The movie goes on, the female lead has just unveiled a beautifully stunning saree which both you and the other girls can’t help but admire. You look at your own saree, memories of picking out flash in your mind as if they were new, although you know they’ve always been there.
“Her saree is so beautiful, I wish mine were as nice as that” You hear Aaral say wishfully from next to you. You are mildly confused, you don’t recall her having any sarees.. looking over at her you notice her clothes seek to have change slightly, but you simply shake your head and rub you eyes, nothing has changed you must just be seeing things.
The movie continues as you all continue to snack on traditional Indian recipes, the girl who originally brought out the food heads to the kitchen for a bit before coming out with more. You look and notice so,etching strange about her, you could’ve sworn she had pants when she left but now a silky green skirt which almost seems to be growing longer now covers her legs.
You get a headache just thinking about this weird thoughts so you instead distract yourself with the movie and food. After a while you get up to take the disk out as the movie has ended. As you put it away you notice that your friends do indeed look different.
You are fairly sure they didn’t have any Indian jewellery on when you arrived, and their clothes have changed into silky skirts and materials of a variety of colours which seem to continue to grow. Frowning in confusion you turn to Aaral, who now has a Bindi and an outfit which looks not too dissimilar to your own if not it’s differnet colour scheme.
Instead of slippers she know looks to have a pair of heeled sandals like your own, just like all the other girls..
“Aaral were you always wearing that?” You ask, causing her to look confused “Of course, why wouldn’t I come with my beautiful saree. What is it with you and odd questions today? First you ask if I have a brother and now about if I’ve been wearing what I’ve been wearing the entire time.”
Now it’s your turn to look confused, of course she has been wearing a saree the entire time, also... “why woild I ask if you had a brother? I know you don’t” you ask, barely able to remember the question.
Aaral seems to have complete forgotten her concerns and instead says “Huh what did you say?” which prompts you to realise you can’t recall what you just said, causing you to shrug.
You look over your friends, all wearing beautiful sarees of different colours, all with their own stunning jewellery and hair styles. You smile with glee at the sight. You all walk with grace as if you’ve all done this for years, which you have of course. You don’t know why there was any doubt.
A part of you feels there was something important you had to do. Something you had to do because of your friends.. which you quickly realise that you came here tonight to watch you and your friends favourite Bollywood films of course. Nothing to be confused about.
Thought of infiltration float from you mind, why would you ever need to sneak into a gathering of your friends. The idea was more foreign to you than any strange western custom.