DANCING DANSANI - Heather McKeown - Inflight

Hope I spelled DANSANI correctly...don't actually have any here in East Berkshire, Vermont.  we do have flood water, however.  Love to all of you, Heather

DANCING DANSANI
Heather McKeown- Inflight
 
      I think this adventure happened in the Fort Myers airport.  This is such a bright place with floor to ceiling windows at the departure gates and, when absolutely loaded with folks awaiting flights, I love being there.
       
Lord knows why we were delayed, but we were.  Into the seated crowd I ventured because it’s a great way to vet out the people who’ll eventually board my plane.  It keeps me entertained and the interactions are great ice breakers.  I used to be a commercial fishing lady, working a gill netter twenty miles out to sea off the eastern coast.  The term ‘chumming the water’ was often flung about, mostly in jest.  “Heather, we’re going to throw you in cuz we need to be chumming the water.”  Nothing could have been further from the truth, of course.  We didn’t employ this technique for gill netting.  Anyway, I always think that interviewing the traveling public before actually boarding them serves to soften their treatment of the inflight crew once aboard.  The pre-boarding chats personalize the company and it’s really energizing for me.  I call it chumming the water.



       Well, on this sunny day, the departure area held a very large contingent of beautifully-dressed people from India.  I love this race of brilliant minds, exquisite manners and just absolutely beautiful souls.  Every time I see a native of India, all decked out in fine native attire, I know I’m in for a wonderful meeting.  Gracious to a fault are the Indians and today was to prove that the grace and well-honed intellect of this race could only be surpassed by their joy!



       Coming upon this pod of color was like touching a live wire while standing in a puddle.  It jolted me because one of the women announced, “Ve ver at a vedding and ve danced!  Oh how ve danced!”  With this, she snapped her body into an erect posture, arms straight out from her sides, parallel to the floor, beautiful hands poised for the music to start.  Her smile was broad, perfect teeth, fabulously bright eyes and she said, “Come!  I’ll teach you how to dance!”
 
      What could I do but extend my hand to hers, take a position beside her and watch her feet step a bit this way and then that way, knees bending and straightening to her singing.  “YES YES YES YES!” she encouraged.  “Now, ve DANCE!” and, to be sure, I was being led by the hand down the length of the gate area.  The passing scene was a blur as we partnered in a shared bliss.
 
      I am the luckiest woman in the world and know it.  There I was, a fifty-something granny in a blue polyester uniform and sensible shoes doing a fast and furious Indian wedding dance with a beautiful force of nature clad in a white outfit that resembled a paratrooper modeling for Vogue, her head covered with a cascading magical material.  Elation, stupendous fun and a thrillingly enthusiastic dance teacher were mine as we took on the entire space.   I was loving my life and just thinking, I’m so lucky to have these sort of spontaneous joyfests in airports around the Jetblue system.  Wow!
 
      I don’t know exactly how long or how many miles that lovely lady and I danced but I do know this; joy is contagious, music, even if only felt through the fingertips of a total stranger, is not impossible to hear and, one more thing, you’ll have a grand time if you always jump in with both feet if given the chance to dance!  Were onlookers surprised to see two different women prancing sideways and laughing as we swept along?   They were probably wishing they could join in.  Remember, I said that joy is totally contagious.



       When we stopped back at her family’s area, she breathlessly told me a bit about her family, the wedding and her profession.  She pointed at the patriarch and asked, “Have you heard of Dansani water? This is the man who started it, yes? We are the Dansani family!”  A woman in the group told me that my amazingly animated dance partner was, indeed, a doctor.  The wedding was for a cousin, as I recall.  I hadn’t been at that nuptial ceremony, of course, but I’ll always and forever believe I’d have had a blast with this family.  You never know who you’ll meet in an airport, on a flight or anywhere for that matter.  Remember, though, if a woman from India offers to teach you how to dance the Indian way, say “Yes!”  You’ll be so very glad you did.  


Thanks Heather.... our readers just adore your stories