[Tango-L] Report from Buenos Aires #5

[Shahrukh Merchant]

Sorry Michael, your report was not convincing enough to garner sympathy 
from this corner either ...  When you stated in your earlier email that 
you had such a terrible experience that you wouldn't go back, I imagined 
it was something along the lines of the organizer being unspeakably rude 
(doubtful) or being mugged at gunpoint on the doorstep, or perhaps at 
least what Vince described at being let in without warning that there 
were no chairs (a reasonable expectation at Milongas in Buenos Aires--El 
Beso, for example, which is a smaller place, puts out a sign at the 
entrance desk to that effect when they are full so you know it's 
standing room only before you pay).

But you didn't seem to have this experience at other Milongas, so 
clearly something did happen to put you in a bad mood (your previous 
apparently neutral comment on Argentine's talking for the first 30 
seconds changed tone to the decidedly negative and, quite frankly, 
judgmental "1/3 of the music is wasted on chatter"). It happens to us 
all: one is or gets into a less-than-good mood for whatever reason and 
then it's a downward spiral where it seems like the world is conspiring 
against you. Of course that's true in life in general, but somehow it 
seems to become accentuated in milongas in Buenos Aires (don't ask me why).

Sometimes, when there seems to be no hope of snapping out of it (e.g., a 
favourite partner or a good friend just walked in, the bottle of 
champagne that you forgot you ordered just arrived), it's best to cut 
your losses and go to another milonga or even just go home. I know 
that's not an easy option if you're just in Buenos Aires on a short 
visit and want to make the most of your time, but in that case you just 
have to chalk it up to it being a "bad milonga night"--it is part of the 
experience.

Shahrukh