Arangetram

Who would've guessed that I'd be introduced to Indian and Hindu culture in Gaborone?!
My friend described India's population explosion: She lives in Broadhurst, a section of Gaborone, which has about twenty thousand residents; she says that a similar sized area in India would contain the entire population of Botswana - 1.8 million people! In response to this crowding, many Indian people have moved to Gaborone in the past 10-15 years.
Last night, I attended an arangetram at Maitisong, a cultural theatre of Gaborone located on campus at Maru-a-Pula. Many Indian girls study Indian classical dance, a type of dance involving quick foot movements, intricate poses, and delibrate hand and wrist positions. The arangetram is the culminating performance of years of study, a girl's first solo performance. Last night, the graduate demonstrated three types of dance - Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi are the two names which I can remember. In kuchipudi, the girl dances on a round disk (plate), placing her feet on the raise rims and using quick lower body movements to move forwards, backwards, and in circles. The whole evening was very impressive! The arangetram started at about 6:30, and the evening drew to a close at 9:45. The dancer was active for probably about 1 1/2 or 2 hours - what stamina! We had an intermission in which dinner was served. The Indian community in Gaborone is vegetarian, so my excitement at encountering WONDERFUL vegetarian, ethnic Indian food was unmeasurable! We were served boxes with samosas, vegetable cutlets, sandwiches with some type of a green, curry-ish spread, and some type of sweet. To drink I tried some lichi juice - incredible! I'll have to pick some up next time I go to the mall. The dance was incredible - said a "guest speaker" (a friend of the family asked to talk for a few minutes about the girl and her dancing), "I am proud to be Indian, to be from the country where this wonderful form of classical dance originated." (A random side note: this professor was clapped off the stage after talking for 25 minutes...he said, "And now I will finish..." and the crowd erupted in applause. He waited for it to die down, and continued, "And now I will finish with some comments on mudra [the hand positions]..." and the crowd once again interrupted with ample applause. The poor verbose man finally got the message and, with a brief "thank you," retreated from the stage.)
The entire night - free of cost - was incredible. The stage was bedecked with gold and white painted backgrounds, and incense and oil lamps burned in one corner underneath a statue of the Hindu god of dance, scattered with flower petals. One of my Indian friends looked incredibly beautiful dressed in a red and pink half-sari.
I can't wait to talk to my friends more on Monday (they are day students so won't be on campus today) and learn more about Hindu-ism and Indian culture.