But I Smile Anyway…

Ladies having a boogie!

Many people see these older Indian ladies, walking around in their Indian suits, heads covered, eyes down, as meek mild individuals… ( apart from some daughter-in-laws, who might feel the sharp end of their tongues!)

Well, I need to expel that myth!!!!!

These ladies are FAR FROM innocent!

I was taken aback myself, during the wedding celebrations of my brother-in-law!

It is usual to have lots of ceremonies and gatherings, leading up to the special day and one of them is the Ladies Sangeet, or sometimes called a Mehndi Night.  This is generally a function where all the ladies get together, and there’s singing, dancing, food, and much merriment, all without the need for intoxication.

Now, we have these functions in my family too, and my family are pretty loud, everyone likes a song and dance, but we don’t tend to have segregated functions, its all party time for the men and women, at every opportunity!

But with the more traditional families, this function is left to the ladies, and any men who have had their arms twisted, to attend, or maybe to be taxi driver, will end up in a separate room, or the marquee that will have been erected for the week, having a sneaky drink or 3….

So, back to my discovery.  At the Ladies Sangeet of my brother-in-law there was much fun had. We sang lots of songs, and my best friend was there with me so she played the ‘dholki’ (small hand drum) and I sang, and everyone joined in.  As it wasn’t a main function,we had no official vidiographer, capturing the event, but Hubby’s uncle had his camcorder to hand, so he captured all the lovely songs, and dance, once we started.  After a couple of hours, he decided it was time to take a break, and switched the camera to pause, left it on the tripod and went off for some food.

Well, what can I say… the ladies, these more traditional ones, all heaved a sigh of relief, and it was like a different party. No man in the room, meant no inhibitions… OMG!!! That was it, they looked at one another, and then started singing such naughty, base songs, and oh, the dance moves! The ‘bumping and grinding’, hip thrusts and all sorts!  There were a few of us, from the younger generation who looked on in amazement! We hadn’t seen this side of the women before! It was hilarious!

They didn’t have a care in the world! No man there, no video, they could do as they liked!….. or so they thought…

I was more fascinated in watching them, than joining in, so I wandered to the front, and happened to catch sight of a light… on the camcorder… Uncle had left the video running!!!!! I beckoned his daughter, and my best bud over, and we literally collapsed into a giggling pile!  Oh they thought they had been so sneaky, these naughty, incredibly dirty minded ladies, and now, it was all captured on video!!!

After a half an hour or so, Uncle walked in, and they all went back to innocent songs, and polite dancing…. little did they know what Uncle would be watching, as he edited the tape!!!!

It’s been 5 years since then, you know, and I still haven’t seen the film!!!!!!!