Jhatka Jivers

THEY warm-up with K3G8217;s Suraj Hua Madhham playing in the background. And the ladies start to really roll as Kaanta Laga, Mere Naseeb an...

THEY warm-up with K3G8217;s Suraj Hua Madhham playing in the background. And the ladies start to really roll as Kaanta Laga, Mere Naseeb and other raunchy Hindi remixes fill up the hall. What8217;s new here is that the grooving women are all British!

Which, in fact, is no longer a surprising sight in London, where Bollywood dancing has become the latest craze after the movies. The recent influx of Bollywood and Asian music in the UK have Britishers so hooked that a rising number of them are thronging to Bollywood dance classes that are mushrooming in London. At pound;4 an hour, a wide cross-section of Britishers and Indians attend weekly classes held in Indian-dominated areas such as Southhall, Harrow, Redbridge, Ruislip and Hounslow.

8216;8216;It8217;s trendy, it8217;s cool and the bottomline is8212;all that8217;s Indian is in!8217;8217; quips 40-year-old Gujarat-born dance instructor Jayesh Kumar Solanki aka Jay Kumar, who adds, 8216;8216;Madonna immortalised the bindi and henna. The British media too has been in on the Indian theme. The music then came along quite naturally.8217;8217;

After narrowly failing to make the cut in the auditions for Bombay Dreams, this professional dancer decided to fulfil his dreams by conducting Bollywood dance classes in West and Central London. 8216;8216;During my nine years of dancing in London, several enamoured Britishers would request me to conduct dance classes. So, 18 months ago, I set up my academy, Bollywood Dance Fever and it8217;s been rolling ever since.8217;8217;

Says Jay8217;s assistant instructor Susan Babbar 31, 8216;8216;Ten years ago, it wouldn8217;t have happened. But now, there is a great fusion of cultures, especially in London. Also, we play the latest, funked-up Hindi remixes8212;something the Britishers are used to listening to as well.8217;8217;

The English, meanwhile, are loving it.

8216;8216;I love the colours. I love the music,8217;8217; says 45-year-old teacher Elane Honey, who8217;s been taking dance lessons for five weeks now. 8216;8216;The dances in Monsoon Wedding captivated me. An Indian friend introduced me to Bollywood dancing and I8217;ve been hooked ever since,8217;8217; she smiles, professing that she prefers her unique hobby to aerobics anyday.

Most people, like Jennifer Woods, though admit to being confounded by Bollywood8217;s hip movements. 8216;8216;How do those Bollywood stars do it?! While I can8217;t do it, it8217;s fun trying,8217;8217; she says with a wink.

But it8217;s not only about fun and exercise. As accountant Diane Parry 35 expresses, 8216;8216;Jay and Susan bring in different dances according to the season. Last month, we practised the stick dance dandiya, learning the tradition behind the dances, which is an interesting way to come closer to a new culture.8217;8217;

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London8217;s large British-Indian community has taken to the Bollywood dance lessons in a big way as well. For Anushree Udani 28, Indian dancing was the best way to stay in touch with her roots, while Daksha Hirani, a 31-year-old psychologist, took to it as a fun way to lose weight after her delivery.

But, in the end, it8217;s all about being trendy. Says Jay Kumar, 8216;8216;After all, when people hear Panjabi MC in nightclubs, they want to know some steps they can dance to.8217;8217;

CRAZY ABOUT CURRY

Saris as curtains, leather sandals, glass bangles, the brilliant hues of Rajasthan. Desi cool hits big time

Alejandro Puig Baranac is combing through the malls in Berlin looking for something for his teenage sister back in Spain. The mass-produced stuff leaves him cold. And then he stumbles upon Guru Laden, a shop specialising in Indian things8212;colourful bindis, mirrorwork bags, Kolhapuri chappals8230; you name it they have it. Alejandro is set.

Claudia Dornik8217;s parties are never complete without her precious dinner-set8212;the stainless steel plates and tumblers that she got from India. They are such a hit among the residents of Bad Ischl, a remote but picturesque town near Salzburg, Austria, that she has a long list of things-to-buy the next time she visits the subcontinent.

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Norwegian Karen Marianne Aukner didn8217;t know anything about India except that it is 8216;8216;somewhere in Asia8217;8217;. And then she went to Kalkaschaune, a happening Berlin nightclub and was introduced to balle balle courtesy Panjabi MC. Now she has his complete collection. She8217;s also seen Monsoon Wedding five times and Bollywood, Hollywood twice. Karen is now contemplating getting one of those 8216;8216;sexy, flowy8217;8217; lehengas.

It took just one visit to convince 19-year-old Amara Liggett that everything she had heard about India was true. With a huge Om pendant and laden with petticoats8212; apparently the height of fashion where she comes from8212;Amara went back to Alaska.

Tiane Doan Na Champassak fell in love with uthappams on his first visit to Chennai. Now he8217;s busy sampling Indian restaurants in the south of France, and his point of reference: uthappams. As for Italian Matteo Giglioli, he let his Indian friend talk him into Paneer Buttermasala. One bite and he was hooked.

Jemima Raman