in a zumba class with my favourite zumba teacher on a large airy balcony with windows. zumba teacher wanted to close some windows to keep them from banging, and a few of us standing in front offered to help, the bolts were high up. ‘let the taller person try,’ she said, after a few attempts by someone else. so i got room to try, and successfully put the bolts into place. we danced to one song. then zumba teacher wanted to relocate to the other side of the terrace, where there was a ramp joining from the ground floor. behind the zumba class were some of my friends (waiting for me to finish class? here to watch? i was unsure). we relocated and i was surprised by how much time we were wasting just standing around not doing much – zumba teacher was laughing and joking with people, checking on her playlist. by now i was getting impatient – wasn’t this her last class? why couldn’t we get on with it? then up the ramp in the evening sun came a wooden horse on wheels being pushed along by two people. zumba teacher, excited, oh let’s wait for them to join! and went up to the horse, but then disappeared. there was maybe time for just one last song by now. everyone was chattering and confused. then zumba teacher emerged from the horse (trojan horse trick gone wrong, i thought) and berated us for not catching on to the fact that this was an elaborate ruse to teach us an important life lesson ‘i wanted someone to approach the horse and demand we start to dance! also, for the people who helped with the windows – jahazi too (she knows my name?! i thought) – look down at your forearms!’ we looked and there was a number scratched on there. ‘if you had paid attention before you would have known,’ said zumba teacher. implication was – in order to live we have to observe, care for, and be in community, something like that. i was still sad there hadn’t been time to do a full zumba class, regretting the fact that i hadn’t gone to check on the wooden horse earlier.
jahazi
Delhi
India
PANDEMIC DREAMS ARCHIVE 