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Diwali, Dancing, and Soan Papdi

By ldanielowski18

Happy Diwali!

Diwali season has descended upon Madurai and your uncoordinated American is back to report on her forays into the exuberant, powerful, absolutely astonishing world of Tamil and Bollywood dancing. For a little context, Diwali holds different meanings across the different states in India. Commonly known as the festival of lights, Diwali in south India is a celebration of the vanquishing of demons (how cool is that?!). The studio where I and other SITA students take dance class hosted its own Diwali celebration on Tuesday, and they invited us to partake in the festivities and perform the dance we have been working on (much to our surprise, our dance instructor had full confidence that we were ready to perform in front of an audience of talented dancers).

The studio had been decorated with a multitude of pastel balloons, sparkly fabrics, and a beautiful kolam in the reception area surrounded by little flames and flowers. We were offered coffee with cardamom, milk sweets, chocolate cake, and samosas. Sweets are a big part of Diwali festivities! We were the first to perform our dance, and made it through the whole number with enthusiasm and minimal errors (at least that’s how it felt; perhaps our dance instructor would beg to differ).

The dances by the other performers were incredible to say the least. They were very casual; classes from the studio would perform what they had been working on, but for each number assorted audience members would jump in and perform the number alongside them, following with such accuracy and energy I was blown away (and often watching these performances with my mouth completely ajar with infrequent exclamations of “WHAT” and “HOW” in loud whispers to other students). I was even pulled in for one of the dance numbers by another dance instructor at the studio, completely unsure of who I was dancing with or what ridiculously fast paced song I was dancing to.

[On a less related but ever important side note regarding my whirlwind romance with south Indian food,* I have been #blessed with the gift of tasting soan papdi for the first time, which other students in my program have affectionately described as “croissant fudge,” and it is as decadent and lovely as that sounds. During Diwali season, neighbors will deliver boxes of sweets to each other to celebrate the holiday. This means that for the last two weeks, my host family has received boxes upon boxes of sugary goodness from neighbors, coworkers, and family friends.

Given my very overt love for these goodies, ammaa has tasked me with eating my way through these gifts. A couple nights ago at dinner, I noticed the brightly colored package sitting on the kitchen table. After inquiring about its origins to find that it was yet another Diwali gift, I was invited to indulge in its contents. What I encountered was the demure soan papdi, complete with a few almonds and a whole bunch of cardamom. I took a pinch of the flaky, nutty goodness and had what was nothing short of an out of body experience.]

Participating in these festivities was, in short, incredible. I was lucky enough to be a part of space where men and women interacted with a degree of mutual respect and friendship that was seriously heart warming and so fun to be a part of. I was spontaneous in joining a handful of strangers and dancing to a song I'd never heard of, and I took a chance that allowed me to participate in an experience that was culturally significant and informative. I will definitely remember this as one of my favorite nights in India.

*We all know I couldn’t get through one full blog post without mentioning the deliciousness of south Indian food.