Quick info: we finally got to northern part of India, specifically - Assam. We stayed with a new friend we met on a train from Chennai to Guwahati. Train ride was a whole story in itself, more about that in a separate post.

Everyone who have visited India knows, that being foreigner sometimes can give you a celebrity status. That being said, I couldn't imagine that I would give "thank you" speech on a stage before 200 or so people.

So, starting form the beginning: today was the second day of big Assam festival out of total 10 days. Festival is called Rash Mahotsav and this year was it's Golden Jubilee (50th year). Friend took us to see local celebration (he lives in small village some 20km from Guwahati). As usuall, we were greeted by friendly locals, who wanted  to take photos with and of us. We were quickly invited (by creators) to see the next show. This was one with group of young assamese dressed as gods and goddeses, with music playing and everybody on stage was dead still the whole time. Show consisted of songs and two stories behind them, and overall this was the most beautifully done piece of art I've seen in a long time. And we were sitting in the VIP's first row.

Just when their show ended, we were invited backstage for personal photo session with actors. Unfortunatelly, I mixed up camera settings before giving it to person who would be shooting us, and pictures turned out to be few and not so good. Still, highlight of the day.

Barely walking out of the backstage, we were snatched by organizers of the festivities. After some tea and snacks we were asked to come to stage, where organizers would "award" us and we would give some short speech. This is done for every day of celebrations. The day before (the first one) stage belonged to governor of Assam. And we were given day two. Should look for the local newspaper, just in case they got one and we are there.

If all shows before ending ceremony were very formal, with traditional assamese clothing, culture and themes and involved beautifull choreography, rest of the evening continued with more informal singing. Our friend's friend was also singing.

Tomorrow we go to a wedding.