My short time is winding down and my wonderful friends here (Kelly, Minh, Reza, Jantu, Phalguni, Pompi, and so many others) wanted to make the most of it. We talked about a rock concert or a Bollywood movie, but honestly it did not matter to me as long as I got to spend it with our local friends. It was Friday night and we arrived at 8:40pm for the 8:30pm movie and it was full, showing up fashionably late does not go over so well in other countries haha.
So the 6 of us (Jantu, Reza, Haruti?, Minh, Kels, and I) started walking on the local street in search of something that was open at 8:40pm like a restaurant or bar. It is quite amazing, everything is shut down and women typically do not walk the streets at night. While walking, we hear cheering, chanting, and drums approaching. I see two men holding drums and think that it is another celebration of the Saraswati Puja goddess. Reza tells me that it is actually a funeral, somebody has just passed away. Sure enough I see a lifeless body underneath the clear sheets of the wooden shrine-like structure that follows the drums. I think Reza said that there is also a day of mourning the next day but since this individual just passed away, they are celebrating the fact that the person has left this world for a better one. When Kelly and I explain that in our culture: funerals consist of wearing dark clothes and mourning, our local friends seem a bit puzzled. I think it’s a neat concept celebrating the end of life and beginning of a new spiritual journey.
We all manage to find one restaurant open and I had the best chicken tikka masala and iced coffee ever. Reza is being hilarious causing Kelly to roll in laughter. At times the boys like being facetious and talk about us in Assamese or Bengali so we retaliate by communicating in Spanish. This started an English only truce haha. Somehow since it’s my last night my friends force me to sing but I hate singing except when playing rock band. But Kelly is my moral support and we belt out some lines of Bohemian Rhapsody in the restaurant haha. After being pretty much forced to leave the restaurant at 10pm on the dot, we walk back to our hotel. Outside there are two horizontal poles to sit on. The three of us girls sit on one side while the boys sit on another. We talk and then decide to start singing. Minh, Kelly, and I are belting out Don’t Stop Believing and the boys are singing Hindi songs. It felt like we were in a corny musical where the girls and boys are divided and each group represents a different culture and music was bringing it all together. Then Californication and Hotel California are played on a cell phone and all 6 of us sing along. While our musical score is going on, to the very right of me packs of wild dogs are having some sort of turf war and we watch as a female alpha dog intimidates and mounts males of the opposite pack. Men on motorcycles stare at us all as they drive by, not sure if its because Kelly stands out (poor single redhead in all of Guwahati), girls are out at night, or that we are congregated and singing. The boys walk us to our hotel door as they always do and we end the night…fabulous last night with wonderful friends, will definitely miss them.
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