There are two things involved...

Heeeellllloooooo out there!  Sorry for being a little MIA.  Things were a little hectic here last week with the American physician I'm working with on my main project being in town.  It was awesome because we got a lot of work done, but I do have to say that it was a little bit of a shock to the system to be working at American efficiency pace again.  Anyway, the project is really coming together and I am really stoked on it.  I'm sure I will be talking lots about it as we continue to move forward.
This weekend was good times with a belated birthday party on Friday, which was mad fun, and again involved all aspects of brie, pool party, and dance party, as well as a group of Peace Corps volunteers looking for refuge.  The highlight though was Saturday, when TK took Tim and me to a wedding.  There is definitely a story there, and pictures!, but currently the Internet is moving a little slow here, so I'm gonna keep this short and just tempt you with promises of what's to come.

What I will give you is a little clip of some more African comedy.  I have been enjoying some African stand-up today myself, so thought I would spread the wealth and let you feel like you were right here with me :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlmYsUiyhDc

It's one of THE most popular jokes/bits in Africa.  Everybody knows it and references it all the time.  It is actually a Nigerian comic.  Gives a good sense of how there is humor in any reality and finding this humor is an important part of accepting the reality and surviving it.

Punjab Boys and Kerala Girls lift Junior Basketball Championship title at Vashi

In what was a fitting end to an exciting championship, the Punjab Boys team stepped up their game when it counted most to edge out Tamil Nadu 75-70 and win the boys’ title at the 61st IMG-Reliance National Basketball Championship for Junior Boys and Girls at the Fr. Agnel School in Vashi (Navi Mumbai). In the girls’ final, Kerala played efficient defense to smother hosts Maharashtra and win the final game, 71-60.

The boys’ game was a see-saw, back and forth affair, as the two strongest teams in the tournament, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, faced each other. It was a match-up between Punjab’s height and Tamil Nadu’s speed. Tamil Nadu had a hard time dealing with Punjab’s control of the boards, but led by some brilliant play by GB Carmel Joseph, they kept close until the end. Tamil Nadu looked to have sealed the game in the last few minutes before Punjab’s captain Amjyot Singh (10) and Bikramjot Singh (22) made clutch baskets to give their team the victory.

“It feels really good to win this trophy, especially since this was such a difficult tournament,” said Amjyot Singh, Punjab’s captain. “The game was going down to the wire, but our coach reassured us and made sure we played with a cool mind. I’m very happy we were able to win: this is a good, balanced team, that boasted good shooters, good passers, and of course, great height.”

Kerala girls silenced the home support after they built an early double digit lead over the Maharashtra squad. Playing disciplined man-to-man defense, Kerala made it extremely difficult for Maharashtra to score and were soon sitting on a 24 point advantage early in the 3rd quarter. Maharashtra slowly began to catch up, even cutting the lead to single digits in the last few minutes. But Kerala managed to hold on, and as time expired, they emerged 71-60 winners.

Kerala were once again led by the confident young star Jeena PS (26). “I am happy to win this trophy and make Kerala proud,” said Jeena, “We were able to play good defense, and on offense, my team-mates did a good job in getting the ball to me in the post. There was a bit of pressure from the home support as Maharashtra made a comeback in the fourth quarter, but we were able to hang on.

Final Scores
Girls: Kerala 71 (Jeena PS 26, Neenu Mol PS 15) bt. Maharashtra 60 (Amruta Vashwant 15).
Boys: Punjab 75 (Bikramjot Singh 22, Kamaldeep Singh 18) bt. Tamil Nadu 70 (GB Carmel Joseph 27, KS Prasanna 17, G Sivabalan 13)


Final Standings:

Girls:
1. Kerala
2. Maharashtra
3. Tamil Nadu
4. Chhattisgarh
5. Karnataka
6. Delhi
7. Uttar Pradesh
8. Punjab
9. Rajasthan
10. Orissa

Boys:
1. Punjab
2. Tamil Nadu
3. Madhya Pradesh
4. Karnataka
5. Kerala
6. Chhattisgarh
7. Maharashtra
8. Rajasthan
9. Uttar Pradesh
10. Andhra Pradesh

Tamil Nadu run ’n gun into the Final!

With no shortage of attacking talent, the Tamil Nadu Junior Boys’ team are making waves over at the 61st IMG-Reliance National Basketball Championships at Vashi (Navi Mumbai). Led by the wily and skilled star G. Sivabalan, TN boast of a balanced squad that is starting to peak at the right time.

“We have a stronger team than last year,” said Sivabalan, who was one of the youngsters in last year’s squad that were knocked out in the Quarter-Final stage of the tournament, “The difference this time around is our ball-handlers, who have given us an edge.”

TN have been playing some beautiful basketball at Vashi, winning all but one game at the tournament. Their only loss came against a motivated Rajasthan side in a group game, where their opponents pulled away in the last minutes to win by four points.

Apart from that setback, TN have been in scintillating form, easily beating Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and sneaking past their toughest opponent, Punjab, 73-69 in a group game. In the semi-final against Karnataka, TN scored a tournament high 109 points in their high-speed run ’n gun style.

And at the helm of this offensive assault has been star forward Sivabalan. Armed with an unstoppable quick step and uncanny ability to finish tough lay-ups around the basket, the 6’2” player has been a nightmare for defenders all tournament. He has also shown nerves of steel, playing the best basketball in the tougher games. Sivabalan scored 24 points in the loss to Rajasthan, 28 points in a quarter-final win against Kerala, and 26 more points in the semi-final victory against Karnataka.

But he isn’t alone; aiding TN’s cause is GB Carmel Joseph, the experienced forward who has recently returned from playing for the Indian U18 team at the FIBA ASIA U18 Championship in Yemen. Players such as big man A. Aravind, S. Senthil Murugan, and KS Prasanna have been the pillars of this team.

Now, Tamil Nadu are set to face their toughest opponents, Punjab. Punjab are the tallest team in the tournament and have thus far proven difficult to beat. But TN have edged them before in the championship and will be looking to do it again.

“We have a lot of coordination amongst the players,” says Carmel Joseph, “Our offense style is freelance, and we can change our game according to the opponent.”

Sivabalan is confident that the team can go all the way. But Punjab are one of the most feared teams of the tournament, and the youngster will need to bring out his big game heroics once again if TN aim to raise the championship trophy on Sunday night.

Chhattisgarh: Indian Basketball's best kept secret

The first quarter has ended. The scoreboard reads: Chhattisgarh 25, Delhi 2. As the Chhattisgarh junior girls team walk back to the bench for a break, their coach Rajesh Patel is still fuming.

You slowed down in the end,” he says, “This is a 40 minute game, and we have only played 10. We lead by 20 now, I want us to lead by 50 by the time the game's over.”

The Girls go back at it. They maintain their lead though, and by the time the final buzzer sounds, the score reads 69-48. It wasn’t a 50-point win, but the coach is happy indeed. Another day at the office for India’s most efficient basketball system.

