Um, did that just really happen?

Oh wow, what a day! It started out in the usual way - yoga for me, yoga with the kids, English lesson... and then it went a very unusual way. Annapurna, one of the teachers at the ashram school, was kind enough to organize a trip to the cinema for us. Yes! A Bollywood movie! I was hoping to see one of these while I'm here. What a trip, literally. The ride to the theater was the craziest ride I have ever taken in my life. 19 people in a 7-person Land Rover-type vehicle, 13 young children and 6 adults. We dropped off groups of kids along the way, so this served as the school bus for the day. It was wild.

So there were 6 of us for the movie - Annapurna, me, Cecilia, and three of the older boys/young men at the ashram. I had read that it's a good idea to go to the movies with a male companion here and this is definitely good advice. I've gotten used to the stares here, but they were even more intense in this setting. There were maybe 15 women total in attendance and scores of men. The movie was three hours long with a 15-minute intermission where they walked up and down the aisles selling snacks. It was unlike anything I've ever seen - parts of it felt like a commercial, others like a music video, and there was the craziest underwater SCUBA fight scene I've ever seen... no wait, the ONLY underwater SCUBA fight scene I've ever seen. Rajou, one of the teachers, was kind enough to translate some for me, but there was enough English and a very predictable plotline so that I was able to follow. What an experience.

Last night was a first as well - pizza in India! It was soooo good, mostly because it was something different. Pizza, Coke, and apple pie with ice cream. Mmmmm. Kamla and Loknath also got "finger chips" - French fries. Indian English, or Hinglish, is very odd.


After the movie we walked to Annapurna's house and were invited in. She made us delicious lemon tea that smelled like curry but tasted sweet. I was amazed - she, her husband, and their three children all share a space the size of my room at the ashram. Basically one big bed, a TV and DVDs in the corner, clothes hanging from string strung around the walls, and a kitchen area next to the TV. They do have a cell phone, though. So many contrasts. Despite this, what I would call a difficult living situation, they were so kind, offering tea, water, food, anything. Before we left Annapurna and her sister offered to paint our feet like theirs. We tried to offer them money, but they refused, saying we were sisters.