Tuesday, September 28, 2010

199. DESI GIRL THE CYNIC CORRESPONDS WITH SHASHI KAPOOR THE ROMANTIC

Souten (movie poster)
I return from running refreshed, like someone soaked me in Vitamin C. Exercise really should be what I gravitate towards when I am down. The endorphin rush is more potent and addictive than alcohol, with none of the unwanted side effects.

I shower and wash my hair. Normally I dry it immediately because it’s stick straight and unruly without product. But I like the feel of my silky soft tresses against my face and skin, so today I let the strands air-dry. I sit down to work and hour into editing a proposal Shashi Kapoor emails.

SHASHI KAPOOR: Hi Desi Girl, I got your message last night...your voice comes across as very crisp and enthusiastic over the phone - I really like that! :) I worked late and sometimes my cell dies. Saturday for lunch works for me, how about you?

DESI GIRL: (He seems a little TOO excited by my voice. And his email address, which is sk007@something.com, as in James Bond, has me again wondering why so many desi men are fascinated with the secret agent.) Great to getting the voicemail. Not so great to working late. Sure Saturday works.

SHASHI KAPOOR: It’s okay, work can be like that. How was your day? How was your meeting last night? I am sure you did well, considering you come across as a smart girl.



DESI GIRL: (He listens and remembers I had a volunteer meeting last night, impressive. He is also VERY quick and plentiful with the kind words. So is he desperate or really the financial romantic poet I have been searching for? One issue that plagues Desi Girl is that at the age of 8 she was seduced --- yes seduced. By what you ask --- oh I wish it was the ruthless pursuit of money or Barbie Dolls or wanting to become Punjab’s finest chicken tikki-wali. No, no, Desi Girl became and still remains infatuated with the melodrama of soap operas and Bollywood. I grew up on a steady diet of General Hospital, Dynasty and Dallas. This led to a keen devotion to Melrose Place, 90120, One Tree Hill, and Gossip Girl. On the weekends when my soaps were off, my parents rented Bollywood videos and I got to watch Naseeb and Souten, which features one of my favorite Indian songs, where the actor Rajesh Khanna and sings to Tina Munim, shayad mere shaadi ka khayal? Meaning, perhaps her mother has invited him for tea and conversations about marriage. With playfulness in his eyes, Rajesh smiles and sings, how he WAS flying and free, like a bird, until unfairly caught in a net she has cast. The downside to the movie Souten (which means co-wife), is that no self-respecting desi woman wants to become one. There is something very taboo for a man to share a bed with a woman who has already shared hers with another man. Of course the rule does not apply to desi men with the same callous stigma). My day and meeting were good, thanks for asking. For Saturday how about meeting at HK around 1 pm? The addy is: 523 - 9th Avenue and 39th Street, northeast corner. The food is decent. 



SHASHI KAPOOR: You and yummy food together - sure will look forward to it!

Every email from Shashi Kapoor includes a sweet compliment and now expressive punctuation. Maybe, just maybe, there is some hope here. I should shush my inner cynic and embrace the impending, and perhaps, romantic date with Shashi Kapoor, a Punjabi-caste appropriate-vegan-banker-poet with a famous namesake.

2 comments:

Samosas for One said...

How do we not know each? We like all the same TV shows and desi movies. So...do you still watch OTH?

101 Bad Desi Dates said...

Dear Samosas for One ... I have NO idea why we don't know each other! In the same way NYC is small it is huge!

I LOVE that we watch the same shows and movies ... and no I do not watch OTH anymore, or GG. I find it hard to keep up with GH these days too! Very sad. But I am a little annoyed with Robin/Patrick/Lisa and am finding the Brenda story line SOOOOO SLOOOOOW. Boo!

xo,
Desi Girl