The blowouts continue, from quarter to quarter, game to game, tournament to tournament, year to year. Here are some heady statistics: The Chhattisgarh state was formed out of Madhya Pradesh ten years ago. Ever since, Chhattisgarh girls have won nine out of the ten Sub-Junior National Championships, give out of nine youth championships (runners up three times), and seven out of nine Junior championships. By the time the talented Chhattisgarh girls reach Senior level, most of them get snagged off to play for Indian Railways (they have already taken 28 girls over the past decade).

For those who are not involved with the game in India, Chhattisgarh is basketball's best kept secret. In a state struggling to find a positive identity ever since its inception in 2001, Chhattisgarh’s Girls’ basketball programme has given its people more than enough reason for cheer.

Two words come to my mind when I watch them play, the same two that spring back up when I read about their near-perfect tournament records: ruthless efficiency.

In Vashi, where the 61st Junior National Championship is taking place, the Chhattisgarh girls, who are the defending champions, are playing up to their reputation. It’s a nightmare for opposing defenses. Wait a second too long and they’ll run down the court for a fast-break. Jump a little too early and they’ll fake and lay it up. Give them a little too much room and they’ll hit a perfect jumpshot. Sag too closely and they’ll beat you off the dribble. Opposing teams need to have a flawless defense to beat Chhattisgarh’s flawless offense. In their first four league games at Vashi, Chhattisgarh has won by 14 points against UP, 21 points against Delhi, 15 points against Karnataka, and 25 points against Andhra Pradesh. Opposing teams don’t really plan to beat them, they plan to not be embarrassed.

To those engrossed with big city lives of better infrastructure, major tournaments, brand new Nike LeBron sneakers or flashy NBA jerseys, the success of Chhattisgarh may seem like a mystery. To the untrained eye, they are, after all, a great unknown. But their ‘secret’ is as profound as it is simple: 24-7-365, Togetherness. All year round, the team stays together, plays together, studies together, eats together, and holds each other accountable.

Let this story serve as a microscope at the Chhattisgarh phenomenon. The city of Bhilai, smack in the middle of the Chhattisgarh state is known for two things: 1) the Bhilai Steel Plant, and 2) It happens to be one of the fastest growing cities (in terms of population) in the world. The Bhilai Steel Plant is the financial powerhouse behind providing infrastructure and manpower for Chhattisgarhi basketball, including four well-maintained outdoor courts. The Bhilai Engineering Corporation sponsor the state’s ‘Basketball Hostel’. At this hostel, 20 girls and 10 boys, usually from poor families, are housed all year long, where they eat, pray, and love basketball, practicing 10 hours each day, morning, evening, repeat.

And then there is their coach, Rajesh Patel. Patel is Honorary Secretary of the Chhattisgarh Basketball Association and Deputy Manager (Sports) at Billai Steel Plant, and has invested over 30 years into the game. Patel has built a well-planned system, where his scouts bring young players (around age 10-11) from deprived conditions and offer them a chance to make a living through basketball. “These are really poor kids from all around the state of Chhattisgarh,” said Patel, “Some are from tribal families. Some can't even afford to buy a pair of slippers for thier feet. Some have father’s who drive auto-rickshaws, or sell paan. We offer them the opportunity that if they are successful in basketball, they will be able to land a government job. By the time they leave, I want them to earn for themselves and be able to stand on their own two feet.”

And they don’t just stand, they stand tall. In his several decades in coaching, around 120 players that have trained under Patel have received government jobs under the sports quota. 25 players trained under him have represented the Indian Sr. National team. Till date, he has trained around 7,500 basketball players. Recently, Patel was felicitated at the FICCI sports summit for his contributions to developing grassroots basketball in India.

That is why it should be no surprise that the Chhattisgarh teams, particularly their girls, perform so well in national competitions. It should be no surprise that Patel has collected a total of 41 golds, 11 silvers, and 13 bronze medals in the four levels (Sub-Jr, Youth, Junior, and Senior) over the past decade. It should be no surprise that the Chhattisgarh girls team is dominating proceedings at this year’s Junior Nationals in Vashi. And it should certainly not be a surprise that out of the eight young Indian players chosen for the IMG Academy scholarship programme, four were from Chhattisgarh.

“These girls are hungry for success,” Patel says, “The potential for a job placement afterwards motivates them to keep trying harder.”

The Chhattisgarh Basketball Association plans their success in advance: The youngest ones are recruited to start preparing for the championships two years before they first feature in the Sub-Junior Nationals. The Sub-Junior team practices against the Youth, the Youth against the Juniors, and the Juniors against the Seniors.

Chhattisgarh has a successful boys’ team too, but the high expectations set by the girls almost keeps the boys shadowed a little bit. “See, in Chhattisgarh, we aren’t really blessed with the tallest or the biggest people,” said Patel, “Amongst the girls, you can manage to win by skill, but in the boys’ game, the physical attributes matter a lot more.”

“Also,” Patel admits, “The boys’ division is so much more competitive than the girls', so it is harder for them to win all the time.”

Meanwhile, the girls keep on winning and keep on representing the country at the highest level. The current junior girls’ team has three players who have represented India internationally at the Youth or Junior levels: captain Ranjeeta Kaur, Pushpa Nishad, and Sangeeta Mandal. All three ooze with confidence, and have used their international experience to help their squad.

“The international experience certainly helps a lot,” said Ranjeeta, “I’ve personally learnt a lot of defensive plays when facing tougher opponents, and it shows in my game at this tournament.”

“Our offense is also much stronger than other teams,” adds Ranjeeta, “We practice it throughout the year.”

Stack up all the factors above and the haze becomes clearer; the mystery demystifies. Patel admits that whenever the Chhattisgarh team plays in other states, basketball laymen and the local media don’t take them seriously, until they blink and realise a few days later that the team has become a championship contender.

You can keep away that microscope now: It should be no shock to anyone that Chhattisgarh produce India's most dominating girls' teams.

"We want to beat each team – we want to win each game in a one-sided fashion,” says Sangeeta Mandal, one of the stars of the Chhattisgarh junior girls squad, “We won’t leave this tournament without playing in the final, and then winning it.”

The secret is out. And just as ever, Chhattigarh girls' are the top contenders for the crown at Vashi, approaching their destiny just as they always have, with ruthless efficiency.

B to the day!

Reasons my birthday was awesome:
1. I got to sleep in.
2. I had peanut butter toast and papaya for breakfast- two of my favorites.
3. I got to read a trash book (my quality literature on my nook conveniently ran out of batteries and we had no power to recharge).
4. My friends surprised me with a birthday cake by 11 am, the best time for cake.
5. Was drinking by noon.
6. Got to swim in my own personal (now clean) pool.
7. Was treated to a dinner of prawns (my favorite!) by friends. - PS: No one does prawns like South Africans on the brie.
8. Had an amazing accompaniment to dinner of one of the most incredible lightning storms I've ever seen.  And it didn't hurt that we were eating at a restaurant located at the point of the estuary aka awesome view.
9. The CD player in our big purple bus worked!  Woot woot!  And my awesome roommate chose Led Zeppelin for our soundtrack.  Good call friend.
10. Oh, and did I mention I'm in Africa?!  Life is good.

