Sunday, October 5, 2008

I Am Indian Hear Me Roar





I’ve had a lazy day today, hence the two posts, however my suspicion is that this may be my final post for a few days. I head tomorrow to downtown Mumbai to stay with my dad who has been gallivanting on his own for the past week. Yasmin’s place has been in Bandra, which is technically a suburb of Mumbai and despite the conditions on the street, often compared to our "Beverly Hills".

The reason I’m lazy is because we have been “hanging over”, as they call it here. We all had a few too many cocktails at the party as Yasmin’s brother’s house last night. They were having a “housewarming” to celebrate the completion of the incredible renovations of their 2 story flat.

I can’t believe I’m going to admit to having one too many cocktails on a public blog, however drinking is a part of the culture here, therefore I’ll chock it up to cultural exploration! . Yasmin and I spent a few hours getting ready, which included a trip to the salon to get my hair blow dried straight ($10!). Despite the efforts of the nice woman who spent over an hour on my hair, the humidity still took its toll and I was left with a mixed blend of straight/ curly hair. I borrowed an Indian style cute top, donned my new costume jewelry and we started our evening at 10:30pm.

I had met most of the people at the part at some point in the week so I was a lot more comfortable hanging out with the crowd. Top notch food and drinks delivered at a moment’s notice, combined with the amazing décor and view of the sea, made this party the pinnacle of my evenings in Banda. Actual main meal dinner was not served until 1am and the Hindi Karaoke fun started around 2am. We finally hit the sack at 4am!

As the evening progressed many of the guests got “high” as they call it here (drunk/ tipsy) and dancing, picture taking and lots of laughing took over. I am sharing a few of the pics for your viewing pleasure

The title of this post refers to my accent, which progressively turned more and more Indian after each cocktail. By the end of the evening I was talking with my hands, nodding my head and using Indian phrases such as “hiya” and “lovely” whenever possible. With my straight hair and newfound language, I had never felt more Indian! And it only took less than a week…

3 comments:

Peter and Nancy said...

All of the staying up late may help you if Zaleeya doen't adjust to CA time! :o)
-- Nancy

Kristi W. said...

Love the title of your post! :)

Kristi W.

Valerie said...

I just poured myself a glass of wine, and went back to Sept. 29th and read your whole journey. WOW, are you going to have some stories to tell your daughter!!