I don't care, I Groove instead.

“I Don’t Know About Others But I AM GOING TO DANCE AT MY OWN WEDDING/HALDI!” 

Starting the post with such a statement because well that’s the point I have to make. It is for some judgmental people out there. A recent family function has inspired me to write it out.

I am not aware about other castes much but we Maharashtrians have a haldi ceremony which is one day before the wedding. Other than applying turmeric paste mixture on each other’s faces, the ceremony is characterized by alcohol and loud music. You don’t need to be a genius to guess what follows next. The typical ‘2 ghoont andar toh hum sikandar’ personalities will show off their moves better than Jagger on really shady songs.

Those who know me well will be aware that I for one absolutely cannot control my feet when there is groovy music being played. By groovy I don’t mean DJs but banjo-dhol kinda music. I can go on dancing for hours together. I have strangers (within the family) coming up and saying you dance so well. Well, and that’s how I get familiar to how I am related to them. I tend to make acquaintances with people while dancing. We share the same energy and after a point we stop and ask, “Aap kaun?” Get the point right? 

But there are other strangers who seem to have a problem with jubilation. They start judging your femininity based on your energy. They’ll pass comments about your ways of enjoying. They’ll stare at you as if never seen a girl dancing. Talk behind my back and comment on my upbringing. Why? All because I enjoy myself dancing, be it roadside or a platform stage. It is not just about me that I speak. In the recent function that I attended, all the women from the family were dancing with equal enthusiasm. One of them, a mother with a 3 month old daughter made sure her child is asleep and then came to dance with her husband in tow. Such is the spirit. One was expecting her to be beside the child throughout. She was dancing for hours together. Well, I love such people!

Also, it is not everyday where you and your father shake a leg and do a thumka while the rest of the crowd cheers on. Yep, me and my dad danced together, be it for 5 minutes but well we got noticed. So basically even my family hasn’t been able to stop me from dancing. Oh and the delight of watching the drunken dances with moves literally sweeping the floors, their overt expressions and silly laughs of joy.

I am surely dancing in my wedding ceremonies. My best friends I know will take care of the sangeet ceremony. But I will be in my haldi. I do not need to be drunk, I naturally dance in the same euphoria. I will not be tired by dancing but refreshed for the next day! My playlist would be some on these lines, ‘Tare Gin Gin..’, ‘Hookah bar..’ , ‘Hi pori sajuk tupatli..’ , ‘Wat baghtoy rickshawala..’ These kind of songs, Trance pe nachne k liye humlog pub me nahi hai! I will be a part of my own baraat. 

I will make my other half dance, this will be the first step of making him dance to my tunes later. In other terms of being your own sunshine, I’ll be my own entertainer! I know I’ll have my crazy best friends along!

If somewhere by chance my future husband is reading this (I will make him read all my posts so that he knows what kind he is getting hitched to) be ready to dance. You cannot stop me from dancing roadside in our common friend’s haldi or wedding. Besides, you’ll have to dance in our own wedding.