For those of you who don’t know what Bhangra is, Bhangra is a form of Hindi music and folk dance. It is an art form that energizes a formidable following – mostly consisting of those with Indian ancestry. There seems to be a traditional dance aspect to it, often in boy-girl pairs. However, there are also aspects that appear like martial arts and instruments. There are several dimensions and I guess the only way to really understand it is to see it. I myself had no idea what Bhangra was until my Indian friend Chirag (Indian in family background, American in nationality) told me about it and invited me to the Boston Bhangra show, which took place yesterday from about 7:00 to about 10:30.
I guess you could say that I had somewhat of an Indian Saturday since I went to an Indian restaurant for brunch in the early afternoon. The place was the Bombay Café on Mass Ave here in Boston. A friend recommended it to me. It’s got a good lunch deal – I got a whole all-you-can-eat weekend buffet for only $6.95 (not including tax.) As far as Indian food goes, I’m a fan of a good old chicken tika masala. But everything looked good so I had a little bit of everything on my plate. That’s something I love about buffets – they cater to indecisiveness ever-so nicely.
So, now, how I ended up going to the Boston Bhangra show. Like I said before, my buddy Chirag, who goes every year, mentioned it to me and I, despite having not a clue in the world what Bhangra was, graciously agreed to accompany him along with some other mutual friends of ours. After all, I love a good cultural fling – I do not immerse myself in multiculturalism on a daily basis, but I do genuinely enjoy it as a part of my whole worldly experience. I bought my ticket – or, more accurately, Chirag bought my ticket and I reimbursed him, for $20. It’s a pretty steep price but the show goes on for a while and I don’t do this kind of thing very often, so it seemed worth it. Read the rest of this entry »