IMG-Academies basketball coach Dan Barto visits the Junior National Basketball Championship

Dan Barto, who is a coordinator and basketball coach of the IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton (Florida), USA, is at the Fr. Agnel School in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) to observe the Junior National Basketball Championship and train basketball coaches from around India on October 27th-29th, 2010. Barto is coaching the eight Indian student-athletes who have been sent to the IMG Academy as part of a scholarship programme by IMG-Reliance.

“Earlier, I only got a chance to work with a small number of sub-junior students,” said Barto, “I’m here now to take a look at hundreds of kids, and put my eye on what types of programmes for what age group IMG can plan for the players. Seeing the 18-year-olds at the Junior Championship, I want to note how the game of Indian youngsters develops at this age, and then see what we have to work on to make sure that the current 13-14 years olds can improve to a much higher level by the time they are 18.”

The secretary-general of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) Harish Sharma welcomed Barto to the championship, “Barto will be spending the next few days at the National Championship observing the players and helping them out wherever necessary. He will also hold a few more coaching clinics over the next few days.”

At Vashi, Barto was greeted by over 40 basketball coaches from around the country. These coaches are currently attending the 61st IMG-Reliance National Championship for Junior Boys and Girls with their teams. On Wednesday, Barto worked with the coaches and some players to demonstrate the importance of improving a player’s athletic ability through skills training, working on skills such as ball handling, finishing around the basket, ball handling and finishing combos, and corrective shooting drills.

“I am very impressed by the coaches’ strong yearning for knowledge,” Barto said.
Barto also spoke about the development of the eight Indian youngsters at the IMG Academy, noting: “For their age group, the Indian players are at par with any other basketball players we have at the Academy in terms of their coachability, discipline, and skill level. They have to work on their lower body strength now and are improving physically too.”

“At the IMG Academy, we are taking things to a higher level than 99 percent of the schools in the country. The Indian kids will can three years of physical development in six months.”

Barto is the post-graduate coordinator/coach, pro/college training coordinator, and national combine coordinator at the IMG Basketball Academy. He has trained over 100 current or former NBA players, and over 40 Division I players

IMG-Reliance is currently in partnership with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to help develop basketball in India. The IMG scholarships for India programme is a pioneering effort to provide young Indian players the opportunity to reach their potential by being coached at one of the finest basketball academies in the world.

Here is a video prepared by the IMG Basketball Academy of IMG Reliance Scholarship Recipients from India at training.

The Season is here!!! NBA 2010-11 preview

Oh, all is well in the world again. Or should I say 'aal iz well'? Just like Amir Khan's character in Three Idiots, the brand new NBA season is going to offer teams and players around the league a chance to defy the norm, be a little brave, and "fool their hearts" into believing that all iz, indeed, quite well. But which idiots will stand as NBA champs by the time June 2011 rolls along?

With the explosive off-season moves, this is promising to be one of the most anticipated seasons ever, and I'm going to do a little fore-shadowing into the future and predict who will hold the main silvervare, and the other vares by the time the season wears out! These predictions are based of course on the understanding that there will be no more major trades (i.e., Carmelo Anthony stays in Denver) or major injuries (i.e.: D-Wade, Kobe return triumphantly).

My predicted all star teams...

I'm jumping straight to February: Who will be the All-Star starters for the All-Star Game? Remember, the starters are voted based on fan popularity, but of course, a better a player performs, the more popular they will be.

Eastern Conference All-Stars

G: Derrick Rose
G: Dwyane Wade
F: LeBron James
F: Amar'e Stoudemire
C: Dwight Howard

First off: Derrick Rose will win the popularity vote against Rajon Rondo, even though Rondo is more likely to be having a better season.
Secondly, I think Amar'e will just about edge Chris Bosh and Kevin Garnett in the second forward spot. And if Bosh does make it, it would mean all the three idiots of the Miami Heat in the starting squad, which would be incredible.
Also, Amar'e played as Center in Phoenix, but is a forward in New York, which is why he and Dwight Howard both make it.

Westarn Conference All-Stars

G: Chris Paul
G: Kobe Bryant
F: Kevin Durant
F: Carmelo Anthony
C: Yao Ming

I would personally replace Yao with Gasol here, but Gasol is listed as 'forward', and no way in hell even a limited Yao Ming doesn't make this team with the entire force of the Chinese nation behind him. Still, this looks like a great squad.

And by the way, East will win, based on more balance/understanding in the squad.

Now, let's get on to the end-of-season awards... I have been conducting polls and discussions on the Hoopistani Facebook page over the last couple of weeks and have gotten great responses to many of the questions about MVP, ROY, etc. But these here are my predictions...

Most Improved Player: Darren Collison. A hard one to classify and call - who is even considered here? Good players who become great? Average players who become good? Or crappy players who touch averageness? Collison is my pick here: the youngster went from Chris Paul's backup last season to torching the league after CP3's injury. He only got 12.9 ppg and 4.4 apg, but his potential is much greater. This time around, he has been traded away to the Pacers, where he will man the point from day one. I am expecting big things from him in a squad that isn't otherwise going anywhere.

6th Man of the Year: Lamar Odom. I understand that Odom will be starting for the first couple of months of the season because of Andrew Bynum's injury, but even after the Laker forward slips back the bench, he will do what he always does: become the floor general of the Lakers talented second squad. I have been much impressed by Odom after his exploits at the FIBA World Championships, and I'm expecting him to play the best basketball of his career this season.

Coach of the Year: Erik Spoelstra. He will take a 40-something Miami Heat team from last season and make them a team challenging 70 wins and history this year. Okay, no, he won't be the reason why they win so much, but I expect Spoelstra to do what he should do in a situation where he has an embarrasment of richest with LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and others, which is to make sure they gel together, play the right system, and play good defense. He will of course get critisized for not being the reason behind their success, but at the end of the day, he would've done his job well.

Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Garnett. KG is making all the right noises about a strong, comeback year. This will be a close battle with Dwight Howard, but I think Garnett's return to full form marked with strong overall defense by the Celtics will propel him to retain this award, which he won in 2008.

Rookie of the Year: John Wall. It will be a three-way battle between Wall, Blake Griffin, and DeMarcus Cousins, but the number one pick will live up to the hype. He's one of the most freakish athletes I have ever seen: get ready for him to bring a whole new level of excitement to the Wizards and the whole NBA.

Most Valuable Player: Kevin Durant. LeBron and Wade will share the credit for Heat's success. Kobe will be going slow for most of the regular season. Dwight etc just aren't good enough.
There will be no bigger individual star by the end of this season that Kevin Durant. He was the league's leading scorer last season (the youngest ever), and took over the entire planet during the FIBA World Championships, winning the tournament's MVP and being generally awesome/unstoppable. He will be the primary killer of the Thunder, and the media loves him, which always helps with the MVP voting.
The Durantula it is!

