L-I-F-E

28 Aout 2006

...And then, a wedding.

We had three days of celebrating recently, because of a wedding which
took place in a house next to ours. In fact, where the actual
'ceremony' happened, or even if there was such a thing, are questions
I can't answer. All I know is that the bride lives in the hut which
sits with its back to me whenever I'm out on my little porch, and the
people streamed through our streets each night, and ate mountains of
food under a tent during the day. Abu came back periodically with his
hand covered in rice. "What did you eat?" I asked him. He said, "Rice
and meat. And also milk."
I must be psychic, because somehow I knew that ......

The first night was the biggest (these things seem to slowly fizzle
out over time). There were big pots bubbling over glowing coals, and
smoke. There was singing and clapping, there were limbs and faces
glistening with sweat as the men danced in a circle by flashlight. I
abstained this time and only clapped, and tried to weave in and out of
the bodies without incident. At times like this one, it feels so
surreal here, as if its only a loud, smoky and impenetrable illusion,
and I am only a ghost.

Yet no matter what I feel about life here, which spans the range of
emotions from adulation to repulsion, I can always take joy in the
fact that children everywhere are basically the same. Two nights ago,
we sat on the hsera together and made faces at each other, by putting
our fingers in the various orifices of our heads and pulling. They
didn't do so bad, but I do a pretty decent saggy-eyed, snarling pig
snout if I do say so myself.