A Bollywood Performance & The Heritage Festival

Last week I received an invitation from a friend to visit the Heritage Indian Festival at our local Expo center. Her son, who is a close friend of Adi’s was performing to a Bollywood number at the festival. I had always in the past given expo’s and exhibitions a miss because of my habit of impulsive buying. I would go to the exhibition thinking that I will only buy those items that I need and not buy anything unnecessary. But when I am at the expo, everything looks like a ‘need’ rather than a ‘want’! 😉

This time, though, I decided to buck up and go. The only motive for going was to watch our little friend perform his bollywood dance number, enjoy some spicy Indian snacks, do a bit of window shopping and leave without tons of shopping bags! The event was organized for Saturday May 7, 2016. The performance by our little friend was scheduled between 2.20 – 2.50 p.m. Adi and I decided that we would reach the venue by 2 p.m. to cheer for our little rockstar and get some pictures with him.

We reached the venue dot on time (thanks to my brother for pushing me to get dressed and not procrastinate again!), there was of course, a pretty long line for the tickets. Upon entering the venue, I found myself in a shopper’s paradise. Trust me; it took all my will power to walk towards the stage and green room area without stopping by any of the stalls that were selling some really amazing Indian jewelry, artifacts and Indian clothes.

We arrived at the green room to find an all excited team of tiny tots who were eager for their first Bollywood dance performance. Our little buddy who was very excited until that moment suddenly went all quiet staring at each one of us. It was as if seeing us there at the festival put a little bit of pressure on him to perform really well. He had the most adorable nervous expression I have seen! 🙂

Adi figured his friend needed a little pep talk, so he told us to leave them alone for a bit and we did. Apparently, Adi did a good job ‘coz moments later, I saw our little friend come running to us all excited to get on stage. Guess what, when it was his turn to get up on stage, our rockstar did indeed rock his part! See for yourself!

That’s him between the girls!

Our little rockstar was awesome!

Obviously the brood of us were all hungry after the power packed performance, not to mention the aroma of Indian spices that was coming our way from the food court. The food court had all Indian food stalls with mainly Indian snacks called “Chaat” which is typically the Indian version of street food/ food trucks. It had been a while since I had had chaat, so we headed straight for the snacks!  After what seemed like hours we were able to make up our mind on what to eat. Adi and I went with the very popular choice of Samosa Chaat, which is a spicy/tangy savory snack prepared using Samosas, chick peas, some Indian spices and yogurt. For those of you gourmets who want to give it a try, click on this link for the recipe!

Image : Tarladalal.com

With our tummies full, we set out to explore the various stalls that were selling different kinds of Indian Jewelry, artifacts and clothes. Oh, for a moment, it felt like I was street shopping in Mumbai as in it was awesome and it was so crowded!

Check out some of the items on display, so tempting! How could one resist buying such pretty stuff, right?

But, I stuck to my word and did not buy anything that I did not ‘need’ until my eyes fell upon this beautiful skirt with mirror work on it. And the best part? It cost me only $10!

Come on, check out the picture before you blame me for buying it!

I am thinking, I will pair this skirt with a cute tank top or a crop top for summer, you know, an ensemble that looks somewhat like this, what say?

Image: Indian Fashion

Image: Indian Fashion

I would say I had a fun day and also bagged a bargain deal on that skirt, so that makes it extra special.