And now... on to the Team predictions.

This is what the Eastern Conference Playoff Seedings will look like:

1. Heat
2. Magic
3. Celtics
4. Bulls
5. Hawks
6. Bucks
7. Knicks
8. Bobcats

Yes, Heat will streamroll through everyone. Magic will do what they've always done efficiently. Celtics will want to win more to have home-court advantage. I say the Bulls will be the big improving team, but still not as good as the top 3. Knicks will be the team with the most improvement in the East.

And the Western Conference:

1. Lakers
2. Mavericks
3. Jazz
4. Spurs
5. Thunder
6. Nuggets
7. Hornets
8. Grizzlies.

The Western Conference was very close after the Lakers' number one spot, and will continue to be so. Thunder will make a lot of noise, and yes, Grizzlies will sneak in.

I expect the Conference Finals to be: East - Heat vs. Celtics, and West - Lakers vs. Jazz.

And the NBA Finals will be what everyone is hoping for... Heat will beat the Celtics in a match-up of blood, sweat, and tears, and in the West, Lakers will have a much-easier time against their opponents.

Lakers vs. Heat

The Finals themselves? LeBron, Wade, and Bosh will continue to do what they have done all year, but the Lakers depth of talent, their genius coach, their defensive ability, and the clutchness of Kobe will help them edge this out in six or seven games. Pau Gasol will step up. Ron Artest will do (and say) some crazy shit. Odom, Bynum, Barnes, Blake, Fisher, Brown, Vujacic, will all chip in for the franchise's 17th 'Chip.

So I predict Los Angeles Lakers as 2011 NBA Champions, making it a Three-Peat. Kobe gets Finals MVP again.

Phew. That was fun and exhausting. Now it's your turn: Gimme some predictions!

Tripura teams crosses 2,000 kilometers to head straight to the basketball court.

I had requested an interview with Md. Makara Dush Ali, the head coach of the Tripura Junior Boys Basketball team,and some of the players,right after their first match at the Junior National Championships at Vashi. Naturally, I had expected the players and the coach to be a little fatigued after the game against Pondicherry.

Considering the journey this team had been through,'fatigue' is a masterful understatement.


"We have come a long way," Ali lamented, both of Tripura's journey into a competent basketball team and the team's actual journey to travel around 2,000 kilometers across most of India's wide breath to reach down to Vashi. The team left their capital of Agartala for a 24-hour bus journey up to Guwahati, Assam. From there,they embarked on an epic 48-hour train journey to Mumbai, and it took them another two hours from Mumbai to Vashi.

The Tripura team arrived at Vashi at 6:00 AM on the morning of Sunday,October 24th. At 9:00 AM that morning,they played their first game.

"The boys were really tired,but they still played hard."

Unfortunately,the fatigued ultimately showed on the team that was already considered to have been one of the weaker squads in the tournament. Tripura was beaten thoroughly by Pondicherry,51-12. Though dejected,the team refused to be in sour spirits.

Other teams from the North-East such as Mizoram, and Meghalaya have also brought their teams across the nation to the tournament in Maharashtra. None of them were thrust into action as soon as Tripura were, but all of them have come determined to enjoy the experience. During the opening ceremony on Sunday night, each of the teams held up their flag high, and some were even represented by young schoolchildren modeling their traditional garb.


For Tripura, the journey to Vashi is just one of the few steps taken towards the long road in national basketball respectability. "In Tripura, gymnastics is the most popular game, but there are still enough people who play basketball," said coach Ali, "The problem is with the infrastructure: we don't have any indoor or synthetic courts (like the one being used at the Fr. Agnel school in Vashi) – so our players practice on concrete courts."

"Another problem is in the players' heights," Ali added, "The population in Tripura is generally shorter,so we struggle to compete with the best in basketball."

The height difference was clearly exploited by their first opponents Pondicherry, who jumped off the gates early and maintained a large lead throughout the game.

Still the team has young players who,despite their short height, will be hoping to showcase their skills at the national level. One of them is Sanjit Sutradhar,a quick,brave guard. "I have been playing basketball for six years," said Sanjit,"I used to live near a basketball court,so it was easy for me to step out and start learning the game."

Despite admittedly being extremely tired for their match on Sunday, Sanjit put up a respectable performance,scoring 10 of his team's 12 points.

Tripura is still looking for its next Ronudeb – the legendary player from the state who made the Indian Junior team in 1985. The state's players haven't been represented on the national teams since, but Coach Ali is hopeful that one day they will produce another basketball superstar from the state.

Until that day, they will keep playing and keep persisting, even if facing tough situations like Sunday,when all they got was a three-hour rest after a three-day trip. For basketball players around the country, the struggle to get to the game will never overshadow the game itself!

Junior National Championships 2010 at Vashi

43 teams from all across the country are here in Vashi (Navi Mumbai) right now for an 8-day long festival of hoops. This is the 61st edition of the IMG-Reliance National Championship for Junior Boys and Girls, and it tipped off at the Fr. Agnel Sports Complex on October 24th. 23 boys' teams and 19 girls' teams from different states and territories around the India are present. The Final of the tournament will be held on October 31st.

The championship has been organized by the Maharashtra Basketball Association under the aegis of Basketball Federation of India (BFI). Young deserving players will be selected to undergo intense training under the guidance of international coaches and facilities that are world class to help them develop their skills & game in the long run.

Rev. Alex Dais, Bishop of Andaman inaugurated the tournament.

Mr. Harish Sharma, Secretary, BFI said, “It has been our ongoing endeavor to promote basketball in India. We are certain that the Indian youth has immense potential to perform on a global stage. Championship like these help the young boy & girls showcase and develop their game. Going forward we will provided world class infrastructure & coaching facilities to all the promising players and work towards creating many such opportunities that will help us in developing basketball as a sport that is second to none.”

Commenting on the championship Mr. M. Venkatesh, Associate Secretary, Maharashtra Basketball Association said, “We are pleased to received participation in huge numbers from across the country. I believe The 61st National championship shall see fierce & exciting competition amongst teams; each and every team is ready to face on the challenge and deliver a game that will surpass the expectations of many. I am sure this championship will be a foundation stone for many young budding Basketball stars of tomorrow.

The organizers are providing the sport-court (synthetic) for the first time at the Junior National Championship. One of the coaches from the IMG-Academy, who had helped pick young Indian players for scholarship at the academy in Bradenton, Florida, will be in attendance to observe the tournament, too.

On the first day of games, the Karnataka Boys beat Kerala and Tamil Nadu Girls beat Madhya Pradesh. Girls reigning champions Chhattisgarh started off their campaigin in style, beating Uttar Pradesh 57-23, led by Shahranjeet's 24 points. Full results can be found here.

I will be brining comprehensive coverage of these championships from Vashi for both this blog and the BFI website. Also, check out the scores page at the BFI site to keep up with regular updates of results from the matches at the championship.

My Pre-Season recap, if there's anyone out there to listen...

