2nd encounter with Kal Penn: SUCCESS

EDIT: I'm adding on to my previous blog post because I really don't want to make a new one.

I don't think I could have picked a better time to come to college. Why? Because Presidential elections means famous people come to Penn State. In the past week, we saw Sarah Palin, Bill Clinton, and Kal Penn.

Yesterday was the 2nd garba, and though there were actually less people at this one, it turned out to be more fun than the first. But more importantly, there was KAL PENN. Yes, he was there, campaigning for Barack Obama, and let me tell you, this guy is a total G. I can't believe he came to State College a second time to speak with us, but he seems really passionate about the Obama campaign and definitely garnered a lot of support from the Gujarati crowd that was present at the garba. I got to shake his hand and tell him how I really liked The Namesake. I should have said "Where's the party, yaar" again but I forgot and he was being mobbed. I didn't get an individual picture with him :( but...


There he is, second from the left.

After he left, there was the usual garba dancing, then raas, and then at the end...BHANGRA. I was in my element. I had borrowed a fish-cut dress from Swetha (from Vedic Society) and it was really nice but incredibly hard to dance in. Next time I am SO wearing a churidhar.

...
And for my previous post about Halloween and stuff:

You couldn't have asked for better Halloween conditions. Warm, cloudless skies, Friday night...it would have been ideal for something innocent, like trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, these were also ideal conditions for the many thousands of college students to take over the streets of State College until 5:00 AM while wearing incredibly skimpy costumes (or none at all). But I can't say it wasn't fun.

Before the celebrations started, I went over to Karthik's apartment where we had homecooked Indian food, complete with bean and potato fry, mango (avakaya) pickle, dal (kandi pappu), ghee, and yogurt made from whole milk. My hand still smells like avakaya (of course we ate with our hands). I should go get some from the Indian store at the next available opportunity.

After that we went to a costume party at Naveen and Vinay's place. It was really awesome to see all the people I hadn't seen since the summer, and also second year progs I had never met before. There were FOBs, frat boys, people dressed as other people, people dressed as people without a lot of clothes on...etc. It was really fun until someone vomited on my leg. After a while, the fun decreased as there was much less dancing and much more passing out.

I'll get some pics up soon once my photographer uploads them.

It was a fun night, but I will admit, I couldn't help but feel a pang for wasting such wonderful Halloween conditions inside instead of going door to door and emptying peoples candy bowls, and scaring little kids.