Sunday, August 17, 2008

Busted

It had to happen sooner or later but I'm still laughing.

You all know I watch lots of Bollywood movies. Much of the fun of these is the music and dancing. I have quite a few Hindi film songs on my trusty old iPod and find them to be among the best songs for driving around town. And yeah, there's a little dancing involved as I drive (which mortifies my children) but sometimes I just can't help it.

Last night I dropped my boys off with their cousin for a sleepover. Since The Spouse had taken The Princess for a visit to his mother-in-law I had an unheard of Night on My Own. As I drove to pick up a friend I was playing the soundtrack from Om Shanti Om with the windows rolled down as it was beastly hot. There I was at stop light, doing some upper body shimmy when a snazzy blue car pulled up beside me. A young woman, very clearly of Indian descent, leaned out the window, did a double take when she saw my very non-Indian face, laughed, and said "I love this song!". Her companion, the driver, then leaned across her and urged me to turn it up, both of them clearly laughing at me as I drove away.

I felt like such a poser, but it was funny, too. Little did they know I was headed off to a meal of delicious South Indian food. It was the busiest night I'd ever seen at Chennai Masala--it was packed. But the bustle only added to the tastiness of the meal. People think I am crazy for driving something like 30 miles from my home to eat at this place but once I take them there, they totally get it. And, oddly enough, I ran into an old friend I hadn't seen since high school there last night. Apparently she regularly makes the schlep as well.

3 comments:

shula said...

I've made a lot of friends that way.

It particularly blows Indians away when you can actually sing the words.

Anonymous said...

If they could laugh and you could laugh, then you're NOT busted. Beautiful.

Spgonahan said...

Definitely not busted - I'm sure they were tickled. Indians do not wax exclusive about their popular culture, and if you give it the nod then they're pleased I think. They aren't usually the judgemental snobs and bigots that we Westerners sometimes are.