School days

Today a group of us went to the local school for a yearly festival. Sorry, forgot the festival name but our group, the community, parents and locals were honored with a delicious lunch and puja (prayer) ceremony. Inside a tented shaded area an altar draped with garlands was set up. Incense was burning away, there was drumming, singing and dancing...quite spectacular. A blinged out baby wearing eyeliner posed for me...her Mom was delighted when I showed her the picture. We were mobbed with kids who wanted us to take their pictures...the uniforms were adorable. The girls must wear their hair in pigtails...most were looped and tied. Very friendly, articulate kids who knew quite a bit about the world and were very interested in where we were all from. I asked one boy why his English was so good and he told me his favorite American tv show was wrestling! Despite that fact his English was impeccable.

A man was cooking the small fried breads we had for lunch right by the serving area in a giant cauldron of bubbling oil. The kids were patting them out and he flipped them into the boiling oil and then fished them out with a big spoon. Kids deftly avoided the splashing oil as they stepped by him. I laughed to myself as I imagined the scene in the U.S....a fiberglass shield with a sanitized man behind it, permission slips needed to watch the cooking! A different style of living  ;-)