The Long Road Home

We wake up bright and early, some of us as early as 5am. This is what happens when you go to bed right after dinner. After a light breakfast of poha, a traditional dish of yellow rice and spices, we head to another village to learn about their local governance structures. After another intriguing session of Q&A with the villagers we visit a nearby Hindu temple. The view from the temple is gorgeous.

Once we are back at Kasar Malai, we say our goodbyes to our hosts and the people at the Swades Foundation who made our visit possible.  We embark on a long and bumpy bus ride back to Mumbai. Once we make our way into the outskirts of Mumbai, we stop at a mall for dinner. We spot the familiar golden arches of McDonald’s and we feast on Maharaja Macs and extremely spicy chicken sandwiches. “Watching Mean Girls and eating at Mickey D’s in the past 24 hours – India baby!” exclaimed Don “Rahul Gandhi” Casler (aka “Dandhi”).

A short bus ride later we arrive at the Takshashila Dance Academy for a demonstration of classical Indian dance. The head dance instructor gives us an extensive hour-long lecture on rhythm and different meters which none of us really comprehend. She follows up her lecture by having her students demonstrate the many different types of gaits, walks and spins involved in this particular dance discipline. Finally, we get to the actual performance! Five girls perform an enactment of the Ramayana. The fight scenes are the best. Most of the time, it is hard to tell what’s going on. Thankfully, though, none of us had to do any dancing. After the dance performance, the girls begin serving us food. Most of us are still stuffed from our earlier visit to McDonald’s but we do our best to not be rude. After our second dinner we make our trip back to the Taj. The hot shower feels amazing.