  Teams of govinda (people in the stack) then attempt to pile on top of each other high enough to reach and break the handi.  When one team fails, the next begins.  I learned yesterday that these teams practice for long periods of time preparing for the festival, which is necessary because it is a difficult task with a fun twist: people spray the team with water to make them slippery.  Can you imagine a better holiday celebration? 

This is the craziness that I went out to see last night.  The streets are filled with spectators and everyone is excited.  I followed two girls from my drumming group and their friends, which proved a very exciting alternative to getting a good night’s sleep.  The atmosphere was all fun, and when we found the first handi, everything went wild.  This handi, it appeared, was not currently in competition, but instead hosted a spontaneous dance party sprayed down with a hose.  To my surprise, my Indian friends jumped right in.  After a minute, they came back drenched, expecting me to join them.  I told them I was only ok getting a little wet, so jumped in with them.  I have never experienced such a crazy mob of dancing with such a variety of people.  Despite my earlier hesitation, I was soaked, and having the most fun I’ve had in months!  Dancing like crazy while drenched with a bunch of strangers (and a few new friends) is why India is so great.

It is moments like those when, despite all the problems of this last week, I know I made the right decision to do Rotary.  Exchange students live for those awesome, spontaneous moments, and those are the ones that we will remember forever.  So, any other exchange students reading this, SAY YES!  You never know what awesome thing will come of it, and what story you will tell people for years to come.