Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Melas

Melas: Country fair, rock concert, fashion show, talent show and all brown. If you haven't visited your local mela yet, I highly recommend it. In Europe, these can be rare to find in rural areas, but in America they happen usually once a month around major cities, generally in run-down elementary or middle schools. To avoid being the sole white person there, though, I advise bringing friends, pre-gaming and bringing about $50 for entrance fees.
These programs usually start with a light children's performances. Usually, these involve some really nervous kids singing along to Bengali remixes. Then there's some dance to classic Bengali songs meshed with these irritating DJ beats. This is a fairly new phenomena whereby perfectly amazing songs are ruined in an effort to connect to the so-called ignorant youth. Don't expect any hi-fi Bollywood dancing, though, these dancers only hop and sway.
After this, there's usually some sort of intermission where the Bengalis, who've been talking incessantly, the entire time, now have a mass exodus into the cafeteria. If you follow them, you'll find several stalls selling all kinds of brown stuff like ladoos, most forms of rice, saris and even illegal books. This is the perfect place to find a gift for that special brown person in your life, but be warned the level of noise and heat rivals that of any concert easily.
During the intermission, there will be several announcements telling the group to get back in the auditorium which will be prominently ignored. In fact, only after 20 minutes after intermission will the group reluctantly come back into the auditorium. The second part of these programs features long wandering songs during which you have ample time to evaluate your life and wonder how you ended up in such a desolate place after all. Or nap.
Generally, the last performers are the most important. The crowd will get rowdy, or as rowdy as Bengalis can get. There will be a few fat(ish) lowlife, usually high, 28 to 30 year old males who will come to the front of the auditorium and start dancing, sorta. They will then be ordered to the back to the auditorium and continue shouting.
Shortly thereafter, the program has ended. As you head home, tired, confused and in dire need of aspirin, you will face a huge traffic jam as the brown people slowly filter away.
On second thought, maybe going to one of these events isn't in your main interest.

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