Do you see anything interesting in the top picture?

We were sitting in one of those benches around The Green in Alpharetta Downtown when a bunch of Indian folks – seemed like a couple of families – caught my attention. It was the way the men were dressed. They looked like they were wearing “veshtis“. (My South Indian folks will understand). The other thing is that I had crossed a couple of them while walking Jay Jay a few minutes earlier and they had the pronounced mark of “vibhuti” on their forehead. Fairly religious person, I had concluded then.

They gathered as a group next to Curry Up Now. This is what I would have expected. A couple of Indian families walking up to Alpharetta Downtown to get some Indian food from Curry Up Now and making the most of the evening – that is fairly par for the course. It was a pair of large boxes they were carrying that had my curiosity piqued. They could not have hauled their Indian dinners from home to eat in front of the Indian restaurant – right?

Well, without ordering any food – in fact, they did not even go inside – they sat down on the green and then without any apparent provocation, started singing. From the way the ladies were giving the “taala” with their right hands, my guess was they were singing some Carnatic songs. What is more – I could hear the sound of “dhol” (kind of drum) and “khanjani” (hand held metal percussion instrument) wafting thru the light breeze. In fact, I could see the young kid on the “dhol” and two of the men playing the “khanjani”.

People were walking by curiously. As did I (that is how I got the lower picture). Turned out they were singing religious songs.

This is what I would expect to see in any random street corner in India on a nice evening. Never expected that in Alpharetta Downtown!!!

After about 45 minutes, they simply packed up and left. As suddenly as they had come. Did not get a chance to walk up to them and find out what were they up to.

Jay Jay has an incredible way of figuring out whether he will go out for a walk. If I come downstairs in my house clothes, he would not even budge from his bed. But if he sees me wearing outside clothes, he will promptly jump down the stairs waiting for me to take him out.

Today, both Sharmila and I got dressed up to go to downtown. Our friend was already waiting at the door looking outside impatiently. I stepped out and he followed suit. But moment we got to the street, he remembered that Sharmila had dressed up too. Just sat their looking at our door waiting for Sharmila to come out.

I even let go of his leash and pretended to walk away. When I looked back, he was still waiting there for Sharmila to come out. And when she came out, he ran to me as fast as he could dragging his leash and occasionally looking back to see if she was following.

Now time for cappuccino and doggy treats!

We were walking in downtown Alpharetta when we came across one more of those live music going on. This was at the intersection of Canton and Academy in front of Coalition.

This gentleman – Geno – is really talented. He was certainly singing and playing the guitar as many do. Simultaneously, he was playing the bass with his two feet on that instrument you can see. I was impressed enough that I waited for him to finish his song and then chatted him up.

Apparently he has been doing this for 30 years!!