India Craziness

So - I've tried to write about my incredible adventures in Varanasi on the Ganges, but the activities just keep coming and the Internet doesn't so, now I've already had my introduction to Kolkata and said nothing about Varanasi!

I'll tell the story of the best day.
Our guide Shyaam is from a village about three hours from Varanasi city, so we rolled out of town UN style in a white SUV. We kept commenting that India is totally different when seen through the windows of a nice car! The road trip was similar to all driving experiences, but I did wear a seat belt for the first time in two months!
We arrived in the village, which is brick buildings, homemade bricks - with bamboo and rush grass roofs. We sat down with Shyaam's uncles, old and wrinkly, to have tea in the men's hut. Which was just three walls, waist high, with the grass roof, and plastic chairs. They spoke in Hindi, we spoke in English, nodded our heads at each other for a while. Then they said, okay now we go on tour of village.
We walked around a few houses, dodged a few cows, they pointed out the fields. We were surrounded by wheat fields, with women working them in this extreme heat. Resistance to sweating was futile, your shirt would be drenched and there was nothing to do about it, but smile!
We ended our walk at the school. By this time we had gathered quite a following, so eight white people and about fifty Indian villagers file into the school yard. The children had plastic sacks on the ground for their desks, and had placed their books inside their sack for the lunch break. They were deathly afraid of us, possibly the first white people they had ever seen, so the first twenty minutes or so was pretty stunted. We smiled, they stared, we said hi, they stared!
Finally, we took a picture and showed them the camera. That was a hit, a few more pictures led to teaching the high five, and we were starting to get comfortable. By the end of our stay we had a huge circle dancing around the yard to the Hokey Pokey. Great fun.
We went back to Shyaam's house, and he took us into the women's side to have lunch and meet his mother. After a lunch of dahl and chapati, the women brought out their saris, and shuffled the girls into the bedroom. A flurry of fabric, stuffing boobs into blouses, and tube of lipstick and a comb and we all came out in full Indian glory. The fact that I would have to wear a sari everyday is another reason why I would have made a horrible Indian woman!
As we are getting the feel for this new tight, and yet revealing dress, the young niece says, okay we dance now. They pushed us into the "tv" room, and turned on the music. We started to sway and snap, when the women jumped into the middle of our circle to teach us some Indian moves. It is amazing what a chaste Indian woman, who doesn't show her ankles will bust out on the dance floor when no men are present. Lots of hips shaking!
We had an amazing day experiencing real India. Prior to the village we had only interacted with three Indian women, and they were all involved with the tourism industry which means, they are getting something out of the transaction. These women were just ecstatic to have us in their home, and share their worlds with us.
From the hokey pokey to shaka laka boom - it was a wild day!