Sunday, May 20, 2007: Saturday's Party

This past Saturday night, the students through a campus-wide party to celebrate completing the first round of midterms. This party was no laughing matter. It was held outside of the Rec center. They hired a local DJ, two or three bartenders were serving drinks and everyone got pretty wild until about 5 am. I was there until around 4. They played a mixture of mainstream American and European house music, some rap and then my personal favorite, Punjabi. Punjab is a region of Northern India. You may have heard of the band, Punjabi MC (they've made it to the States). The music is a blend of electronic and traditional but the best part is Punjabi dancing. If I did this at a club in the States, you would think I was suffering a mild seizure while performing the river dance. The dance itself is a very communal act and in most cases you'll find mostly men dancing together not to mention very close to one and other. To be honest, at first, it struck me as a tad bit homosexual. I asked one of the women at the party about it and she told me that until recently women were forbidden from nightclubs so all the men just danced together. I also observed that many of them hold hands on the street (even in daytime) and hug quite excessively. At first it seems strange, but once I got used to it - I had a lot of fun dancing. Like I've come to expect here in India, I really appreciated how warm and embracing all the students were at the party. Everyone invited me to dance, was buying me drinks and made sure I was having fun. Also, the nice thing is that the students just wanted to have a good time. There wasn't a lot of social pressure at the party - people just let loose!Today we are visitng Chaarminar Market - in the older Muslim part of the city. It should be a real adventure. More to come later. I have to run off to eat my warm curryified Indian breakfast... can't wait.