It was Saturday night in McLeod Ganj and I made one request, to take part in the Indian dance party taking place in a "fine dining" restaurant called Black Magic. *Note: This is the one restaurant in town that we have no interest in eating at, due to unusually forward hosts who beckon us to come in off the street as if we were strolling through Little Italy. Not to mention, it has a cheesy ritz about it (no pun intended). (Eric made me write that!) Anyway we got to this dance party around 11pm and were quick to notice that I was the only woman there! Against my better judgement, we decided to stay. (Who could possibly resist the crazy bhangra music?) We weren't there more than 10 seconds and were invited to dance with some very happy Panjabi fellows. In fact, we were treated like long lost friends; they were taking pictures with us, dancing, laughing, everything... It got a little out of hand though. We managed to take care of ourselves, but not before being befriended on facebook and invited to tomorrow's cricket match between Kings XI Punjab and the Delhi DareDevils. Of course we accepted and we planned to meet them the next day around noon.
Around 9am the next morning we walked through the main square on our way to breakfast and ran into the same gang who then invited us on a hike to Bhagsu Waterfall (approx. 4 km away). This hike included a short taxi drive with 10 of us crammed in a hot jeep, through awful traffic that eventually landed us in the same spot we started at. Eric and I just chuckled at our new friends' attempt to reduce the amount of walking involved in the hike, only to lengthen our hike by another 20 minutes anyway. When we started our hike again, despite the time crunch we were in. We made a pitstop for some pani poori... well about 30 pani poori (AKA. Gul Gupay) that was shared amongst 5 people!
Once we got to Bhagsu Waterfall Eric jumped into the ice cold pit of the fall with the others, while I stayed dry, and entertained the paparazzi (eventually dipping in as much as was fit for a woman). Keep in mind the Cricket game we planned on seeing with these guys was at 4pm. Traffic was horrendous in that direction and we were told that we should be there by 2pm to ensure we got a seat (even if you have tickets, you are not guaranteeed a seat in the stadium). Eric and I didn't even have tickets yet and it was 2:00pm by the time we left the waterfalls. Our new friends didn't seem in a hurry at all though, so we went with the flow. By the time we got down to the bottom of the hill (and made one more pitstop at the pani poor stand) our friends were getting more anxious about getting to the Cricket game. We all started looking for ways to get Eric and I tickets. After discovering where to buy them in McLeod Ganj, we started in that direction around 3:00pm. The walk there was so funny because our friends said that we were in a hurry, but then on our way to the ticket center, this group of Sikhs made their rounds through the Buddhist prayer wheels (adding on another 5 minutes.) And before Eric and I could finish our way through them, they insisted that we were in a hurry again. This was a common theme throughout our journey up and down Bhagsu Falls and to the stadium. Definitely an interesting dynamic compared to the Western perception of hurrying.
Once we arrived at the stadium, the guards almost confiscated Eric's camera battery so that he couldn't take pictures at the game (because he is a foreigner), until one of our friends insisted that he would keep the battery until afterwards. I guess they don't want spies or something in the stadium. Then we walked through these bamboo lined walkways that led us through the old cricket stadium. This stadium resembled an ancient Roman colosseum! Especially with the bamboo lined walkways tied together with rope, I felt like I just took a step back into the Middle Ages!
On to the Cricket match! This was seriously one of the best sports games ever! Primarily because of the energetic audience. I swear to you, Eric and I probably got more exercise jumping up and down and dancing than the players did! Every other play, whether the batter hit a four, six, or the fielders got an out, the crowd would start dancing and singing! It was an incredibly celebratory atmosphere no matter which team you were rooting for. I must say that I was very proud of my heritage due to the crazy happy and celebratory atmosphere that the Panjabi crowd cultivated. Also, our new friends that we came with were so much fun and carefree! We immediately became close with them. To sum it up...This entire weekend was absolutely confusing and exhilarating at the same time. We loved it! :)
It didn't end there. Afterwards, they offered to take us home, but Eric and I insisted that we could get a taxi back. (They had a long drive back to Delhi.) Little did we know how difficult it would be to find a taxi, bus or even a proper direction as to how to find our way back to McLeod Ganj. After asking about 3 police officers and some Indian fans who all gave us conflicting and misguided information, a Tibetan monk at least pointed us in the right direction of the town. We walked for about 45 minutes to an hour around the stadium and in the direction the monk pointed us. A taxi driver ended up finding us as Eric pulled me out of the way of some crazy motorcyclist preparing to run me over. It seemed like a dash of luck, but honestly I was so worried that we couldn't find transportation that I took my Auntie's advice and started repeating the Sikh prayer to myself. I repeated it 3 times and less than 5 minutes later we found a little restaurant and the taxi driver who needed our business as much as we needed his help. Thank you, Auntie Salwinder!
After getting home we caught some highlights from the day's cricket games knowing that we had been captured on TV a couple times throughout the game (the guy next to Eric received a call on his cell and told us his friend had spotted him on the TV dancing with some white guy...turns out this friendly guy owns a travel agency we pass by everyday)... And when we got back to the room, I was so exhausted that my legs were aching from the day's festivities. I don't think we even changed clothes as we fell fast asleep.
