Today is Muslim festival day of Eid, when they slice the throats of goats outside, in sacrifice. It is a sight to see, and something that would never take place in the US outside, in let’s say, the parking lot of Jefferson Commons. The Islamic people here also have Addan, which is a prayer offering made throughout the day on a loud speaker. It is something that always catches me off guard here, but something I get used to eventually during my stay. I really appreciate how passionate people here are about their religion. Of course, it can always be a starting point for conflict, but people here seem to respect each others worship practices, at least at the present time.
This city is full of different religions and you can see visual representation of all of them, whether is a crucifix, sardojee (guys with turbans) or traditional Islamic dress, with the women covered and the men wearing the white robe and hat, which I'm not sure what they are called. I wish there was more tolerance for other religions in the US, even though were supposed to have separation between church and state. People in general are just closed minded about faith I think, and a lot of misconceptions are held by the ignorant.
Last night was my cousins wedding, and it was one wild night full of boos, dancing, fighting, and more drinking. I would like to describe my movement on the dance floor, similar to Vince Vaughn in "The Wedding Crashers" and I suspect a few ladies in attendance would agree. My first time "jiving" and swing dancing, and I think I've got it down to a science.
Unfortunately, some guys took the movie too seriously, and decided to try there luck gate crashing and making moves on the younger girls at the reception. One of the girls happened to be my 15 year old cousin and ended in a bloody fight between my uncles, and these idiots. I heard stories about how tough my uncles were in their youth, and how they were over protective of their 6 younger sisters, but last night I saw this first hand, and the guys that messed with their daughters will spend a few weeks contemplating their mistake while their wounds heal from getting punched, kicked, and smacked. My uncle from Australia, who is probably the hot head of the 4 had this guy by the throat when I got there to help, and was saying "why did you touch my daughter" and smacking him in the face over and over. My uncle Ozzie, who’s about 5 ft 3, but as touch as nails gave some guy a pounding, and I had to pull him off because his daughter begged me to, out of fear that he would kill the guy. It was extremely intense, and I've never seen anything like it.
I had mixed feelings about the fight. I was proud that my uncles stood up for their daughters like they did, and I would hope to do the same if put in that position someday, but I felt bad for the married couple to have such a thing happen on their wedding day, after so much preparation. The night ended on a good note however, with the custom festival songs played, more traditional Goan dancing and a few whiskeys with my uncles to close out the bar. . It was good to see most of my D'Mello family at the wedding toowe had a blast during our time together yesterday as well.
Tonight is the 3rd and final celebration for the wedding, and will be a final party, with our family and Jassir, the groom’s family. (The first night was just our family, the second was the wedding) I am expected to entertain everyone with a few songs on the guitar, and have selected the song Mr. Jones as my encore.
"Someboy gonna get a hurtin real bad" is from the India comedian Russell Peters stand up act on comedy central. I highly recommend seeing this guy, he is hilarious.
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