An evening in Mexico
We are in Merida, capital of Mexico’s Yucatan state. At this point in time it has been more than a week and it still hasn't sunk in yet that we are in this for the long run. Oddly enough Ayesha also shares similar feelings of casualness for our travelling plans. Why are we having a hard time wrapping our heads around the idea when this is what I have thought about for so long? Is it because it is something radically different than anything we have done before in our lives? Since always, the 9 to 5 grind has been a constant whether it be school, university or work.
During these past few days of travelling my mind has not been at rest at all as I had imagined it would be during this ‘holiday’. But then our during first night here, walking in the historic centre we chanced upon a musician playing some beautiful tunes with a classical guitar, listening to to it, I drift into a state of mellow happiness; feeling airy, free and taking in all the positive emotions this life experience is offering. Music always manages to move me emotionally and powerfully. Whenever hearing a piece of music I like, my feelings are stirred in a way that I might not fully understand but still find enriching.
Whilst I am having this moment, I am approached by an old beggar, whom at first I do not notice. This spurs a discussion between Ayesha and myself; it felt perplexing that two people sharing the same physical space can experience vastly different realities. This scenario is indicative of the unequal distribution of wealth and makes me acutely aware of the height of my own privilege. I want to be respectful to people whilst I am travelling and keep my privilege in check. It would be interesting to hear opinions and thoughts of readers of this blog. I also plan to cover this topic in a further post.
After listening to the music and giving some money to the musician and the beggar, we make our way to the town square where the city’s annual cultural festival is taking place. Here we get to witness a regional dance specific to Mexico’s Yucatan region, it is being performed by couples wearing an all white traditional attire. A live band plays music, the couples improvise their steps to the tunes, some performers swap partners between different songs. I do not plan to stick around for long but end up watching the entire performance for two and half hours finding it utterly mesmerising. Noticing the chemistries between the different couples is intriguing, and whilst all do a great job, some are absolutely enjoying themselves and seem energetic, whilst others are not much in sync and appear a bit awkward.
During the performance I find myself trying to think of an equivalent in my own Urdu-speaking culture. There is definitely ‘Kathak’ dance but it is classical and more performance based rather than two people dancing in a complementary fashion, I hazard a guess that it might have do something with religion and different set of values. There are the more popular Punjabi and Bollywood dances which are restricted to weddings but don’t have a social element as such. In many ways I have always felt that in traditional Urdu-speaking values there is this sense of preference given to ‘tehzeeb-yaafta’(cultured) activities like poetry, plays etc and there is almost a disdain towards peoples/cultures who revel in the primordial pleasures of moving physically with rhythm and beats. This is one aspect of cultural ‘stiffness’ that I feel permeates through Urdu-speaking people.
Feeling a little tired but emotionally energised, we make our way back to our accommodation for a good night’s rest.