They didn't do anything wrong, but we had yet to get used to the culture. Another interesting and surprising quirk was how many men and boys you see holding hands. At first the thought of homosexuality comes to mind. Even when you tell yourself that it is just part of their culture, you're still very aware of it each time you see it. It's been suggested that since males and females are separated so much that it's one of the remaining ways they can experience affection.
Lisa was asked if I was her husband, and she said that I was looking to me to back her up. They said something flattering about me, but since then I heard they said that to another woman about the man she was with. Some of the children did in the end ask for money and what sounded like shampoo. The sun set while we shopped. We were actually looking for some cheap outfits -- pajamas -- to wear for the festival because Rachel had warned us that the festival involves lots of colored powder getting all over everyone. Claudia's shirt which originally had a lot of white in it had been died pink by the stuff earlier in the day. Pajama is actually an Indian word, and it describes very well the kind of clothes we were looking for. Jerry was the only one of us who bought anything. We decided to get back as it was getting dark.
Lisa and I joined the others in the open lounge by a small bar. We talked while I had a beer that on an empty stomach went delightfully to my head. I was quite buzzed when we walked (actually, it felt like I floated) to the courtyard where we ate a buffet-style dinner outside. I pointed out stars and constellations to the others on the way which was softly and beautifully lit. The stars were very easy to see in the desert of Rajasthan. The castle had quite an ambience.
I sat with Claudia, Francesco, Jenny and Karen. The numerous castle lights had a wonderful effect. I ended up accidentally serving myself dessert -- well, the rest of the dinner was a buffet and they had left it out. A Indian man with a huge white moustache came out and danced with fire on torches in each hand. I'm sure I would have appreciated his dancing more if Rachel hadn't told us her nickname for him -- Itchy Brastrap. It soon became apparent why she had picked such a name. His dancing was not unlike what you would expect from someone wearing a bra that made him want to scratch his back. He danced from table to table. He was followed by a singing woman and a musician who played a stringed instrument. The music was, uh, Indian.
I changed into jeans and put on a long-sleeved shirt. One of the locals, Anil?, led us on what I called the Mandawa moonlight mystery tour. Rachel and a bunch of us walked through the dark streets hoping to see some festival dancing. We soon came to a spot not far from the castle where a crowd was setting up a large round space that had silver garland hung overhead. We were too early. We waited for a while and talked with each other and the locals. Katherine was wearing shorts, and she attracted a lot of attention.
Anil then led us a good distance through the streets to a similar arrangement, but this one was crowded and already going. Christmas lights hung overhead. A man beat a drum on an elevated platform in the center of a circle of dancing men -- some dressed as women. There was also someone playing something like a clarinet. Each dancer carried a stick about three feet long. The dancing involved spinning around and in rhythm with the beat striking sticks with the man one side of you and then the with the man on the other side of you. Many of the onlookers were women and children. I heard the dance referred to as keen-dare or something like that.
We were invited to join in. Rachel, Jerry and some of the others were already inside the circle. I asked Claudia if she wanted to join in. She said that she felt we were being put on show.
And with that ... we entered the circle.
We were given sticks, and warmly welcomed into the revolving circle of rotating dancers. I was between a young man and one of the men dressed as a woman. It was hard at first to get the rhythm down, but it soon fell into place. It was pretty wild. I got a lot of encouragement and approving words from the people around me, and my partners seemed to be thrilled to have me there even though I would often make mistakes. It was a pretty aerobic dance. When the music ended, my partners rushed to shake my hand. The man who was dressed as a woman took hold of my hand improperly, so I had to adjust it to shake hands. The people came up to us and greeted us warmly. Someone tried to tie a saffron scarf around my forehead, but I declined fearing it meant I would have to take a bigger part in the dancing. I regret that because I soon learned it was just an honor they were trying to bestow. I didn't refuse later attempts, but for some reason scarves just wouldn't stay on my head.
Rachel told us that this had never happened to her before. A young man told me that foreigners rarely participate and that they were very happy that we did. They were very friendly.
We went back to the first circle where I danced longer than anyone else in our group -- long enough to get a blister in my stick (right) hand and have it bleed. I worked up quite a sweat. I did get much better at the dance though. For a long time the partner behind me (as far as the revolution went) was a young man who's movements were both sharp and graceful and quite cool-looking. My other partner was boy who seemed to mess up more than I did. There seemed to be adult men around making sure that the dance went smoothly. They also were encouraging as were many of the onlookers.
