A night in India, Girl-Scout-style

First, a little background:

Every year, Girl Scouts around the world participate in Thinking Day, which is when we recognize and honor our sisters in every country.

For my Service Unit, this means an event at which troops set up a booth representing a chosen country.

This year, we decided upon India, which is home to Sangam — one of the World Centres of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). The Centre is situated on the banks of the Mula River in Pune, 190km (120m) from Mumbai (formerly Bombay), in the state of Maharashtra, India.

At our last few meetings, we’ve learned about our sister Scouts, and how they’re organized in India. We’ve created a snazzy tri-fold display for our booth. And tonight, we sampled Indian food, danced to some popular Bollywood songs and decorated our hands with “henna” body art.

I use the quotes because instead of actual henna, we used glitter, as some kids can be allergic to or adversely affected by actual henna.

Anyway, here are some photos from tonight. Click on them to enlarge:

Feasting on Indian food. Little Josie, who will be 1 next weekend, especially enjoyed the naan.

The girls (and their leaders, ahem) polished off everything. Even the samosas -- vegetables, eek! -- were gone.

In this photo, Mallory and Johnna show us just how spicy the food is.

And here we are dancing to Boro Boro and Say Na Say Na.

Thank you, Zumba, for your inclusion of Bollywood songs & dances during workouts. I had two songs at the ready for the girls.

Moody Mom's Bear seems to be enjoying herself.

Here we are doing Boro Boro...

Uh, yeah. Moody Mom, I will get you back for this! You were supposed to be photographing the girls, not my butt!

Tootie's body art and bracelet, both done this evening. As I said, we didn't use actual henna due to possible health issues. But the girls loved the glitter.