Once Upon an Adventure

I bounce on the balls of my feet, dancing to a throaty high-pitched voice, singing in a foreign language I could not identify. It isn’t the music that I would rock to in my bedroom, but I dance to it anyway. The homestay family, from the rural village in India where my friend and I am staying, stares at me as I perform my impromptu dance.
I grab one of the villager’s hard leathery hands and try to pull her up to join me. Even though I only knew one word in Ladhaki, everyone understood that a dance party had just started. This particular night there were no men in the house, so it was a regular sleep over party – Ladhaki village style.
I twist back and forth, letting my long skirt swish around me, when I notice the housemother stand up. She is a plump, older woman in traditional dress with a round, weather-beaten face. She flicks her hands and sways side-to-side as she dances closer to me. I copy her movements and improvise my own. I turn around and try to get my friend to come dance with us when suddenly I feel a sharp tug on my skirt. I jump around to see my housemother grinning.
“Oh my,” I giggled, “ Mary, she just tried to pants me!” I never imagined I would have to dance out of an old woman’s clutch to prevent my skirt falling to the floor! During that week, our guides had been telling us how conservative the Ladakhi people are, and how we need to respect the culture.
Once everyone in the room realized what the housemother was doing, they began to giggle in delight and joined in on the fun. All the while, I kept dancing and squealing my way around the small room as my housemother playfully tried to pants me.
Lying in bed that night I was overwhelmed by how the words a person says are less important than the attitude a person projects. It is this universal language that never ceases to amaze me as customs and language barriers seem to fade away. Being kind, good natured, and earnest can have a far greater impact than knowing how to say, “Let’s dance!”