Saroj Khan Ki Seeti

If you're very page 3 types then you won't know what the title is supposed to mean but if you're a TV addict like me and watch nach baliye you'd know what i'm talking about all right!

So it all started like this. Thanks to dark discos and drunk friends around, i began thinking i'm a pro at dancing. I mean, all i used to do was jiggle my butt and move my head to the beat and that somehow made me feel like i'm born to dance!

So i decided to enter the world of salsa. And it was really tough to join it in the first place anyway. You see i'm no slim and trim hot looking girl the guys in class would fall all over to dance with. So the thought of the instructor calling out "pair up" and me standing in one corner hoping someone would accept me as their partner scared the daylights out of me! And so began my quest for Mr dance partner! And I started asking all and sundry… “Errrr, do you want to learn salsa with me?” "Hey you look like you've done salsa. No? Well do you want to learn it with me?" I would even go up to the extent of lying to some of my most ungraceful friends and gush “Wow! You’re a super dancer! Do you want to join salsa with me?” The last straw i think was when I met my friend’s brother for the first time and said “Hey I’m Zarreen. Do you want to join salsa with me?” “Er, didi, I have my board exams this year. Maybe next yr” Never seen him since!

So one fine day i gave up and my friend and i are sitting around discussing our useless jobs (jobs per se may be fine but we both want to marry someone filthy rich and live off their money and would never like to work again) and he suddenly says “hey I’m really bored in life. Do you want to join salsa?” Could not stop smiling!

So us studly salsa dancers walked into class………class being literally a class!!! The dance classes aren't held in a studio, they were held in the class 6 classroom of one the schools here, no mirrors, no air conditioners and the works of a scary room to be in......including a blackboard and a bulletin board with the time table. Makings of the start of a nightmare for anyone

So 2 months into the thing and every single myth about me being this awesome dancer vanishes. My partner of course becomes the star performer and is at the receiving end of a lot of instructor attention (coz he's so good) and i'm the end of a lot of sighs and groans when we dance

You see the system is like this. You stand in a circle, complete the 2 mins step and change partners. And the expressions on people's faces are amazing. They'll be all perked up and dancing happily and as soon as i reach them, there's this sudden dead pan expression. The nicer ones smile and say hello and then look away pretending to help out a retard and the nasty onces keep screaming that you're stepping on their toe.

Unfortunately there's this bit when you have to dance with the instructor. And my instructor after 4 months of trying very hard gave up on me, quite fairly i admit. Now when it's my turn to dance with him, he just rolls his eyes, tries to make me twirl and i usually lose balance and go flying across the room. "Smaller steps! Smaller steps!" Dammit! Dancing with him is the worst part of my class...... i palpitate. I am so nervous i could eat my arm or cry and it's like the world has stopped dancing and all eyes are on me........ a living nightmare of 2.5 mins in a 1 hr class!

And the instructor's "good" is like saroj khan ki seeti. The person he says it to is elated for days if not weeks at the end.........and it's the hot topic of discussion after class. "He said good" "He said i was dancing well" and I'd share anecdotes of "Er, he said you're going all over the floor. You'll never have so much place to dance. Smaller steps smaller steps"

So anyway, finally last class, i started off in the circle and when i reached the instructor i broke my shoe! Ouch! He took a deep breath like he always did at my sight and i started dancin barefoot with my eyes shut. And when i opened my eyes he gave me a big thumbs up and a big grin. "Wonderful! Excellent! Oh I'm so happy" And i pranced about and he passed me on to my next partner with a big smile and i went leaping across the room!

Yup, I too got saroj khan ki seeti! :) And guess who's dancing barefoot everytime now! :)

Ok dunno why i blogged on that but i'm still high on finally being able to salsa!!!!