So, now I know what an Arangetram looks like. Or maybe this was a bad example. There were about 500 people there, all decked up. Men in suits and ladies in almost wedding-like attire. I went there with chudidar-kurta and my wife wore a heavy salwar-kameez.

We met a lot of family who was visiting from Connecticut, so it was nice to reach slightly earlier than the scheduled start time. The crowd was a mostly Indians, but quite a few non-Indians were visible too.

I understand now that an Arangetram is a proud achievement for the girl, but more so for the parents and the guru. One of my cousins told me that the person whose Arangetram it was, was very nervous before the event. But her performance as we saw it, was not at all nervous-looking. She performed quite beautifully, and even though I did not understand the technicalities of the dances, I could appreciate the dance itself, which is basically a depiction of a story in the form of music and dance.

The event was a highly elaborate affair with jain snacks served in the intermission and there was going to be a dinner following the event too. The snacks were actually quite awesome, and I did not even realize when I had them the first time that they were jain snacks. We did not stay till the end because of the baby shower that we had to go to, so I am not sure about what the dinner was. During the intermission, we meet the parents and it was clear that they really loved how the 8+ years of training have finally come through.

I wish I had pictures I could post.