Wednesday 21 December 2005

White Christmas

Sings..."I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know..."

*Okay, wake up, wake up* - Spheric's alter-ego starts slapping him around the face... :)

Man, I long for a white Christmas....and I don't mean weather-wise, but in an ethno-cultural sense. You ever seen any of those tv scenes/commercial ads which feature a gora (white) family with perfect teeth and smiles, complete with sane grandparents, sat around some elegant table loaded with Christmas culinary dishes (albeit bland and tasteless by Punjabi standards but let's not go there today) ? Well, believe or not in true Ripley style, I want one of those social experiences.

Let me explain and qualify my comments further before I get added to the Shiv Sena/Babbar Khalsa hitlist...LOL. Experience to date suggests that whenever there's a tribal gathering of fellow Punjabis, everything is just so over-the-top in terms of eating, drinking, inane gossip and character assassinations (LOL) but it is also fragmented with separate areas for different ages, men and women. Walk into one room and you'll see Punjabi men eagerly living upto their self proclaimed shere (lion) reputations by ravenously devouring tandoori chicken legs by the plateful and washed down with copious amounts of whisky....another room will resemble a zenana scene from Mughal-e-Azam with some bored looking women in their radioactive bright silk outfits... :) According to this model, women, children and other life forms will eat at a separate time to their lords and masters, the latter group only coming to the dining table once they have reached the required alcohol induced coma state of (un)consciousness.....LOL.

As utopian as this may sound, for once I'd love to have some civilized conversations where everyone gets involved - all ages, men, women, and maybe we could eat together too ?

End of rant. :)

3 comments:

Tololy said...

Not sure if I got your post straight but there is a similar custom in some regions of the Arab World where the men eat first, before the women and children.

This may strike you as odd but your post is very informative, and pretty casual, I enjoyed it.

Spheric said...

Glad to know that there are other parts of the world which have similar tribal customs. :)

At least we are not alone.... :)

Jas B said...

Hey, I wanna wear those radioactive bright silk outfits! Where can I buy some?!
he he he :)