Throughout the time I spent post-finals and pre-trip shuffling through my many print outs of readings and articles, I stupidly ignored the importance of pop culture. It is strongly well known just how important the arts are to the Indian heritage and culture. As I sit next to a young woman on the plane to Dubai, and look over her shoulder as she watches Bollywood films, I recognize the big gap in my preparations.

Being the social butterfly that I am, I engage her in a short conversation during lunch – long enough to manage to finagle a movie recommendation from her in between bites. I chose not to give her any explanation as to why I wanted a recommendation from her, or as to why I was heading to India in the first place. She asks, “new or old?” and I reply, “what do we have new?”. She recommends English Vinglish, which is only offered in Hindi. This immediately grabbed my attention as it reminded me of a habit my own mother had for many years when we first came to the states. She would take a word, usually one she wasn’t sure of in English, and repeat it by either adding a m to the beginning of the word. Kabob mabob. Hotel motel. Now I had to watch it. Subtitles? Check.

Through the deciphering of some choppy subtitles (and a few parts that were cut out unfortunately due to a malfunctioning screen), I understood the film to tell the story of a young Indian woman, Shashi, from a prominent Hindu family who comes to the U.S. – New York to be exact – to help her sister with her wedding and to learn English in order to better and expand her catering business. The film itself is simply a romantic comedy of sorts with no heavy undertones of any kind. It’s hearty in its exposure of prominent Indian culture; the food, the traditions and the music. What really stood out for me, however, were the similarities in culture and language to my own Iranian background. The different names for maternal and paternal aunts and uncles, the ceremonial parts of the wedding exclusive to the bride and groom, the concepts of shugan and nazar/cheshm. As I write this and put two and two together, I realize a lot of this has to do with the influence of the Parsis in India whom came from ancient Persia. Either way, it got me even more excited for our trip to India. I am really looking forward to discovering all the intricacies of the culture that not only make it unique, but also bridge a link to my own cultural background.