I’ve Danced and Once!

I’ve danced and once. That was it and that’s it! I’m never doing it again.

We in India have a practice of leading the groom to the marriage hall and it’s one of the most festive occasions with lots of fun and lots and lots of dance. It’s so crazy that some faint, some need ice baths, some glucose water and energy drinks, and all of them look like they’ve arrived from a war when they finally reach the ceremony site! This part of the marriage is called a “Baaraat“. Yes they are “AAAAA” sounds (open your mouth out wide and just make a sound) on both sides of the “R”.

The dancing is the craziest part. I enjoyed it thoroughly when people and relatives danced madly for me in my marriage and I danced too, for myself, but most, who saw it, would say I looked more electrically shocked than a dancer, and even I refrain from calling it a dance. It was absolutely no holds barred. My brother made it his occasion though. He danced throughout the Baaraat and had to get his lungs pumped for air later, so tired was he. But it was terrific. I couldn’t have loved it more. But his advantage was always a lean body and that somehow he always got his moves gelled together beautifully.

In the image featured with this post, you’ll see a boy in a grey suit in the center. That’s my Brother and that was the madness that night!

Not me!

I am shy. I so hate my dancing skills that I’d rather even not talk about them. But as I am to talk about them in this daily prompt, I’ll say I’m slow, crawler, who moves like a sloth. Someone asked me then – “All prepped up for Baaraat?”. I started sweating profusely at the question itself. Oh how will I survive that ordeal?

The answer, as I’d come to know it, was in my mind itself. I understood the meaning of the term “Let Go” that night! It just ticked. I heard it tick. I think I’m understating it a bit. It was a ticking bomb waiting for that perfect condition. The songs were already playing and I saw a few of my relatives starting to gather between the commotion. I knew this was it. The volume rose, the beats started, and so did my feet. I didn’t care what song that was. After the first couple of moves, I thought it wasn’t difficult and people kind of expected me to dance that night. It was my brother’s marriage!

And once I started, I don’t remember stopping or pausing except for water breaks. I danced till the brothers from the girl side finally carried him into a prayer on their shoulders. And then we danced some more! I remember one of my better friends coming to meet me and I hugged him when suddenly my legs went numb and I fell right on his feet! Damn!

I’ve never danced more and I’ve now danced enough! But I learnt a lot about myself then, lessons never to be forgotten!

Let’s see what others think about dancing and whether they are one 😉 –