Holy Birthday Party, Batman!

In our Church branch are two families from the US that work for Wal-Mart and are here for two or three years. They arrived in August, like us, and would you believe, both families have boys Isaac's age! crazy. Anyway, Josh Wemsat had his tenth birthday and on November 3rd his mom threw him a party. Wow, what a party. She found a party planning place where they showed you massive lists of all the things you could have and you choose the package of options you want. Your choices included clowns, magicians, inflatables, food, all kinds of animals, all kinds of different entertainment, anything you want. Like she said, you could never afford this sort of shindig in the US, so it is just one more thing you chalk up to a once-in-a-lifetime.
She chose cotton candy, quads to ride, a giant inflatable climbing wall, CAMEL RIDES!!!, a pinata, a popcorn machine, air guns to shoot balloons, a dinosaur to throw darts at, and a mehndi artist. Plus the DJ played (really loud) music. Really, if you couldn't find something you wanted to do at THIS party....!
Both of these "WalMart families" live in what is called a "farmhouse" but I have heard more accurately described as a "plantation". They have large houses, fully-landscaped 5 acre lots, large pools, and full-time staff! 2 gardeners, a cook, a housekeeper, 2 drivers. Yikes!






The party planners brought chairs, tables, a huge tent for shade, and the DJ equipment in addition to the party elements. The cook handled all the food. (he is from Nepal, so the food was not typical Indian) All in all, sounds like a pretty painless way to entertain!





The camel rides were pretty cool! We only went around the yard of course, but you could ride again and again (and some kids did!) It is not really very smooth, and the getting up and down is SCARY! but how cool is it to ride a camel?! I was surprised to note that despite the drapes and fabric and the frame of the saddle that you can hold on to, you actually sit ON the camel - what you feel under you is actual camel.



Sam and I rode, Sam and Alex rode, Miranda rode several times, but Isaac just wouldn't do it. Randy was gone to Pune for work so he didn't ride either :)















When the camel goes down on his front knees to let you off, if FEELS alot steeper and scarier than it looks!











My favorite part was the Mehndi artist. Mehndi is the henna they paint on your body for special occasions in India. There are MANY special occasions in India so you see it alot. You can pretty much do whatever you want, wherever you want, but the thing you see the most is the hands - Indian women do it on the palms of their hands (maybe because it is paler and shows up better...??) but all of us whiteys opted for the backs. The artist has a cone filled with henna goop and he squeezes it out like frosting. This guy was young but VERY GOOD. I was amazed at the patterns. So many women there and I don't think any two were alike.





He puts a thin bead on in whatever pattern (different regional styles, if you knew enough to ask for it - we just let him do whatever) then you let it dry (20 minutes or so - the longer the darker) (hopefully you don't bump it) then brush it off and there you are!

After we got our hands done, and the line was a bit shorter, a bunch of us went back for foot or ankle mehndi.

Notice the one lady's hand (palm) - she is the Wemsat's housekeeper and she got a specific design, and if you look you can see hers is VERY detailed and elaborate, with a thinner line. This was a popular attraction - there was always a line and I don't think there was a single female that went home without a henna tattoo!

It is very traditional for weddings and for Diwali. To have it done on the street would cost about 25 rupees for simple palm tattoo, unless it is within a day or two of Diwali and then the price goes way up!

Sam did her hands front and back, which made scratching her nose or eating a bit tricky! She did her ankle too. I did backs of hands and one ankle. One girl did the top of her foot, which was cool too. Our mehndi lasted about a week and a half or so - of course, it looks really good for a week then as it fades it just sort of looks dirty. Another argument for doing it on the backs of the hand, not the palm.

At any rate, after the party we were ready for Diwali!