Is that a needle through my nose?

Thursday was a fantastic day filled with dancing and singing and basic tomfoolery. My study abroad group had our folk arts/talent show today, and it was a roarin’ good time. We began by performing a traditional Bengali wedding dance, which obviously, I rocked by playing a stern mother, keeping the bride and the groom from making googly eyes at each other. After this beautiful performance that would put the professionals to tears, we began our infamous talent show. Little do the kakas and kakimas know that most of us were joking with our performances and didn’t take anything extremely seriously. Tiffany desperately wanted to recite a poem from a friend of ours book, which if you read you will understand why we find it so entertaining. His book is dedicated to his dramatic breakup with his ex-girlfriend, and this left him with numerous materials for epic poems. So, Tiffany read one of his poems while I sang, of course, “My Heart Will Go On”, especially because Titanic 3D just came out in theaters, definitely appropriate. It was a performance of a lifetime, and I will never forget those glorious 3 minutes of passion and poetry and singing. The Third Herd, as my roommates and I prefer to call ourselves, also performed a stomp number. We stomped our hearts out, and I have it on video to prove how legitimate we are and how I can take it to the streets any day!

On Friday, we had basically our last class at St. Xavier’s, and then I went on an exploration of Courtney and Kelsey’s neighborhood and home for the afternoon and evening. I was able to walk dawn Lake Road and see the eclectic and unique market filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, colorful flowers, and countless nick-knacks.  We also walked around the Gariahat Market which was absolutely insane but fabulous because it is the night before the Bengali New Year. Despite the crowds of people pushing and fighting over a sari, which was humorous to witness, I managed to find my way to the piercing shop. I literally walked into  the shop, asked the man if he could pierce my nose, got the head nod, sat down in the chair, sterilized my nose, ring and needles, clamped my nose, stuck the needle in, then the ring and it was done. In less than 5 minutes, I kid you not and I have witnesses, I got my nose pierced! I feel utterly BA, and authentically Indian now that I have this thing wedged in my nose. Also, better yet, I had the approval of Mama Lais. I just felt so adventurous today, and I’m thankful I am not one that gets addicted to piercings, because then we’d be in trouble.