Around 9am the next morning we walked through the main square on our way to breakfast and ran into the same gang who then invited us on a hike to Bhagsu Waterfall (approx. 4 km away). This hike included a short taxi drive with 10 of us crammed in a hot jeep, through awful traffic that eventually landed us in the same spot we started at. Eric and I just chuckled at our new friends' attempt to reduce the amount of walking involved in the hike, only to lengthen our hike by another 20 minutes anyway. When we started our hike again, despite the time crunch we were in. We made a pitstop for some pani poori... well about 30 pani poori (AKA. Gul Gupay) that was shared amongst 5 people!
Once we got to Bhagsu Waterfall Eric jumped into the ice cold pit of the fall with the others, while I stayed dry, and entertained the paparazzi (eventually dipping in as much as was fit for a woman). Keep in mind the Cricket game we planned on seeing with these guys was at 4pm. Traffic was horrendous in that direction and we were told that we should be there by 2pm to ensure we got a seat (even if you have tickets, you are not guaranteeed a seat in the stadium). Eric and I didn't even have tickets yet and it was 2:00pm by the time we left the waterfalls. Our new friends didn't seem in a hurry at all though, so we went with the flow. By the time we got down to the bottom of the hill (and made one more pitstop at the pani poor stand) our friends were getting more anxious about getting to the Cricket game. We all started looking for ways to get Eric and I tickets. After discovering where to buy them in McLeod Ganj, we started in that direction around 3:00pm. The walk there was so funny because our friends said that we were in a hurry, but then on our way to the ticket center, this group of Sikhs made their rounds through the Buddhist prayer wheels (adding on another 5 minutes.) And before Eric and I could finish our way through them, they insisted that we were in a hurry again. This was a common theme throughout our journey up and down Bhagsu Falls and to the stadium. Definitely an interesting dynamic compared to the Western perception of hurrying.
Once we arrived at the stadium, the guards almost confiscated Eric's camera battery so that he couldn't take pictures at the game (because he is a foreigner), until one of our friends insisted that he would keep the battery until afterwards. I guess they don't want spies or something in the stadium. Then we walked through these bamboo lined walkways that led us through the old cricket stadium. This stadium resembled an ancient Roman colosseum! Especially with the bamboo lined walkways tied together with rope, I felt like I just took a step back into the Middle Ages!
On to the Cricket match! This was seriously one of the best sports games ever! Primarily because of the energetic audience. I swear to you, Eric and I probably got more exercise jumping up and down and dancing than the players did! Every other play, whether the batter hit a four, six, or the fielders got an out, the crowd would start dancing and singing! It was an incredibly celebratory atmosphere no matter which team you were rooting for. I must say that I was very proud of my heritage due to the crazy happy and celebratory atmosphere that the Panjabi crowd cultivated. Also, our new friends that we came with were so much fun and carefree! We immediately became close with them. To sum it up...This entire weekend was absolutely confusing and exhilarating at the same time. We loved it! :)
It didn't end there. Afterwards, they offered to take us home, but Eric and I insisted that we could get a taxi back. (They had a long drive back to Delhi.) Little did we know how difficult it would be to find a taxi, bus or even a proper direction as to how to find our way back to McLeod Ganj. After asking about 3 police officers and some Indian fans who all gave us conflicting and misguided information, a Tibetan monk at least pointed us in the right direction of the town. We walked for about 45 minutes to an hour around the stadium and in the direction the monk pointed us. A taxi driver ended up finding us as Eric pulled me out of the way of some crazy motorcyclist preparing to run me over. It seemed like a dash of luck, but honestly I was so worried that we couldn't find transportation that I took my Auntie's advice and started repeating the Sikh prayer to myself. I repeated it 3 times and less than 5 minutes later we found a little restaurant and the taxi driver who needed our business as much as we needed his help. Thank you, Auntie Salwinder!
After getting home we caught some highlights from the day's cricket games knowing that we had been captured on TV a couple times throughout the game (the guy next to Eric received a call on his cell and told us his friend had spotted him on the TV dancing with some white guy...turns out this friendly guy owns a travel agency we pass by everyday)... And when we got back to the room, I was so exhausted that my legs were aching from the day's festivities. I don't think we even changed clothes as we fell fast asleep.
I love your posts. It's funny how different it is when these adventures are being experienced by someone you know (vs in a book). Please be careful!!! Love you both.
ReplyDeletePAMMI NOT GUL GAPPAY IT IS GOL GAPPA..........
ReplyDeleteREMEMBER WHEN U WERE STANDING ON CHAIR AND ERIC WAS STANDING ON FLOOR , AT THAT TIME HEIGHT OF UR BOTH LUKS EQUAL AND WHAT ABOUT THE WORDS WE SAY MANY TIMES IN THE STADIUM N MANY PEOPLES ARE ALSO USING THAT WORDS ON THAT DAY......
IT WERE BAI JAO...............
DO U REMEMBER......
Oh Pammi, you're so crazy! ; )
ReplyDelete