Today we had a unique experience - we went to the Charlotte India Festival in uptown Charlotte. It was nice - many of the sights and sounds of Charlotte but with many Indians.
When we got there, Tara laughed and said, "Let's find an Indian family and ask to have our picture taken with them."
Hilarious!
Some snaps...
^ The corner of Trade and Tryon was the location - smack in the heart of Charlotte.
^ The Blumenthal Performing Arts Center was the location of many exhibits, clothing vendors, etc.
^ Me and the little guys.
^ A nice charity mixed in with the food vendors, etc. Enjoyed talking to them...
^ Liam standing in line for chaat. It took a while.
^ The "Indian queue" phenomenon was reduced, but not absent. This was the line Liam was in, struggling to keep his place.
He eventually got his chaat.
^ A Charlotte girl in Gujarati dress, as part of a dance troop. She leads an otherwise comfortable, American life - this garb is rare. But it is a beauful outfit, no?
^ Trade and Tryon. This was the first Indian Festival (they have been going on for 15 years, we have always attended) where the crowd was large enough to justify blocking off the street. This was a source of pride, I think. Notice the police car in the picture.
^ We don't like mimes, so it was funny that we saw one as we left the Festival.
^ The family went back to the car and drove away.
A good time was had by all.
We saw our friend Ramesh Kaza at the Festival. He was in Hyderabad with us, he is visiting Charlotte on business.
I said to him, "Ramesh, I came here and stood in line for a long time to get a little food for a lot of money. In India, there was no line, alot of food, and it cost very little money. That's the difference!"
We had a good laugh.
Abdul - if you're reading this, my Hindi was excellent during one conversation that I had, aur sab log bahut ascharya ho rahe the!