On our way back six of us (Jenny, Rachel, Lisa, Maritsa, etc.) had chai, a sweet tea with milk. It was very good. We drank it sitting on the porch of the cook surrounded by friendly locals. Some wanted to know why I wasn't sitting with my 'wife' Lisa. Our deception seemed pretty obvious and I joked I didn't want to interfere with her as she was sitting with other girls. It was pretty funny. Jerry and I talked before turning in. I ended up washing some of my clothes as well. I wrote and finally went to sleep around 1:00 AM.
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I dreamt one of my old girlfriends had become evil and intentionally malicious towards me. I've read one of the side effects of the anti-malarial Lariam (mefloquine) is bizaare dreams. We got up at 7:15 AM. After showering, I put on a red T-shirt since a dull red seemed to be the most popular color for the colored powder used during the festival. I saw an owl look at me outside one of our windows and then disappear into a hole in the wall. I had breakfast with Jerry, Carolyn (29), who is from England, and Marissa (29), a doctor from Australia. After packing my still moist clothes, I joined the group for a walking tour of Mandawa and its havelis. We were allowed into people's homes to get close views of the artwork on the walls. I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed with them. As with many sites in India, it seemed that much had decayed, and I had to try to imagine how beautiful they might have looked during their heyday. However, it was very gracious of the people to allow us into their homes to get closer looks. At one home we were able to climb onto the roof from which we could see the castle. I could see children looking at us through a window from up there as well. I did end up buying ten postcards at one of the homes. Later I gave Jerry three of them.
The havelis are owned by the rich 'Marwari' business community. It is said that such abundance of colorful art exists to counteract the arid desert landscape.
We shopped as a group for expendable pajamas for the day. Several times I noticed someone pointing me out and mentioning the dance last night. At one of the shops -- one Lisa, Jerry and I had been to the previous evening -- we had chai, but few people bought -- the shopkeeper just refused to go down in price. He was probably afraid that if he gave one person a discount, he would have to give everyone the same discount. Rachel bought us bags of colored powder for the festival. The festivities were gathering momentum as powder was starting to get on people. When we left the shop and were headed back to the castle, Marc put some colored powder on Hans, who then reacted violently. He started to kick him hard. Marc at first was taken aback, but he then grabbed Hans and pinned him against the wall. Hans said that this wasn't funny to him and that he expected Marc to reimburse him for his shirt. When Marc let him go, Hans kicked him again. Marc looked like he considered getting into it with Hans, but since Hans didn't seem to be attacking further, he just continued to walk away.
Later I heard Hans saying he wanted Herman to apologize for saying he was acting like a German *******. Hans also refused to contribute to the tipping kitty Rachel was collecting for the tipping of the local guides and the staff who carried our bags among others. Hans said that he hadn't read anything in the contract he signed with his travel agent and that he had no contract with the Imaginative Traveller, so he had no intention to pay anything more. He also thought all meals were included in his package -- they were not.
Anyway, by the time we got back to the castle we were pretty well covered with reddish powder. The children would come up to us and were usually quite friendly about it. They would have their hands upraised to indicate their intention and usually we would just have to step towards them to have them smear the stuff on our faces. When we entered the courtyard, we got together for numerous pictures. Someone volunteered to take pictures with our cameras and I'm sure it was more than he bargained for as just about everyone had their camera out. Strangely and fortunately, for some reason the powder didn't seem to stick to me or my skin very well. To Rachel's surprise I could shake it out of my clothes pretty easily. We checked out of the castle, got hit with more powder and checked into the Desert Resort which was not very far away. It was very nice. The rooms were more like large huts -- no two seemed to be alike. They looked like they were made of adobe or cement. They were very ornate and cute. Sue and **** had one that had a tree growing through it. Jerry and I had to climb some stairs to reach ours (room 47) which was opposite Carolyn and Marissa's.
There was a pool. I ate lunch and enjoyed some conversation while some swam. I had some vegetable pokora. A westerner who said he lived in Mandawa working in construction was also at the pool. Children would come up to him and his friends to smear a lot of colored powder on their faces. The wiew of the desert was wonderful. There seemed to be an abundance of birds wherever we went. I could see animals coming to drink by a pool in the distance. Hans was a big topic of conversation. One of the other guests had been on a tour with Rachel and was fluent in German. He had also been to Chitwan Park in Nepal. Rachel asked him to help her go over the brochures with Hans. He did, but it didn't seem to do much good. Later Hans came by the pool and spent a lot of time talking with Rachel's friend's girlfriend.
Around 2:30 or 3:00 Rachel, Jerry, Marissa, Carolyn and I walked back to the castle to observe more of the Holi festival. On our way we were joined by some children. |
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