| May 31, 2003 - The Illumination of India |
| Dear Friends, have you ever attended something that was supposed to be taken very seriously, but you found it so funny you couldn't help but laugh? Well, that has happend to JOHNNYLEEN on a number of occasions and I'm going to relate two of them to you right now. A few years ago it was the 50th anniversary of India's independence from Britain. So JOHNNYLEEN, being the culture vulture that he is, decided it would be interesting to attend a celebration in a nearby school. I was sure I would see Classical Indian dancing and performances on sitars, etc. When I arrived at the school, I walked around a bit, looked at Sanskrit grammars for sale, and ate a little something. Then I went to the auditorium where various speeches and performances were going to be given. At the door someone handed me a program and I discovered that they had been lucky enough to get the ambassador from India's wife to participate in the celebration. I'll call her Mrs. Ramachandran since I don't remember her real name. Anyway, she was going to do something called "The Illumination of India". Now of course I was all a-dither because I thought it would be some exotic ritual with singing and chanting that would celebrate thousands of years of Hindu history and culture. At the rear of the stage was a set of curtains and they had hooked a large posterboard on them that had an outline of the subcontinent of India on it. In front of that was a podium for the various speakers. Some man got up there and announced, "And now Mrs. Ramachandran, the wife of the ambassador from India, will perform the Illumination of India." Everyone waited in hushed anticipation as Mrs. Ramachandran stood and walked to the podium. Someone handed her an electric cord and she stooped and plugged it into the wall. Immediately all of these little Christmas lights began twinkling, that had been strung along the outline of India! The audience jumped to its feet and broke out into thunderous applause. JOHNNYLEEN on the other hand almost plotzed from laughter. It was all I could do to keep a straight face! I felt my whole body quivering as I suppressed the guffaws that wanted to escape my gullet. Luckily everyone was focused on Mrs. Ramachandran and the Christmas tree lights, so I was able to escape notice. It really was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life and everyone I've ever told the story to, even my Indian friends, has found it funny. Whereas I had expected some grandscale Hollywood production based on a metaphorical interpretation of "illumination", it was reduced to a string of tacky Christmas lights. So much for the "illumination" of India. Another time when I was about 11, I was at a funeral for a great aunt of mine. I don't know what in the world our parents were thinking, but they allowed my cousins and me to all sit together in a pew right in the middle of the chapel. Funerals are very serious affairs, as you know, but right in the middle of this one, one of my cousins noticed a fly that had landed on the back of the pew in front of us. It walked here and it walked there. Then it stopped and rubbed its antennae with its legs scrabbling around. Then it went around in circles and stopped again and groomed itself again. The more it wandered about and waved its legs around in a cleaning frenzy, the harder it was for us not to laugh. I don't know how we managed to escape the notice of the adults around us unless they were just too grief-stricken to pay attention. I just knew we were going to get caught and get in trouble, but no one ever said anything about it; at least not to me. That was my first funeral ever and I remember thinking that had I known they could be so much fun, I would have begged to go to one earlier! Next entry Previous entry Go to diary entries Go back home |