After sleeping in, Jo and I decided Saturday would be the perfect day to go see a movie. We had wanted to see the Lincoln Lawyer, but it never worked out. When we checked times, we found out we had slept through the only daylight showing, so we decided to see a movie called Unknown instead (another Hollywood flick with a sort of Bourne Identity plot). We took an auto to the Forum Mall and bought our tickets. The theatres had an impressively high level of security, and after passing through a metal detector and a bag search, I was asked to leave my camera battery at the front counter. This of course is an effort to curtail the propagation of pirated videos by street vendors and the like.
The movie was chugging along its comfortably cliched car-chase filled plotline, when out of the blue, literally in the middle of a sentence, the screen went dark, then broadcasted "Intermission" while music played. It was so weird! I've seen that happen in Hindi movies, which are roughly 3 hours in length, but I didn't know it would happen in Hollywood ones as well. Everyone got up and started filing out of the theatre to get snacks or to chat, I guess. Jo and I stayed put and after about 5 minutes, a man walked up and handed me a menu card. Jo and I ordered a chocolate doughnut, handed him money, and he left.
When the movie started again, he came in with this little chocolate doughnut and two forks. It was cut up in fourths and even heated! What service.
After the movie we met Shruthi and Atul and headed to Mocha (surprised?!). We ate and chatted a bit, but it was kind of a slow day. Jo ordered her beloved cheesy noodle dish, and this time instead of grilled chicken, it came with boiled. Shruthi and Atul also pronounced the noodles too salty and complained heatedly to the waiters, although Jo and I couldn't really taste the excess. The waiter returned the noodles, and they didn't taste any different but everyone was satisfied. My theory was that he had placed raw potatoes in the noodles to soak up the salt and then removed them, but who knows. Maybe he did nothing at all.
Finally we left, and after dropping our bags at home, walked to a nearby crafts exhibition at a place called Ashoka Pillar that usually serves as a marriage hall. Indoors, vendors were selling various handicrafts from clothing to figurines. There were basic plastic household items and traditional old Indian brassware. I bought a few gifts for people and enjoyed just walking around and looking at things! At one metal jewelry stand, a man tried to sell us a ring that was a 50 paise coin, for 200 rupees. Paise used to function as 'cents' to rupees, as 'dollars'. Their value diminished so much that they went out of existence sometime well within my lifetime. This man claimed the paise coins were now antiques. What a great business scheme, to sell a worthless coin for 200 rupees! A coin that was in use only 10 years ago.
At home, Rashida came over. She is another of my good childhood friends, and lives on the third floor of the apartment building. Her family owns three apartments in the building now, (two on the third floor and one on the second) and is in the process of breaking the wall between the two third-floor flats to build a large one. Rashida is busy with her pre-med studies and it is always lovely when I get a chance to talk to her. She told us about her brother's arranged marriage and the courtship associated. Her brother is engaged to be married to a woman who works as a dentist, and they have been 'dating' and getting to know one another for about a year now. They go out together, and speak often, and by the time they marry will be very well acquainted. Rashida is confident they love each other, and has total faith in the arranged marriage system.
She points out some interesting points that outsiders to the concept of arranged marriage often bypass. Indian marriages are often unions of families, not just of individuals. It is a different, more communal way to think and it changes the way people approach marriage. Because of the level and frequency of interactions the bride and grooms family will have, it is important that they get along. Furthermore, allowing your parents to choose your match isn't all that strange if you trust that they'll have your best interests in heart. Rashida insisted she would not marry outside her community because it is important to her that her children speak her language, know her religion and embrace the same traditions she centers her life around. All of these points make a lot of sense, but I personally wouldn't opt for an arranged marriage, probably because selfishly, I want to choose my spouse for our compatibility on an individual level and factors like that.
After great conversation with Rashida, Jo and I watched some Weeds (we are becoming rapidly addicted to this show!) and went to bed.
The movie was chugging along its comfortably cliched car-chase filled plotline, when out of the blue, literally in the middle of a sentence, the screen went dark, then broadcasted "Intermission" while music played. It was so weird! I've seen that happen in Hindi movies, which are roughly 3 hours in length, but I didn't know it would happen in Hollywood ones as well. Everyone got up and started filing out of the theatre to get snacks or to chat, I guess. Jo and I stayed put and after about 5 minutes, a man walked up and handed me a menu card. Jo and I ordered a chocolate doughnut, handed him money, and he left.
When the movie started again, he came in with this little chocolate doughnut and two forks. It was cut up in fourths and even heated! What service.
After the movie we met Shruthi and Atul and headed to Mocha (surprised?!). We ate and chatted a bit, but it was kind of a slow day. Jo ordered her beloved cheesy noodle dish, and this time instead of grilled chicken, it came with boiled. Shruthi and Atul also pronounced the noodles too salty and complained heatedly to the waiters, although Jo and I couldn't really taste the excess. The waiter returned the noodles, and they didn't taste any different but everyone was satisfied. My theory was that he had placed raw potatoes in the noodles to soak up the salt and then removed them, but who knows. Maybe he did nothing at all.
Finally we left, and after dropping our bags at home, walked to a nearby crafts exhibition at a place called Ashoka Pillar that usually serves as a marriage hall. Indoors, vendors were selling various handicrafts from clothing to figurines. There were basic plastic household items and traditional old Indian brassware. I bought a few gifts for people and enjoyed just walking around and looking at things! At one metal jewelry stand, a man tried to sell us a ring that was a 50 paise coin, for 200 rupees. Paise used to function as 'cents' to rupees, as 'dollars'. Their value diminished so much that they went out of existence sometime well within my lifetime. This man claimed the paise coins were now antiques. What a great business scheme, to sell a worthless coin for 200 rupees! A coin that was in use only 10 years ago.
At home, Rashida came over. She is another of my good childhood friends, and lives on the third floor of the apartment building. Her family owns three apartments in the building now, (two on the third floor and one on the second) and is in the process of breaking the wall between the two third-floor flats to build a large one. Rashida is busy with her pre-med studies and it is always lovely when I get a chance to talk to her. She told us about her brother's arranged marriage and the courtship associated. Her brother is engaged to be married to a woman who works as a dentist, and they have been 'dating' and getting to know one another for about a year now. They go out together, and speak often, and by the time they marry will be very well acquainted. Rashida is confident they love each other, and has total faith in the arranged marriage system.
She points out some interesting points that outsiders to the concept of arranged marriage often bypass. Indian marriages are often unions of families, not just of individuals. It is a different, more communal way to think and it changes the way people approach marriage. Because of the level and frequency of interactions the bride and grooms family will have, it is important that they get along. Furthermore, allowing your parents to choose your match isn't all that strange if you trust that they'll have your best interests in heart. Rashida insisted she would not marry outside her community because it is important to her that her children speak her language, know her religion and embrace the same traditions she centers her life around. All of these points make a lot of sense, but I personally wouldn't opt for an arranged marriage, probably because selfishly, I want to choose my spouse for our compatibility on an individual level and factors like that.
After great conversation with Rashida, Jo and I watched some Weeds (we are becoming rapidly addicted to this show!) and went to bed.
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