Everyone seems to love long hair in India. And braids. There seem to be very specific requirements on how your hair should look.
I was getting ready for a wedding and I undid the french braid I had in. I brushed my hair out and planed to just keep my hair down. I came out of my room and immediately one of my relatives, an old man, asks me if I was going to go out looking like this.
"Like what?" I replied.
"With your hair loose and crazy. You aren't going to pin it up?"
I didn't want to offend anyone I tried to make an excuse for why I was out here with my hair down. "Oh, no. I just came out here because some other people are using the mirror. I'm going to put my hair in a braid."
"Good. These days all the foreigners wear their hair loose and unruly, without any sense."
I just sat there as he and his wife proceeded to ran about how other people wear their hair down. I love putting my hair in a french braid, but I also enjoy letting my hair down. That's part of the reason why I let it grow out. But, I went back in and was too tired to put my hair in a braid, so I put it in a pony tail.
Imminently my grand-mom asked, "Why aren't you putting it in a braid? It looked so nice this morning!"
I resisted rolling my eyes but obliged. It's not that I hate braids; it's the standards that I hate.
At the wedding, everyone was amazed that the "foreign girl" had long hair in a braid. I was slightly insulted: I was born in India. I am Indian-American now, but I'm not that foreign.
I try to understand. I am not against the saying, "When in Rome, act as the Romans do." And I don't mind that they want to see a braid. It's just that they expect it of me, and that irritates me.
I was getting ready for a wedding and I undid the french braid I had in. I brushed my hair out and planed to just keep my hair down. I came out of my room and immediately one of my relatives, an old man, asks me if I was going to go out looking like this.
"Like what?" I replied.
"With your hair loose and crazy. You aren't going to pin it up?"
I didn't want to offend anyone I tried to make an excuse for why I was out here with my hair down. "Oh, no. I just came out here because some other people are using the mirror. I'm going to put my hair in a braid."
"Good. These days all the foreigners wear their hair loose and unruly, without any sense."
I just sat there as he and his wife proceeded to ran about how other people wear their hair down. I love putting my hair in a french braid, but I also enjoy letting my hair down. That's part of the reason why I let it grow out. But, I went back in and was too tired to put my hair in a braid, so I put it in a pony tail.
Imminently my grand-mom asked, "Why aren't you putting it in a braid? It looked so nice this morning!"
I resisted rolling my eyes but obliged. It's not that I hate braids; it's the standards that I hate.
At the wedding, everyone was amazed that the "foreign girl" had long hair in a braid. I was slightly insulted: I was born in India. I am Indian-American now, but I'm not that foreign.
I try to understand. I am not against the saying, "When in Rome, act as the Romans do." And I don't mind that they want to see a braid. It's just that they expect it of me, and that irritates me.