Please care about the pre-season. Please, pretty please! Look, I even went on NBA.com/India and pleaded its case. It's not not important, okay?

Well, whatever your sentiments may be for the seven or eight exhibition games played by each NBA team before the start of the regular season, you can now hold them until next October. The pre-season has concluded, the real season is only three/four days away, and peace has been restored in the galaxy, somewhat.

Still, the last few weeks haven't passed by without its set of talking points. Here are the stories that stood out from over the last few weeks of pre-season games:

The new technical rule: Be careful the next time you pump your fist in excitment or frown at the referee or raise your eyebrow to emulate The Rock. NBA refs have been given a super ridicolous new technical foul rule that will keep most of the NBA's players worried more about their body language than their defensive assignments. A bunch of critics have already emerged against this new rule and we can hope that Commissioner Stern will ease them up a little.

NBA going to Europe, Mexico, and Outdoors: The NBA continued to try new things in the pre-season, as the Lakers, Knicks, and the Timberwolves headed to Europe to play in Milan, Paris, and London. The Spurs also faced the Clippers in Mexico. And the Suns, in what is starting to look like a yearly tradition, held an outdoor game against the Mavericks.

The Teams playing well...: The Jazz have been on an absoulte tear in the pre-season, going 8-0, and so have the Magic, who have been 7-0. The Magic is no surprise: this is their THIRD STRAIGHT undefeated pre-season, and they're on a 21-0 pre-season streak. Too bad it doesn't count in conference finals games against the Celtics.
The surprise undefeated squad are the Grizzlies, who have also gone 8-0. And there are a few more surprises, because back in the East, the Cleveland Cavs are the third best team, going 6-2. Should anyone be shocked, since this has been the best regular season team over the last two years? They lost, like, just one player, right? Whatshisface whoever?
And then there's the Celtics, who are looking scary efficient, including their bench. They went 7-1. Plus, Shaq is in Boston and all things in life seem to be happy again.

... And the ones dissapointing: The Suns, last year's Western Conference finalists, lost Amar'e, and look in danger of losing their swagger, too. Then again, this is only the pre-season.

New faces making it count: The two leading scorers of the pre-season are both new faces in their squads: Amar'e in New York and LeBron in Miami. It'll be interesting to see how LeBron's scoring will be effected once Wade returns from his injury. Amar'e looks like he'll flourish with D'Antoni again.
The third leading scorer is Monta Ellis... Is this is a sign for a breakout season?

Miami-Orlando cancelled game: The NBA doesn't want LeBron, Dwight, Bosh, or Stan Van Gundy to fall on a slippery floor and hurt themselves (not too sure about Stan, actually). That is why this game was cancelled in Tampa last night. Too bad, it would've been a chance for Magic to protect their super important pre-season winning record against the new-look Heat.

Injury concerns in Miami: Wade went out about three minutes into the Big 3's debut in Miami. And now, it seems Mike Miller's gonna miss a couple of months. This is not my favourite team, but it'll still be sad to see injuries stopping what could otherwise be a historically good squad.

Rookies stepping up: The silent battle for this year's rookie of the year has already begun. Blake Griffin (injured and missed all of last season), John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins are all looking good. Should be a fun race to keep an eye on.

The Carmelo Question: Is he going to New Jersey? No he's going to New York now. No, Chicago is the best fit right now. I think he's happy in Denver.
Too much speculation, too few answers. As of now, Carmelo Anthony is still a Nugget, but things could change as soon as I finish this sentence, really. He seems to have caught the LeBron-Decision bug and look for brighter lights and bigger success. I wonder how the speculation is going to affect his game...

Lockout looming?: Dark clouds in the league ahead. There has been much discussion and debate about the player's salary agreement, and it seems right now that David Stern wants the player's salary to be dropped by a third. Will there be repurcussions? Will there be a lockout? Rajon Rondo is already saving his cash for next year.

But whatever happens next season, happens next season. In three days, the 2010-11 season tips off. I will soon have my season review up, too. Let's get ready for some games that count...

Jezebel...

The song that has been stuck in my head all week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDMBB3lAMPE

Actually a mash up of three awesome house songs, but the last one is the one that I can't get out of my head.  It's also a good example of Zulu and their awesome dancing.  Pretty good representation of the party scene.  Great way to bring in the weekend.  Enjoy!

Diwali, the JDBASKETBALL way

So Diwali is just about 15 days away, and like every year, you can expect the following things:

1) Fireworks keeping you up until the wee hours of the morning.
2) Fireworks giving your pet nightmares that go on at least until Holi.
3) A laddu/gulab-jamun/barfi/any other Indian sweet overdose.
4) Decorated houses shining proudly all night.
5) Basketball... Much basketball...

That's right, because this Diwali, Delhi hoopers will be getting a special gift: American basketball coach JD Walsh will bring back the JDBASKETBALL clinic to the city to hold a Diwali Vacation Camp on November 6-7 at the American Embassy School (AES) in New Delhi.

The camp will be open to kids in Elementary, Junior High School, High School, and University level, and training for the students will be separated by age and ability.

Email info@jdbasketball.com for more information. Each session of the camp will be limited to 30 participants.

Over the past three years, JDBASKETBALL has operated over 100 clinics in 12 cities to over 5,000 youth throughout India.

I'm guessing there will be no fireworks allowed on court. Except for metaphorical ones.

Food.

Last week I had the chance to help Gugu, TK's wife, make some traditional Zulu food.

That is the beautiful Gugu in my kitchen, and that is the awesome pap, specifically stiff pap.  Pap is a staple of their diet, made from corn meal.  The traditional Zulu food is corn based.  Just plain pap is a porridge form of the corn meal that they often eat at breakfast, and can combine with jam or honey, fruit, whatever.  Stiff pap is a thickened version, with cream and butter added, as well as any desired seasoning and/or accompaniment, like sweet corn in the one we made (hence the yellow dots).  Gugu says she often uses garlic flavored butter, or adds mushrooms or whatever is lying around the fridge, and this seasoning Aromat, which is apparently just straight MSG.  Stiff pap is often the starch to the meat of dinner, but depending on budget, may be the only thing for dinner.  It's super filling, definitely has the calories, but pretty much zero nutrition.  It's nice when you can add fresh vegetables like we did, but again, that's a budget issue.

The example of pap lends itself to a larger discussion of the concept of food and eating in South Africa.  I can't tell you the grief I get here about my cooking and my eating habits, so I've had more than a few discussions about these topics.  Things I get crap about:

- Lunch is a hot meal, like dinner.  That I usually bring a cold lunch causes concern.  They believe that's why I'm so skinny.  Well, they might be partially true...  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is usually acceptable enough to not get any direct comments, but if I try and just do peanut butter with crackers and/or apples, they think that is ridiculous.  Those are snacks.  Pretty much anything with crackers is a snack, no matter how many you eat.  I've tried to explain that crackers are just another form of bread, but they are not having it.  In the last week or so I have brought in a couple leftovers that I warmed up and they got sooo excited!  "Oh!  Jessica actually cooked!  She is eating a hot lunch!  Everybody look!  It's amazing!"  Seriously guys?  I tell you that I cook every night.  Hilarious.

