Musically Inclined...or not

India Tabla: A beautiful instrument that sounds as good as it looks when the right person is playing it. The right person: certainly not me. Today was my first Indian Tabla class...if the fact that I haven't played an instrument since fifth grade doesn't say enough then I'll be forward. I am what one would call "musically challenged". It's not that I don't like music...I do...really. It's just that I can't really hear it all that well, I don't pick it up quickly, and given the chance to "jam" I think I'd have most people running for the door. I don't think it is necessary to rehash all of the two hours that Jessica and I (no I'm not suddenly refering to myself as two people- there really is another Jessica) spent with out teacher Guru Gee. Most of it was us trying to place our hands correctly on the drums- or at least close enough to get some sort of sound. The real story was the run down the mountain, weaving through countless stairways, frantically trying not to lose him. Ever run down a hill before? Yeah me either...till today...and let me tell you the broken concrete slabs soaked in sewage water aren't really condusive to bounding. We finally made it to his little house tucked away at the bottom of Derali, hidden behind stairways and mud piles after a very stressful fifteen minutes. Wow...what a crazy man...what a crazy class...what a crazy land. I guess I should just throw my hands in the air and say c'est la vie. That is life right? People completely surprising the heck out of you and then turning around and doing it again. I never would have expected my teacher to lead me through falling down tin houses in the middle of Northern India to go sit on a cold floor and be served fried veggies and chiiya. I never expected that somebody with such great talent could live in a two room house with little furniture, a curtain for a door, and a mat for a table. I never expected a lot of the things that I've seen here...but isn't that the point. Hopefully I'll get better at this thing I claim to be drumming. Hopefully this will be something that I can take with me back to the states as a memory of my time here. And hopefully in the process I can brighten the day of his little six year old boy at least twice a week =) because isn't that what its all about?