Take the Indian out of India, cant take India out of the Indian. Heard it a million times, but never gave it much thought till today, when I almost set out to prove it.
While I was in India, there never was much pressure to keep myself extremely attached to a community. But after moving to North America, this came naturally to find where the other Indians were, how do they meet, where do they meet etc. The first generation migrants always have this nagging fear of having to face a day when their children change into something they have not been brought up as. So, we try to be close to our roots, our culture, our way of life. The top most in this being religious orientation. We feel that if we organize and attend religious events within the community, children will learn from it and follow.
Spring was just creeping in and we were all gearing up for "spring release" of our lalitha sahasranamam parayanams and vishnu sahasranamam parayanams. Typically we ditch the cooking and child care on the husbands and take out our best sarees and jewellery and set out to meet other decked women to compare notes on where we bought them, how smartly got the husbands to handle home front, how one particular bossy lady needed to be handled , the different styles of cuisines et al till the hostess rounds up everyone to make sure the reason why they gathered got on the way!
Now, some naturally shabby dressers like me who live in jeans and heavily used tees make an effort to changing their appearance at least on such occasions. Added to that, sometimes, as on this particular day, I tend to go overboard for the religious ones!! My mother-in-law had given me turmeric powder from some temple and had asked me to apply on face on a friday(as is a common tradition in Andhra and TamilNadu.) After God knows how many months or even years, I remembered this and was happy that I was going to a pooja and would be a good omen!
I wore a bright Kaanjivaram and matched it with some gold jewelery. Added to that I applied the haldi paste to my face and then washed it and assumed that there would only be a slight trace of it left on the face. Made a nice big vermillion bindi and was very pleased with myself.
When I was stepping out of the house my son looked up and said I looked yellow. His father was either too astounded or dint find a non-confrontational way to tell me, hence just nodded in agreement and let it be. With great gusto I proceeded towards the the elevator. I was so pleased with myself that morning that I conveniently put away the shocked look on the face of the guy I almost bumped into as appreciation for my saree and jewelry, which is not an uncommon occurrence around here!
When I went out of the building, I saw a little kid running across and suddenly stopped right in front of me, with yet another look of astonishment. His dad followed him and seemed to weigh possibilities of me being harmful to the kid. And I sure dint comprehend that!! As I started opening my bag to take out my purse I noticed my hands in natural light for the first time . I almost screamed and then a thought struck me. My hands were a little less yellow than TDP flags and more than maggie. I probably beat even that and turned red with shock and embarrassment as the thought crossed me that if that was color of my hand what did my face look like.
I ran back in to the building and while on the elevator looked in the mirror and hit an all time low on confidence to ever step in to the street where people where wondering what was wrong with me. When I went in and asked my husband why he dint tell me, he casually said he thought I knew. I asked him if I should go back. He slowly tells me that it would be ok to go, only people might think I have jaundice!!....The fact was in the artificial yellow lights of my room where I was getting ready, I had not realized how much of the color was still on my face. It took 3 completely yellow soaked wet tissues to make me presentable again!!
When I went back to the bus stop and was thinking back on the events what just happened, I was amused that if the gentleman and the kid were from Hyderabad he would probably say something like this - Oooh! Endhammo...polleremma jatra lenchi gatra vachinava emi gatlunnavu??
And I was wondering if I had proceeded without turning back towards the house, how long it would have been when a good Samaritan would have taken it upon themselves to call 911 and report a public nuisance or some breaking of a epidemic or something more dramatic like an alien species( after effects of watching Avatar perhaps!!) ??
I wore a bright Kaanjivaram and matched it with some gold jewelery. Added to that I applied the haldi paste to my face and then washed it and assumed that there would only be a slight trace of it left on the face. Made a nice big vermillion bindi and was very pleased with myself.
When I was stepping out of the house my son looked up and said I looked yellow. His father was either too astounded or dint find a non-confrontational way to tell me, hence just nodded in agreement and let it be. With great gusto I proceeded towards the the elevator. I was so pleased with myself that morning that I conveniently put away the shocked look on the face of the guy I almost bumped into as appreciation for my saree and jewelry, which is not an uncommon occurrence around here!
When I went out of the building, I saw a little kid running across and suddenly stopped right in front of me, with yet another look of astonishment. His dad followed him and seemed to weigh possibilities of me being harmful to the kid. And I sure dint comprehend that!! As I started opening my bag to take out my purse I noticed my hands in natural light for the first time . I almost screamed and then a thought struck me. My hands were a little less yellow than TDP flags and more than maggie. I probably beat even that and turned red with shock and embarrassment as the thought crossed me that if that was color of my hand what did my face look like.
I ran back in to the building and while on the elevator looked in the mirror and hit an all time low on confidence to ever step in to the street where people where wondering what was wrong with me. When I went in and asked my husband why he dint tell me, he casually said he thought I knew. I asked him if I should go back. He slowly tells me that it would be ok to go, only people might think I have jaundice!!....The fact was in the artificial yellow lights of my room where I was getting ready, I had not realized how much of the color was still on my face. It took 3 completely yellow soaked wet tissues to make me presentable again!!
When I went back to the bus stop and was thinking back on the events what just happened, I was amused that if the gentleman and the kid were from Hyderabad he would probably say something like this - Oooh! Endhammo...polleremma jatra lenchi gatra vachinava emi gatlunnavu??
And I was wondering if I had proceeded without turning back towards the house, how long it would have been when a good Samaritan would have taken it upon themselves to call 911 and report a public nuisance or some breaking of a epidemic or something more dramatic like an alien species( after effects of watching Avatar perhaps!!) ??
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