- Pasta is not cooking, in any form.  When I first told them I cook, they were very impressed.  Then they asked me what I cook.  I said, "Oh you know, spaghetti...".  "Ooooh, that doesn't count."  I'm sorry, what?  Spaghetti doesn't count?  When I tried to explain that it wasn't just pasta, but a meat sauce as well that actually resembles a lot of their dishes, nope, not having it.  Doesn't count.

     - Sidenote: When I actually brought in spaghetti for lunch one day, and they actually saw and smelled the products of my labor, they were very impressed, mouths watering.  Ha.  So there.

- Meat should be part of every meal.  The idea that I don't eat meat at every meal astounds them.  Also their other major issue with my lunch usually.  While in some cultures meat is considered a luxury, it is still rural enough here that they keep their own livestock, including goats, chickens and cows, so meat remains a staple.  The way they explain it to me is that they eat what's at their fingertips, so what they can provide for themselves, the animals they keep, the vegetables and fruit in their gardens, and what they can afford in the store, so cheap bulk products, like corn meal (and cheap, filling junk food).  The vegetables and fruit have the potential to round out their nutrition, but due to drought conditions here and the changing culture (more pressure to make money through employment, working long hours, less time for the labor to keep a garden), these become limited, leaving meat and corn meal, meat and pap, pretty much the standard diet here.  And then there are those that aren't even able to afford meat, which leaves straight pap, which does the job, fills the belly, and that's it.

This leads to the other major difference we talk about: the end goal of eating in our cultures.  The end and only goal for them: get full.  Yes, we are also striving for this, but we are also (or at least try to be) conscious of other objectives of eating, such as health and nutrition.  Like they think it's so hilarious that I think about  more than just ending up full when I plan a meal, like it being balanced.  I'm such a silly goose!

I'm trying to create an open exchange of recipes and cooking lessons, and while they are more than willing to provide on their end ("We will teach you how to ACTUALLY cook"), they are less open to accepting in return.  They are pretty settled that they don't like American food and what I have to offer.  But, I am obviously expected to try all of their food and enjoy it.  Really fair guys.  I guess I was the one that chose to move halfway across the world and stick myself in the middle of their business.  When in Rome...  I have to give credit to Gugu who is always willing to at least take a bite, and usually enjoys it.  And Tony ate my food despite confessing that is was "different than what I'm used to" and ended up enjoying it.  Though Tony is a boy and will pretty much eat anything you put in front of him.  That remains true in any culture.

Montfort School celebrate double victory at 1st IMG-Reliance School Basketball League

Basketball in India continues to take crucial steps in the right direction. To help the help of the game at the grassroots level and to create the right kind of competitive atmosphere for young talents to grow, the first ever IMG-Reliance School Basketball League was held in New Delhi from August 16-October 20th. 20 boys’ and girls’ teams from 12 different schools across the city took part in a mammoth 96 matches in the preliminary and super league stages.

At the end, the best two teams faced off in the Finals, which were held at Modern School (Barakhamba Road) - both the boys’ and girls’ finals were between the hosts Modern School and Montfort School (Ashok Vihar). The visiting teams pulled off a historic double by winning both the matches and going home as champions.

In the Girls’ final, the Montfort team came undefeated throughout the tournament and continued their phenomenon surge ahead. Montfort took an early lead and never took their foot off the gas pedal. Led by Manini Rai (19 points) and A. Chinmayee Meghana (17), Montfort strolled to a comfortable 56-25 victory.

The Boys’ game was a lot more competitive, as the hosts Modern started off strong in an attempt to upset the favoured Montfort side. Modern held a six-point advantage going into half-time, but Montfort returned to their confident and aggressive style of play in the second half. The comeback was completed successfully and Montfort held on in the final minutes of the game to win the game 50-43, led by 16 points from Nakul Agarwal who has been their best player throughout the tournament.

Earlier on Tuesday, DPS (Mathura Road) Girls and GD Goenka Boys won third place against their rivals DPS (RK Puram) Girls and DPS (Mathura Road) Boys respectively.

Each of the players from the two winning teams was presented with a Rs. 2,000 cash award from the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). Second place players received Rs. 1,500 and third place players received Rs. 1,000 each.

Additionally, the tournament’s sponsors IMG-Reliance provided an extra cash bonus to the top three performing schools of both divisions in the tournament to encourage the improvement of basketball infrastructure in the institutions. Bikram Singh, the vice-president of IMG-Reliance handed out Rs. 1 lakh to the first prize winners, Rs. 75,000 to the runners-up, and third place teams were rewarded with Rs. 50,000.

"This is a great moment in the history of basketball in India and specifically in Delhi," said Harish Sharma, the Secretary-General of the BFI, "The success of this league has been made possible due to our partnership and the support of IMG-Reliance. Now, we want to take this league to other cities across the country."

Sharma added that this was the first time that cash prizes were being rewarded to the schools. "We want to encourage the schools to promote basketball with this money by improving their basketball courts and facilities."

The league has been a colourful get-together of basketball enthusiasts as well as those who are new to the game. Along with encouraging established players and fans, many other school children across Delhi have grown a new-found interest in the game. Sharma has promised an even bigger and better school league in Delhi next year.

Montfort Girls star Chinmayee was satisfied with her team’s performance. "We’re very happy to win this league. It was a great experience playing in front of large crowds, which encouraged us. The league went on for a long time, and it helped us improve our game as we played each time two or more times. I feel very lucky to have won this year because I’m in 12th standard and won’t be participating in next year’s tournament."

From Montfort Boys, the final’s leading scorer Nakul Agarwal credited his team-mates for their support and inspiration in helping to pull off a great performance through the course of the tournament. Montfort made a great comeback after trailing in the first half. "Modern played a very tough game, but we had to prove that we are the best team and we are unbeatable. That is why we came motivated in the second half to win."

"It feels great to have won the trophy," added Nakul, "This the first time that basketball has been promoted so well in the schools and it’s great for the growth of the game in India."

Final Scores

Girls: Montfort School 56 (Manini Rai 19, A. Chinmayee Meghana 17) bt. Modern School 25 (Gauri 11)
Boys: Montfort School 50 (Nakul 16) bt. Modern School 43 (Archit Sinha 15, Satyam Nayyar 12)

Final Standings

Girls

1. Montfort School
2. Modern School
3. DPS (Mathura Road)

Boys

1. Montfort School
2. Modern School
3. GD Goenka School

I bless the rains down in Africa...

Gotta make this quick cause the power is in and out.

Here's a couple New York Times articles from today that speak to what I'm doing.  The first one is very obviously related, talking about health solutions in rural Africa:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/health-care-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/?hp

And the second one actually based in the good ol' U.S. of A.  Kansas no less.  How does this have anything to do with what I'm working on you say?  It actually closely relates to the topic of culture discussed in the last couple posts.  Take a peek:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/earth/19fossil.html?_r=1&hpw

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Hoopistani on NBA-India!

