"Smita means Smile" or: My First Bollywood Class

"Smita means Smile. When I was born, the first thing I did was smile so my mother named me Smita."

This is how I have come to remember Smita, the Bollywood dance instructor as I walked in to her class. She had warned me on the phone that her class was full of kids, but that I could still come join if I wanted to.

The kids were a multicultural bunch. One half-Indian girl, with an American mom, one Brazilian girl, several adopted Indian girls and me: a Southeast Asian American. Somehow, somewhere, the small population of Indian kids in my small town have come together in this class. Bollywood dance is a theatrical form of dance seen in popular Indian cinema. It often tells the typical storyline of boy meets girl. Girl plays hard to get. And boy and girl eventually fall in love.

One Indian girl, who looked to be aged 9, thanked me for taking the class with her since we were both new. She kept stumbling on her words, trying to express her gratitude, but not quite coming up with full sentences. It was cute but I could understand: she looked up to me, as someone older who was taking class the first day she was, it was encouraging to her. Another Indian girl, around aged 13, asked if I would come to class again, smiling. None of the kids seemed intimidated that a "big kid" was there, or acted like I shouldn't be there. They were all quite welcoming that I was joining in. If anything, I was the intimidated one, in a class full of prepubescent kids and their parents standing outside to watch. And me, this awkward "young adult" with the tight yoga pants that showed off my curvy figure.

If I can be in a class full of 9 year olds taking Kenpo, where the only adults were me, aged 24 (at the time) and my State Farm Insurance guy, aged 50something, then I can take a Bollywood class full of kids. Why not? After all, I am still young at heart. I often still do child-like things like: paint pottery this weekend (while a kids birthday party was going on), take dance classes, and paint in general.

One adorable 4 year old Indian girl sat in with her American mom and seemed to love to watch a piece of her culture. The kids did a routine to Jai Ho, from Slumdog Millionaire, which was quite impressive. Seeing all the Indian kids made me wish I had one. But not one of my own. I have had thoughts of one day adopting and I feel this urge becoming stronger. With such a huge surplus of children and orphans, it makes more economic and ecological sense to adopt.

I am not used to kids. It's not that I don't like them, but I'm just not used to being around them. Parenting them. Disciplining them. Being a rolemodel. If I'm going to India next year, I want to be as prepared as I can be. Immersing myself in both Indian culture through Bollywood dance, and children sounds like a great start.