Indian Prom 2011

Tonight, Sindhu (our coordinator at SVYM) organized a “Cultural Evening” for us to attend.  We were taken to a special performance of “Ramayana,” which is one of the most famous epic Indian poems ever written.  From what I understand, it tells the tale of Rama – the man that encompasses all ideals that Indian men should strive to attain – and his journey to save the woman he loves.  Before the performance, I had never heard the story, so it was somewhat challenging to follow along.  However – it was performed in such an interesting style.  A single female dancer (one of the most celebrated in Southern India) wordlessly performed each role, and was accompanied by live vocalists and musicians. 

One of the most exciting aspects of this evening, however, was that we got to wear saris!  We all got ready together and proceeded to take dozens of pictures... thus dubbing our evening, "Indian Prom 2011."  Marko and Kevin gave each of the girls a wrist-coursage (hand-picked from the extra flowers that were growing over our fence and full of tiny ants, but hey, it's the thought that counts!), so we were being super cheesy about the whole thing.  It was great.  Previously, Sindhu had taken the girls out sari shopping at the only store in Mysore where she buys saris – and since we are all in love with Sindhu, we were totally excited to see where she shops.  The little store we went to was stocked with literally thousands of colourful (or not), patterned (or not) cotton and silk saris.  A sari is simply a very long piece of fabric that is wrapped around a woman’s body in a particular way, which actually varies between regions.  Each sari comes with the material to make the “blouse” (the itty bitty shirt that is worn underneath the sari), which must be custom made to ensure an ultra-tight fit.  I can’t imagine how Indian women are able to get themselves dressed every morning – it took 2 Indian women with me helping to get myself dressed.  We were each given a bindi (the little decorative sticker that women wear between their eyebrows), so it felt like we were really becoming Indians – at least for the evening.