:: greatness is a life well-lived ::

Happy Baisakhi!

I was invited to go to an Indian holiday celebration called Baisakhi this weekend. Hundreds of Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, Malaysian, and other South Asians gathered together for an evening of Indian music, food and culture.

It was the first time (perhaps ever?!) that I was very aware that I was a minority - language, skin color, hair color...everything - I was different and people noticed. I wore the traditional Indian Shalwar dress, which gathered looks of approval and comments directed toward my cultural savvyness. I sat with new friends from Bangladesh and Malaysia (and with a dear American friend), and we all thoroughly enjoyed the music and dancing and cultural atmosphere we were swept into during the 5 hours spent in "little India."

The music was entrancing, the wail of vocals and intense drumbeat mixed together in a riveting melody that gripped my heart and carried me away into amazement and pleasure of a culture so different than my own.

I was astounded by the dancing of the South Asian men. No inhibitions, freely and wildly dancing, throwing arms up in the air and getting the whole body into it. A true image of celebration and enjoyment. It struck me as kind of like a mosh-pit of turban-clad Sikhs. Hilarious! And the thought that strikes me is, you would never see American men dancing like that so fully and uninhibited, unless they were drunk, which then it wouldn't be as astounding and entertaining.

The Malaysian man I sat next to did not understand the Hindi nor Punjabi languages spoken throughout the evening, so he was in the same situation as me, though his appearance was definitely more Asian than mine (even though I was in Indian dress and he was in jeans)! Toward the end of the concert, the singer invited anyone on stage to dance, and my Malaysian friend grabbed my hands and convinced me to go party with the Indians. (It wasn't too difficult to convince me...:-) I'm always one for a spontaneous dance!)

Then, finally after the concert concluded, (by that time, it was 11:30pm) we went to stand in a long line of hungry Indians for some delicious curry! yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

So it was a highly enjoyed evening of activity, culture, stepping out of my little box of normal-everyday comfort zone, and I loved it. It seemed that I was more alive in the midst of being a minority. It makes you so aware of your surroundings, instead of just fitting in and not recognizing certain things about culture, Christianity, and yourself.

How much I wanted to just hop a plane and go live in South Asia with passionate Christians who would worship and celebrate Christ as those South Asians celebrated a holiday. Someday, I hope.

posted by FaithChristine @ 12:17