Mom was watching hindi film songs on television. They were playing old songs, the kind she listened to in school. The girls in her high school lived in dorms and shared each other's clothes and care-packages. Mom made her own blouses and a beautiful suit which was a kind of celery green color and very dashing. The kurta was so tight and fitted that her older brother would not let her wear it, but the other girls loved to borrow the thing. It was cut just like the suits the actresses wore as they strode along fields of flowers, singing and dancing with one or another Kapoor. "The girls loved to borrow my blouse. Once, one of the girls left a note in my cupboard saying, 'didi, I borrowed your blouse. I hope you don't mind'. I didn't mind. We borrowed each other's things all the time, we were not so formal as they are here in America. We would never think of asking".
Can u even imagine u leaving a note for your friend after borrowing one of her dresses here in the u.s? Wow! you better have nine lives
Posted by: Azeem Azeez | December 22, 2004 at 02:16 AM
No doubt Azeem. I seem to remember a fiasco in my college dorm regarding one girl using some Noxema without without asking......bad scene!
Posted by: MD | December 24, 2004 at 03:36 PM
Amen...that was the first thought that struck me a few months after I came here...Everyone was polite but sterile...A sanitised distance. A good change if you are like the protagonist in the old Amul Palekar classic, but god almighty, it gets to you after a while...:-)
Posted by: Word | January 12, 2005 at 08:02 PM
Word,
I have to say that I am a contrarian and like different things in different moves. Sometimes I like the warm messiness of Indian culture, and other times a little quiet American reserve suits me better! (I grew up here, so maybe that's why I feel that way).
Posted by: MD | January 17, 2005 at 06:49 PM