Aztec's Dance

Aztec's dance in Coyocan

I was walking around downtown Mexico City ...with a few of my collegues to get some traditional mexican food, and happened to see this unusal dance form.

The dance, usually performed in public places - around parks, terminals or any open space, is quite interesting. I hear that - this dance originated from Aztec's who had settled in Mexico way before spanish invasion. The dance itself is performed to invovke Rain God's; If you look closely at the video ..you will find fruits at the center...which are actual offerings to the rain God. Now i also learnt that Aztecs actually offered human sacrifice as part of this ritual...wonder how Aztecs - considered one of the most advanced civilization of their era had such a blatant ritual.

To this day the dance form exists...some of the dancer actually wear traditional bells to their feet...ala our gungroo, if you are interested you are more than welcome to join the group and dance to the tunes...in about 20 mins the group had grown from a modest 10 to 30. On first thought one might pass it off as people doing this for a livelihood ... but apparently they dont do it for money...its more to keep the tradition alive... all i would say is 30 mins of dancing would be as good as any work out in a cozy gym... :-)




The quality of the video aint great...its all i could get using my cellphone...

Happy New Year

The year usually begins with a resolution.....some of the more famous ones are "i will quit smoking", "i will loose couple of inches of my waistline". Most newyear resolutions are as hollow as the election manifestations of congress party . Anyway i have given up on making any types of Newyear resolutions...for i have never kept one up for as long as i remember.

But i must admit i did secretly have couple of things to-do .. one of them being skiing...
With my earlier fishing escapades being so-so unsuccessful i really didnt give it a shot this time...

Voila... i have had the most auspicious start to newyear...i have kept up a resolution which i never made and i am very happy ... Instead of the usual spirited (read spirits) way of beginning the new year ..i headed to Perfect North Slopes ...a small ski resorts up in Indiana...a good hours drive from my place..with couple of collegues.. Most of us were starters...i had two not so successful rendezvous with skiing ..in gatlinburg and rohtang earlier... which only tells that i could put on my ski boots and pose for a nice orkut picture in front of the snow dunes......

I dont know if i were being lucky since it was the third time...or was it the perfectly maintained slopes laden with the best of artifical snow that man can make ? Considering the temperature was around 45 F i wonder how they manage to gather all the snow.....as it still puzzles me how they manage to maintain the resort inspite of this season being a snow drought.
Anyway 4 hours, 5 falls, and 60 bucks later i have near perfected the art of skiing on a downhill. Though the control and braking skills still largely eludes me...i can ease through a nice gradient devoid of obstruction and come down too a swooshing halt without falling....isn't that as good as sehwag batting's ?

Anyway ...wishing you again...HAVE A ROLLICKING NEWYEAR !!