I hope you're not sick of me yet, because if you are, this bit of news might actually cause a sourly belch in your stomach.

Now that we have that lovely visual out of the way(!), I want to announce that for the 2010-11 NBA Season, I will be writing a weekly feature for NBA.com/India, the National Basketball Association's micro-site for its fans in India. So stay updated for regular NBA articles in the Hoopistani flavour. The articles will also be displayed if you access NBA.com from India.

Done belching yet? Now start reading. First article goes up this Friday.

Cross the line...

Last week I had the opportunity to observe a workshop about sexual and reproductive health and rights, with a focus on abortion.  The workshop was run by the same organization, Ipas, that is funding the grant I am working on.  Ipas focuses on women's health and reproductive rights, clearly.  I was there partly out of personal interest but also because we will probably be integrating part of this curriculum into ours for the grant.  The audience was mainly home based health workers from Mpilonhle, mostly women who don't speak a lot of English.  They service homes with HIV+ learners or homes of learners who have an HIV+ person living with them.  The workshop covered basic sexual and reproductive health and rights and then focused in on abortion, reviewing the legislation in place in South Africa, doing values clarification exercises, and having discussions.  The challenging part for me was that most of it was in Zulu.  God, what I would have given to understand what those people were saying.  Clearly they were having very engaging and passionate discussions, and I could only imagine what was transpiring.  This experience alone inspired me to learn Zulu.  I was so curious to hear their voices on this issue that is so challenging.  What is their understanding of it?  What are their questions?  How do they feel about it?  Why?  As discussed in yesterday's post, it is so valuable  for me to experience an issue firsthand in order to really understand it, see it and feel it as they do, rather than assuming I know.  There is a clarity that comes with personal experience that sticks with me in a way that I can't achieve no matter how many times I've read or been lectured on the material.
Though I was not able to understand much of anything being said, I was still able to achieve this enlightenment.  It came through the values clarification exercises.  They were particularly interesting to me because I had actually participated in some of them in similar workshops back home, like Four Corners, where a statement is read aloud and you stand in a corner designated strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree depending on your stance.  In this exercise it was interesting to observe the similarities of the outcomes to those at home, for example there was never a complete consensus with any of the statements, there was always a spectrum of opinions.  The exercises were also more action based, not a lot of talking, so I could observe and understand what was going on, and the point being portrayed.
My moment of clarity came during the exercise called "Cross the line..." where a statement is read, and if it is true for you, you step over the line.  The first statement was "You were raised to believe that abortion should not be openly discussed".  Most people crossed the line.  Not surprising.  Second statement: "At some point in your life, you believed abortion is wrong".  Everybody crossed the line.  Again, not surprising.  It's understandable that anyone would struggle with this issue and easy to believe that at some point it crosses everybody's mind that it is wrong, especially in a more conservative culture.  Then the third statement: "You were raised to believe that abortion is a woman's right".  Not a single person crossed the line.  Not one.  This is the one that got me.  Sure, the response to the other two might of suggested this response, but for some reason the stillness and quiet of not a single person moving was astonishing.  I wasn't expecting a lot, don't get me wrong, but at least one.  A single person that had the potential to carry on the message, normalize even the idea of someone having this opinion.  But, no.  This message relies on outside forces, such as Ipas, to come in and provide education.  It is one thing to foster a movement that has its strongholds, its another to come in and totally introduce a whole new way of thinking.
And here we run into the challenge faced by most every public health issues as well as many other issues burdening mankind, economic, political, etc, etc.  I've personally been reading all about it in my research about teenage pregnancy.  All these issues are complex and multi-faceted, and we must respect them as such.  We have learned that trying to tackle an issue through an intervention focused solely on one aspect will quickly be overwhelmed by the influences of the other aspects involved.  So, now we take a big picture approach and try and intervene on many levels.  We have found that we can successfully reach individuals, communities, and even governments.  But, the factor of culture remains a stronghold, the source of stigma and shared beliefs.  There is no proven method to influence culture nor its stigma and beliefs.  So, what do we do?  Like I mentioned yesterday, we do what we can!  Like Ipas coming in to initiate dialogue about abortion among rural Zulus, or Mpilonhle working to normalize HIV testing in learners by coming back year after year to these schools to do repeat screening.  Does it help?  Not totally sure.  Culture moves and changes at its own pace.  What influences it and how remains unclear.  It can get frustrating, that's for sure.  And sometimes I question, am I really helping/doing good if I'm having to come in and introduce an entirely new viewpoint?  Or am I just inflicting my own views, my own opinion of what's right, on these people?  But, then you look at the maternal mortality rates, especially those associated with botched abortions, or the HIV prevalence rates, and it's obvious something needs to be done.
With all this pondering, I was very excited to find a New York Times article on the developing field of research around the link between culture and poverty:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/us/18poverty.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=poverty,%20culture&st=cse
A nice tie in and definitely worth a read.
At the end of the day, I will always remember how not a single person crossed that line, and how the issues of abortion in South Africa suddenly made sense.

My first proposal... and another white girl moment...

Yesterday my friend Andile invited me to a traditional Zulu 21st birthday party for two sisters, known in Zulu as umemulo.  A little history: The ceremony marks the girl's entry into womanhood, kind of like a coming out to society.  It used to be associated with the first menstruation, but with new social norms adopted, they have moved it to surround the 21st birthday, promoting delayed sexual debut and marriage.  The ritual is also supposed to celebrate the girls' virginity, but the way it was explained to me was: "Are they REALLY virgins? <laughter and a look of 'silly goose'> Hell no, not even close, but their parents sure think so."  Nice.  This is an example of a social norm here that is worth talking about, a kind of 'don't ask, don't tell' policy (for a modern day reference) that applies to things surrounding sex: virginity status, infidelity, homosexuality, etc, etc, and as you can imagine, it also encompasses HIV.  And it's not like they are not sexual.  It is a very sexually charged culture, they just choose to ignore particular aspects that could be considered negative, the heavier, more challenging concepts.  They keep sex light and airy and fun.  This cultural norm contributes enormously to many challenges here, not only HIV, but also sexual violence, mistreatment of women, and abortion, among other things.  This is a topic worth exploring further in a future post.

So, to continue, it doesn't have to be exactly on the 21st birthday, just anytime after that, and while she is still a young woman.  Andile was explaining to me how often people wait so two sisters can have it together, making it more affordable for a family.  This is how Andile had hers (she was 24 at the time) and how the one on Saturday was being done.

Saturday's event took place at a nearby township, which was quite lovely.  Reminded me of a middle class American suburb in a lot of ways, cute little houses, a local school, people walking on the streets enjoying their Saturday, a nice little community.  This is a nicer township, closer to a bigger city (Richards Bay), with paved roads and such, whereas the ones closer to Mtuba are a little more rundown.  But, they were still faced with the challenges of township life, like no water, which can be difficult when you are hosting a party for hundreds of people.  What makes it a nicer township is that they know when and why their water is off and have township representatives delivering water to them in the mean time.  That does not happen in Mtuba, where it is much more mysterious and unclear with obvious political undertons (they don't know when the water will be off or on, no one really knows why, and some people have it while others don't.


