Between the Jigs and the Reels

Hi again,
Back to a reasonable connection and I can close out the news on the Habitat Women’s Build in Bangalore. The Saint Patrick’s night party was a very fitting finale to a great adventure.

Everyone from all over (even the few who couldn’t claim Irish connections !) joined in. Huge thanks in particular to Bernie for bringing the music, organizing the dancing and holding practice sessions the previous night so everyone could join in, and to Jenny for printing out song sheets so everyone could sing. It turned out to be a wonderful evening and many of us felt it was the best Paddy’s night we’d had in years.

The top photo shows Bernie treating us to some Sean Nos (old fashioned Irish Dancing), which went down a treat.

I’ve never danced a jig in an Indian outfit before but I decided to mix the cultures and give it a go. Here’s Una teaching me a few steps.

The dancing was brilliant and it was amazing how quickly our American cousins took to The Walls of Limerick and the Peeler and the Goat !. Rachel, our adopted Australian team mate was a natural and she and I were partners for a few dances.

There are not many who can successfully negotiate the Siege of Ennis in a sari, but Nirmala managed beautifully !!

Jenny’s song sheets went down a treat and any and all sorts of accents were soon belting out Molly Malone, The Boys from the County Armagh, The Wild Rover and many more.

I’ve added lots of pics below so you can get a flavor of the evening .. a great close.

So that’s the end of our wonderful adventure.

Thank you so much to Jenny for leading the Northern Irish team with distinction and looking after us all so well. Also to Nirmala, Joseph, Mahesh and all the Habitiat folks from Bangalore and all over India who came to help us.

Bye till next time,

Kate

P.S. I’ve now headed off on another little adventure to explore some of India before I come home. I have a separate blog for that trip. It’s at http://www.kateindiatravels.blogspot.com/, if you’d like to check it out.