Sunday, October 05, 2008

A humble Hats Off!

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!

7 Comments:

Blogger Anshul said...

I am assuming you will be in a lehnga for hte wedding then!

3:11 AM 
Blogger Chaitali Patel said...

Yay!!! I agree... this year there was garba in my building... and I watched and danced and thought to myself how wonderful this festival is.
And the clothes and colours - couldn't agree more... we are a very colourful community. :)

1:28 AM 
Blogger Miss M said...

Omg i soo love the way you write!!

Lovely post! :)

Looking forward to more posts from you!

:)

8:00 PM 
Blogger Cuckoo said...

Wow! you wore a lehenga after four years and it fit you. Am totally impressed.

Agree totally with the Gujju fun piece. Imagine, am a tambrahm... all festivals equate to tonnes of rituals and great food... sigh!

11:50 PM 
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2:53 AM 
Blogger CandidConfessions said...

I completely agree on your description of the "punjus". "a wee bit arrogant about our love for the good stuff in life." - This is particularly true as hell! What most of my punju friends who always always give me a hard time dont realize is how this "good stuff in life" is subjective! Times were when I would argue, quote examples and argue and argue. Now, I just brush it aside and totally, arrogantly laugh at my punju friend's rather insensitive comments! And I give them a hard time :)

8:06 AM 
Blogger Zee said...

amreeca mein dandiya??? wah wah! the one thing that unites gujjus and punjus is good food! u shud catch a good gujju thhaali somewhere!

1:01 AM 

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