Inside Student BlogsDelhi – August Pt. IIDelhi, Fall 2010
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- A mistaken trick of the light, but I like that it seems that they are spiritually engaging and preparing to dance.
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- Feet in classical Indian dance are integral to the art form, and there is just something I find visually appealing about Indian dancer’s feet.
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- All the fully-fledged (non-student) dancers in this performance.
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- The Cutest Bharatnatyam dancer EVER. I could not get over how adorable she was. And she is only 9.
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- Both the girls were adorable…..and younger than 12. Just amazing.
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- Abhinaya is another essnetial form of Indian calssical dance, wherein the dancer uses mimickry and acting to aid in expressing the dance. In this, the dancer is interacting with a God (I can’t remember which, but I believe it is Krishna).
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- Posing
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- This is a VERY famous and traditional pose signifying Lord Shiva, the patron god of dancing.
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- I believe this is a warrior-like pose. I could be wrong though… Beautifully angular though.
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- This performance was some of the best Bharatnatyam performing I have seen. I frequently had to stop taking pictures and just watch the dancing.
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- Another dancer’s feet shot. Something so simple and yet…visually striking to me about this pose. Although only the feet are shown, if you were to see the top of the person as well, you will see it is a pose meant to represent Lord Krishna.
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- All the dancers of the performance come out to salute the teacher and the audience.
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- We met Sir Mark Tully, a VERY famous reporter and scholar here in India, and he gave us a speech on religious pleurality in India. It was really interesting. We connected over my Irish ancenstry.
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- Not a month in and Andrew and I have broken and went to the American Embassy here in Delhi (the largest American Embassy in the world), for good old fashioned american BEEF.
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- I was sick most of August, and my host family gave me Kichiri, the Indian version of Chicken Noodle Soup (minus the chicken). Doesn’t look like much, but it is very bland and pleasant. I LOVE it.
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- It is tradition to fly kites on Independance Day in India. Often there are kite wars where there is specially made glass-embedded string used to cut other kite strings.
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- She’s all wound up.
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- We went to a home living expo (had homefurnishings, cookware and clothing) in the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi. While there I came across this mannequin. Notice anything amiss?
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- Beautiful large Shiva statue outsite the expo. Eventually I want a large one like this – this one was 4-5 feet tall.
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- Our first experience in epic Indian rains. The water got several feet deep. Thank god we were in a car!
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- Epic rains. It rained incredibly heavy for hours. The streets were flooded with several feet of water.
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- Due to the height of autos and the frequency of Epic Rains in Delhi, autos frequently break down and are unable to function going through the puddles. Here some street kids are helping the auto driver move the auto.
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- There is a festival in northern India, Rakhi Bandan, that celebrates the bond of sisters and brothers. Harold was out of India during Rakhi, so when he returned, Brigitte, Maya and Karissa celebrated Rakhi with him.
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- Karissa got Mehendi (aka Henna) for her birthday!
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- Bazaar shopping. A wall of bindis. I LOVE to wear bindis.
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- Shopping for saris for Diwali.
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- Andrew wanted to find a pagari (variety of Indian turban) for Diwali. We went to this incredibly narrow and cramped shop in Sarojini Nagar to find one (that wasn’t too expensive). We were unsuccessful.
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- Lauren and I atop a tower in Tughlakabad. The rest of the ruins and current Delhi is behind us.
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- We were touring Tughlakabad, in southern Delhi and were shown a very famous secret passage that went from inside Tughlakabad to the outside.
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- The tomb of Giyasuddin Tughlak, ruler/builder of Tughlakabad. A beautiful building. Back in the day it was surrounded by a large artifical lake that connected it with the main city. Now they are divided by a major road here in Delhi.
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- Supposedly the tomb of a favorite dog of Giyasuddin Tughlak, to be buried with him. (Andrew is giving him a pat.)
August has been an amazing month that has FLOWN by! We got to see and experience new aspects of India, particularly the clash of the Old and New through cultural performances, shopping, and the visiting of national monuments. But really, we haven’t done very much! It’s been really hot and humid, and once the monsoon season is over, even more experiences await!
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September 18th, 2010 at 1:27 am
Looks amazing! Have you started classes yet?