Garba

October 14th, 

Nikul, laura, Mike and I decided to make Indian food for dinner and it turned out fantastic. We made Chicken tikka masala and curried potatoes. I was quite proud at how good they came out. Nikul found this Indian grocery store that sold spices and stuff so we were able to get what we needed to make that. Then while eating the food we watched one of Nikul's Indian movies. Which I would describe most accurately as a mix between disco and psychedelic. Me and Nikul did the cooking and we decided to make rice mounds to make the dishes more fancy :)  It was fun. 

The final presentation... with a garnish of oregano :) 

      But the Best part as the people at the Indian restaurant invited Nikul to come celebrate Garba with them which is a religious holiday. Nikul invited us and we all we to this kind  of like event room. It was kind of awkward at first, but eventually they invited us to sit and participate in the ceremonies. We were all very white so it kinda felt awkward I think for some of us, but as the ceremonies progressed a little boy came up to be and handed me rose pedals to put on a shrine so I did. Thats when the other people there started talking to us. This holiday is typically from an area in India called Gujarati, which is where Nikul is from, so he knew the dances really well. We did a group dance where every one holds sticks and they dance in a circle banging sticks together and turning. Everyone there was dressed in traditional Indian cloths. The women wore beautiful saris and even the children wore these adorable outfits. It was really a fun eperience 

example of  Garba