We (somewhat) recently had a lovely evening at Spanish Fork's annual IndiaFest. The curry was decent, the literature was inspiring (we lean vegetarian), the temple was beautiful, and the music and dance were fantastic. They had a stage set up at the bottom of a hill where we were able to watch Indian dancers, which was so fun. I love Indian dance, and if I could find a class in Provo, I'd take it. There were displays set up all around the temple to educate us on all things India, random caged animals, like parrots and llamas. 
It was a little chilly, but luckily we were able to warm up in the overcrowded, incense-filled temple. I'm not a fan of incense (even though it reminds me of Jerusalem and all the old churches we spent hours in), but it was better to hang out inside anyway since that's where the music was. Actually the reason we were even at IndiaFest in the first place was to support the band, of which Kimball's former Kung Fu instructor of ten years is a member. This guy's not only a martial arts master, but he plays in a traditional Indian band and a traditional Irish band. Such diverse interests and talents! We actually went and heard him play with his Irish band the week prior at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, which we have no pictures of, sadly. It was pretty great though, and hopefully we can go back next summer. Anyway, back to India. In the temple, they were calling people up to bless them and put a red dot on their forehead, and the band had everyone get up and dance around in a big circle. Kimball and I just sat on the side, for fear of being converted unintentionally, but we did chant and sing the hare krishna songs along with everyone, one of which was stuck in my head for days. So cultural.
By the way, why have we shortened the word festival? Is it just me, or is it a great word? There are so many fests these days and not enough festivals. Timpanogos did it right. I don't care what people say, I'm lengthening it back out.
Thank you, India Festival! We had a great time.
Yay! You're alive! And I hear you're back in Josie's class. :)
ReplyDeleteDiwali celebrations are this weekend—for a minute you made me think I had missed them. But I didn't. Phew.
And if there was a "Bollywood" dance class in the area, I'd probably take it with you. Just sayin. I love Bollywood.