I had received news that one of the local Indian dance groups was going to be at the Mill City farmers' market, demonstrating kolams. I can't remember now if I mentioned them earlier, but these are the patterns that South Indian women draw on the ground outside their homes every morning.
LiJun and Vindya enjoyed practicing these.
I talked to the dancers, and they gave me some very useful Telugu contacts. When they saw me trying to draw pictures of the kolam, they gave me their instruction sheets, and assured me that doing them wrong won't be offensive. I thought that maybe this could be something that we do that will be a bit of Indian culture for our family, and they were supportive of the idea. They are also going to call when their introductory dance class for children starts up. I think Vindya will enjoy it, and there will be more Telugu speakers there.
We met up with our friend Doug and explored the market, which neither he nor I had been to. LiJun entertained herself taking artistically posed pictures of Vindya, who loves being photographed.
Then we picked up a couple of friends and went home to have a playdate. I took advantage of the opportunity to have them move around all the living room furniture. I had more ideas, but they started to look rebellious, so I sent the four of them down to play in the play room. In about 5 minutes, Vindya was back up to tell me that they didn't want her down there, so she and I spent some quality time together.
Then, we all went off to Brookdale Cinema, where they show Telugu movies. I looked at their website and picked one that looked like a romantic comedy. Let's just say that if that is a good description, the cultural gap is wider than I think it is.
There were scenes with happy music, bright lights, and Bollywood dancing. Then, BAM!, dark shadows, ominous music, graphic intense violence. (Think people getting their fingers cut off, eyes being stabbed, girls being kidnapped for the sex trade.) Then, BAM!, black and white shots of kids that I think were the protagonists as children, playing by the sea and watching boats. Then, BAM!, back to the surreal music and dancing.
Vindya sat in my lap for the dark scenes, and in her own seat for the rest. LiJun walked out and flatly refused to come back and see any more, for which I don't blame her a bit. The other two girls were trying to be polite, but when we couldn't figure out why everyone was in a parking garage shooting, or what that had to do with the figure skating scene before it, we gave up. I either need to do more research before we see a movie, or someone other than Vindya needs to learn some Telugu so we can figure out what's going on. (LiJun voted that we give up on the whole idea, but I overruled that one. If nothing else, we might meet more Telugu speakers after the show.)
So, I think we probably failed at a culturally supportive day, but we had fun. (Except when people got shot at. Then we hid our eyes.)
I talked to the dancers, and they gave me some very useful Telugu contacts. When they saw me trying to draw pictures of the kolam, they gave me their instruction sheets, and assured me that doing them wrong won't be offensive. I thought that maybe this could be something that we do that will be a bit of Indian culture for our family, and they were supportive of the idea. They are also going to call when their introductory dance class for children starts up. I think Vindya will enjoy it, and there will be more Telugu speakers there.
We met up with our friend Doug and explored the market, which neither he nor I had been to. LiJun entertained herself taking artistically posed pictures of Vindya, who loves being photographed.
Then we picked up a couple of friends and went home to have a playdate. I took advantage of the opportunity to have them move around all the living room furniture. I had more ideas, but they started to look rebellious, so I sent the four of them down to play in the play room. In about 5 minutes, Vindya was back up to tell me that they didn't want her down there, so she and I spent some quality time together.
Then, we all went off to Brookdale Cinema, where they show Telugu movies. I looked at their website and picked one that looked like a romantic comedy. Let's just say that if that is a good description, the cultural gap is wider than I think it is.
There were scenes with happy music, bright lights, and Bollywood dancing. Then, BAM!, dark shadows, ominous music, graphic intense violence. (Think people getting their fingers cut off, eyes being stabbed, girls being kidnapped for the sex trade.) Then, BAM!, black and white shots of kids that I think were the protagonists as children, playing by the sea and watching boats. Then, BAM!, back to the surreal music and dancing.
Vindya sat in my lap for the dark scenes, and in her own seat for the rest. LiJun walked out and flatly refused to come back and see any more, for which I don't blame her a bit. The other two girls were trying to be polite, but when we couldn't figure out why everyone was in a parking garage shooting, or what that had to do with the figure skating scene before it, we gave up. I either need to do more research before we see a movie, or someone other than Vindya needs to learn some Telugu so we can figure out what's going on. (LiJun voted that we give up on the whole idea, but I overruled that one. If nothing else, we might meet more Telugu speakers after the show.)
So, I think we probably failed at a culturally supportive day, but we had fun. (Except when people got shot at. Then we hid our eyes.)
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