Gracey Goes to Bollywood

Last night I finished my web design course (yes, I know many of you saw it written down a gazillion times on my Facebook page - but not everybody is on FB).

Since the first week of March, said course had been occupying my Wednesday and Thursday evenings (not to mention my mind every other time). Now that is no longer the case, I want to embark on something else, something new, something... BOLLYWOOD.

Yes, I am going to start Bollywood dancing and am SO excited! I've been wanting to do it for a while, but the Wednesday night classes clashed with my timetable. Not anymore. Woohoo!

In my jubilant state, I jumped on my Mac eager to put together an image that aptly reflects how the prospect of Bollywood dancing makes me feel - joyful, young at heart and totally digging the idea of bling bling dress ups!

While searching our personal library of 50,000 India photos, I came across this fabulous shot of a typical Indian street scene complete with giggling girls, basket-carrying man wearing a traditional dhoti and of course an animal - in this case, a wee little donkey. Refer Exhibit A.

As for the cute little girl, it's a montage of my grade prep head shot (we call our first year of school 'prep' - abbreviation of preparation..?) sitting on the shoulders of my gorgeous three year old niece, who incidentally played Bollywood dress ups with me a few weeks ago. As much as she's totally delicious, I won't be publicising any photos of her on my blog.

I think India is the country that reflects me the most. We could each be described as a 'masala' - a spicy mix of many things that people find interesting (not to mention crazy, extreme, generous, warm, quirky, colourful, bright, frustrating, thrilling, hilarious, grounding, solemn, moving, inspiring, poetic and spiritual). Incredible. The importance of family, traditions, and the modern independent woman's battle to free herself from obligations, also strikes a chord with me. As for the abundance of all things glittery, pretty and girlie - that's me to a chai.

So next week marks a new chapter in Project Grace 2010 and that is, Gracey Goes to Bollywood.

Until tomorrow, think about what you can do to spice up your life.

Grace xx

PS. Did you know that the Indians use the term 'masala movie' to describe a film with everything - drama, romance, comedy, tragedy and thriller? And that Indians call all tea 'chai' and the spicy mix that we're familiar with is called 'masala chai'? Perhaps the person who coined the idiom 'variety is the spice of life' was really talking about garam masala ;-)