Sixth Day - Home Visits!

We had art lessons shortly after arriving in school. We were each given a blank bookmark, which we had to fill up with drawings in the Madhupani style, a genre of Indian art. Later, we had a dance demonstration by 2 famous Indian dance instructors and their daughter. We were wowed by the intricacies of all the dance steps and the vivacity of the expressions on the dancer’s face. We got to join in a mass dance later, aided and abetted by the students of the school, who showed great patience and perseverance in teaching us their dances, especially when many of us had psychomotor issues! To round up the day, we had a fascinating lesson on Vedic Mathematics, which teaches us mathematical shortcuts to multiplication and subtraction. It was enlightening! We then waited in suspense to meet our hosts for the home visit.
This is an account of a group’s visit to an Indian home:
We boarded the school bus which was airy, on account of it having open windows. On the way, we interacted with the students, we had a bumpy ride as we enjoyed the “fragrance” of camel dung. On our arrival, we were given a warm welcome by the hosts. The student host’s mother offered us something for tea- vegetable cutlets and cakes. She also offered us a unique drink - minty juice with lemon and sugar. It was refreshing!
After a short break, we decided to play games with the students. We played a card game with them. It involves giving yourself a false name and cards are dealt to everyone. On the count of three, everyone shows the other players their top cards. If you have the same card as someone else, you must say their false name before the other party does. You then give your cards to the other person. The person who does not get rid of all his or her cards loses. In the end, Gigg lost the game and as a forfeit, we made him close his eyes while the girls dressed him in a sari. It was absolutely hilarious! Afterwards, we all dressed up in the traditional Indian dress- saris and dhotis. It was funny to see most of us dressed up so flamboyantly.
We then went to the terrace at the top of the apartments. It gave us a panoramic view of Bangalore as the host gave us a quick commentary on the development of her neighbourhood. We were taken next to the Sports Hall and park for recreational activities such as chess, table tennis and basketball. We really enjoyed ourselves! After all the fun and games, we took a nice stroll back to the house, where a sumptuous meal awaited us. We tucked into steaming bowls of homemade tomato soup, pasta and rice. We concluded the feast with Indian sweetmeats and a mango dessert.
After thanking our hosts for the feast, we bade them farewell and left, with fond memories of our visit fresh in our minds.