Ryan and Steph go to Bollywood

No, we haven't changed our Quito flight to Mumbai, but we have spent an evening being entertained by India's finest.

Now...I'm going to have to back-track a few years to really illustrate what strikes me as so incredible about this event.

Picture it, fall quarter 2003 at Ohio State. A suite-mate of mine was participating in an Indian-American Association event involving some song and dance numbers. I went along to see the show and support her. Of all the performances, one song stuck in my head. I'd later find out that it is called "Chalka Re."

Years would go by before I looked up the song on YouTube (I'm amazed that I remembered the name of it!) It was maybe 2007 or 8 by the time I looked up the video. I realized the song was from a movie called Saathyia. Fine. I watched the clip, and started clicking on some "related videos" in the side bar of the screen.

One video showed a young girl singing the song on an Indian TV show, appearing to be the equivalent of American Idol. Here is the link to this video. (This isn't the original video that I watched, although same performance.) The girls name was Anwesha, and I would later learn that she was runner-up on the show.

I really loved her version and it was one of my favorite videos. I literally watched it at least 2 dozen times over the years since.

Cut to January 2011 when I get a job with this Indian physician. I'm working, occasionally attending small social events such as a party at the anesthesiologist's house, a birthday party for the Doc, a lunch at an Indian restaurant nearby, etc.

This brings us to last night. My boss was the MC for this fundraiser for the Central Ohio Bengali Cultural Association. She offered tickets to Ryan and I, and though we weren't quite sure what to expect, we looked forward to the show.

When Dr. S handed me our tickets, I noticed the performers were listed. Yes. You guessed it...ANWESHA! Can you believe it?

It all started in 2003 with a chance performance by a bunch of students... And now here I am sitting in the McCoy Center for the Arts. All the way from India...through 8 years...and here I am sitting in a crowd of Indians and Anwesha is preforming. Tell me thats not crazy!

I know a total of maybe 3 Indian artists: Anwesha, A.R. Rahman, and a song from the movie Dil Se. Of all the artists in all of India, Anwesha came to sing. Wow.

Some pics from the night.

We were told to come early, ha!

Here she is!We werethe only white people in attendance, and the others weren't afraid to do a double take as we walked to our seats. We think we caught 2 of the ushers discussing what the hell Ryan and I were doing there. This whole thing was a double rainbow experience for me.

"You're overdue on your blog"

Thanks for the reminder, Mom!

The past month has ushered in fall. Ryan and I made a failed attempt at a pumpkin pie (it ended up tasting like a milk pie). We went apple picking (2 of them are baking in the oven as I blog). Ryan completed his first marathon in under 4 hours. I signed up for a dance competition in November.

So yes - things are happening :) Ryan bet me 10 dollars that I wouldn't be able to hold off on the pumpkin spice coffee creamer until our regular half-and-half is gone. I lost this bet, but since we are both broke, he agreed not to send his bookie after me.

With this competition coming up, I am forced to again address my look. Fake eyelashes are purchased, as is a fake "bun" for the back of my hair. I bought it at a store that sells wigs, extensions, cheap jewelry and nails. I brought it home only to discover that it was not a match for my hair color. It was too light! Of course the woman at the store refused to exchange it. I stood at the register for a minute with a really sad expression on my face, just like my mom taught me, and it worked! They didn't exchange it, but the owner and a staff member comped me some gel-type stuff to paint onto it to make it darker, and now it is a closer match.

Instead of looking like a fake bun that's too light for my hair, it now looks like a fake bun that's too light for my hair and covered in shoe polish. Oh well. Honsetly, the hair is the least of my worries.

I have an ebay dress on the way that will either fit or take me back to my tap days at the Canfield Dance Company. I won't bore you with the details, but I looked very patriotic and very well-fed.

My other outfit is from a legit dancewear company so I have more hope for that.

And then there is the dancing itself. Oh the dancing. All I can say is that I really hope I can get it together by the time I have to do this in front of people. I want to at least get out there and not look like a fool with my shoe-polish bun.

But anyway - lets dance across that bridge when we come to it.

ECUADOR!!!! We are pretty much done planning! Hotels are 90% booked and confirmed, flights are settled. All that's left is printing out all our directions and confirmations, color-coding them by city and packing! I am SO excited for this trip!