The event started in the early afternoon at the local school where the "birthday" girls and their friends and girls from the community sang and danced in traditional Zulu garb, performing for the crowd.

Part of the tradition is for the girls and their closest friends to go out into the audience intermittently during the performance and present audience members with a traditional Zulu spear and a bow.  You then accept the spear and return it to the girls with a gift of money that you pin to their heads (don't worry, they wear hair nets to facilitate this process).  So, guess who gets picked out of the crowd less than five minutes after showing up?  Yup, that's right: WHITE GIRL!!!!

It was actually pretty cool to go up.  I did drag Andile and her friends with me.  It was lovely, the crowd got a big kick out of it and cheered and whistled me on.  Apparently the money is for the girls to do what they will, a gift to them as they enter womanhood.

The boys got a turn too.

As always, the singing and dancing was just incredible.  I was totally mesmerized.  I could of sat there all day just enjoying their rich culture.  And thank you to Andile for taking all the pictures because I had too much pride to be that jackass white girl tourist taking pictures at the traditional ritual!
 
People  started approaching me pretty quickly, mainly men.  An older guy came by and was very excited I was there and enjoying myself and accepting of their culture.  Another guy asked me if I was willing to join the line up.  I regretfully declined being as I was not wearing the right bra nor was I willing to compete with those Zulu women's bare breasts.  The older guy returned to let me know that his friend would like to propose, pointing out a  paunchy middle aged man.  In my head I was like, "Propose what?", but as I looked at everybody's silly smiles, it clicked, "Aaah, propose marriage."  He laughed as he saw it come together on my face.  We then had a joking back and forth.  I told him "Depends on the lobola...", to which he asked if my parents were around to negotiate.  We decided Andile would be my representative, who then proceeded to make jokes about how she was gonna sell me off for R 500.  Thanks Andi.  Way to look out for a girl.  I also wanted to know if I was gonna be first or second wife.  I wasn't gonna accept anything less than first, obvi.  It was quite entertaining, but every once in awhile this guy would say something like, "No, but really, these men, they are the top of the community, most respected, principals, director of the municipality, you know?  High up", giving me a look and nod like 'Seriously, you should consider this'.  It was kind of hilarious, this go between of 'Haha so funny!... But, no, I'm serious.... But, just kidding!... But, seriously.'  Like a 'this is serious if you want it to be serious, but I'm just going to make light of it and follow your lead'.  For like half a second I was concerned I was actually going to have to formally turn this guy down.
 
After the performance, we paraded back to the house.  I got swept up in the chanting and dancing and was "crowned" with a beaded ring they put around your neck.  I was quite the crowd pleaser if I do say so myself.  After my performance, I got another couple "Hey, are you free?"'s.  I told the girls that this just happens when I start shaking my hips.  It's inevitable. :)

After we arrived back at the house we hung out outside and drank and ate and listened to good music.
There was a big tent, but most people were hanging out by their cars, blasting music, kind of like a huge block party/tailgate.  I got to meet a bunch of people, including one of the guests of honor.

At around 8 the DJ showed up.  What what!  Dance party!  The older people had filtered out as the eating ended, and now it was mostly young people and drinking.  It was funny, other than the men at the ritual, most of the other people I had met had been women, then all of a sudden, when the party changed gears, the men started approaching.  They had been there the whole time, but had just kept their distance.  I come to find out by the guys that started talking to me that apparently they were all scared, the lone white girl in the township (apparently I'm the first one they've ever seen come in there), what is she doing here?  But sure enough, you get them a little liquored up and suddenly they have the balls to talk to you.  And these boys were shameless.  I got everything from "I've always wanted a white girlfriend" to "I want to spoil you.  Can I spoil you?  Please let me spoil you.".  The best part of the latter line is
a) The deliverer's name was Innocent.  No joke.  Here's his card:

b) His friend outed him that he had just got married two weeks ago.  And he was wearing his wedding ring, which he only tried to cover up when I pointed it out.  Seriously?!  Two weeks?!  Jesus man.  I told him to go home and spoil his wife, to which he replied "Nah, but at least take my card."  Unbelievable.

I did meet some nice guys (from what I gathered) who were interesting to talk to and weren't all over me.  So not all men are slimey.  They probably all had girlfriends AND were semi-faithful (a rare combination and usually the qualifications for a good guy in this country) but fun to hang out with.

One of Andile's friends and I joined the dance party.  It was a pretty packed dancefloor with minimal personal space.  There was definitely a little bit of vying for who gets to dance with the white girl, which caused some chaos.  I did a pretty good job of holding my own, all of course while Andile's friend kept a watchful eye on me.  Some people insisted on having their picture taken while dancing with the white girl, both men and women.  Some people just touched my hair.  The shamelessness of the men continued on the dancefloor.  The range of men that tried things was kind of hilarious, from skinny 15 year old boys to overweight 40 year old men.  I did a pretty good job of getting down while fending off advances if I do say so myself.  I just had a big smile on my face and kept laughing.  At one point I looked up and there was an audience standing around the dancefloor watching/staring at me, which, in my opinion, proves they were impressed with my dancing, or at least having the guts to go out there and keep up with these guys.  In a lot of ways it parallels the school incident my first week with the little boys, except these boys were grown men who had been drinking.  What a difference a little time makes.

We left around 11:30 because a) I was exhausted by the long day of drinking and dancing and b) township life gets pretty sketchy pretty quick late at night.  The entire day was amazing.  I had so much fun and everybody was so welcoming.  As much as I was an obvious outsider, they made me feel very comfortable and included.  Everybody was always checking up on me.  It was very sweet.  One of my favorite quotes from the night was when one of Andile's friends would go to the bathroom, she would say: "I'll be black, stay white here".  Watching out for me all while keeping it real making racial jokes.  Good times.  Thanks Sipiwe.  Much love.

And I learned a lot about Zulu culture, new and old.  The ritual was awesome and I told them I would prescribe to the see one, do one, teach one mantra when it came to the singing and dancing, so now I've seen one, next up: do one.  It was also a good experience for me to be out on my own as a female, with other young females, no bodygaurds, white or black, official or unofficial, to protect me and scare people off.  You know, you hear all about how the dynamic works, but there is something about experiencing it for yourself.  As frustrating as it can be to deal with these situations, it's important for me to live as a local if I want to feel comfortable and belong.  To handle some of the issues that these women handle everyday will hopefully allow me to relate somewhat and create a better solution.  And, my oh my, does it provide perspective.

These people have this beautiful culture, which, in all honesty, makes me jealous, but they are also facing some major crises, such as HIV and rape, also closely tied to culture. Clearly there are some things that need to be reconciled in order to make real progress on these issues.  Culture is so deeply ingrained, it's not an easy task.  But it doesn't mean we don't give it a good old college try!  More on that tomorrow...