Half Sweet n' Half Nuts

Do you remember the scene in Kal Ho Na Ho, when Preity's character mentions she will be having her friend (i.e. Saif) over for dinner and her grandmother eagerly asks "Punjabi hai?". When she's told he's Gujrati, the daadi, with all her disdain, says "Oh! Wo toh vegetarian honde hain!".

I'm sure every true-blooded Punjabi had a good laugh at that scene. I know I found it hilarious. You see, we Punjus are a wee bit arrogant about our love for the good stuff in life. We love our meat and our alcohol. We're loud and rowdy and generally look for a good time without really caring about what may or may not be OK by anyone else's standards.

Yesterday I had a humbling experience, as a Punjabi. And a delightful, fun evening as an Indian in America.

For one, I realized, Gujratis, vegetarian or not, are definitely one up on us Punjus! In a lot of ways we're very similar. Both communities are colorful, fun loving and humorous. I might even grant that we're equally flashy in our festivities, be it a wedding or a puja. While we Punjus definitely make our presence known wherever we go with our volume, the Gujjus are a lot more soft spoken. But the one arena where the Gujjus are definitely one up on the Punjus is their Garba Raas.

Yup, I went for a Garba night last night. And seriously, WOW!!! I had so much fun!! Damn, they sure know how to dance! Without alcohol!! Double damn! Vegetarian or not, they sure know how to party! They dance with total abandonment and joyous frenzy. The energy in the air is palpable. It was really quite exhilarating. And, believe me, it's strenuous. I was so out of breath for the most part, it was embarrassing. It needs a lot of co-ordination and a lot of stamina. They twirl the dandias over theirs heads effortlessly all the time maintaining sync with the others in the circle. I don't think we Punjus could ever have such a ball without being thoroughly drunk and maintaining form like that while dancing is just impossible! We're better off free style methinks :)

Don't get me wrong. I'm a proud Punju and I love everything about being a Punju, including the loudness. And I know our dances are super skilled too (err... seriously, you should see a professional bhangra performance!). But yesterday I had a lot of fun doing something that was new and different for me and I had to let the Punju in me grudgingly accept that the Gujjus are one helluva community! Trust me, we Punjus never like to think of anyone as half as good as we are at partying so this is big :)

And I have to say something about the clothes. This may be the Americanized part of me talking but the lehengas are so beautiful. There were so many colors, everything glittered and shone. Everything pretty and bright and just lovely. I had forgotten how colorful we Indians are in general. Shopping in Americans stores for the last couple of years I had forgotten what a treat to the eye all that color can be. As for me, I got to wear my lehenga after 4+ years. Sigh! I feel so pretty just holding it :) It is, of course, in tatters now as it was unable to take all the jumping around I did last night :P You know what that means? I"m going shopping for a new one the next time in India! Hahahahahaha!! Yaay!

I'm so going back in two weeks to the next event!! LOL! What fun!