ladies

Music drew me through the lanes until the passages unfolded to reveal a 3-walled platform with a cluster of ladies gathered atop. One drummed tablas, another worked an organ, and all chanted different Hindu songs. This was an all-ladies gathering, with one leader all in red and frequently standing up to shake like I never learned how. She was probably in her late forties but danced with the self-assured sexiness of a woman in the bloom of youth. Ladies would rise, wrap a belt-like rope attached the the fron altar around their waist, and shake their hips, causing the altar to dance. How i longed for a translator. The most beautiful aspect, music aside, was the hugging that followed the altar shake. The shaker would turn around a hug, vigorously, whomever came to greet her.