I'm reading The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani.
This book is beginning to remind me of the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Priya just booked a job as a receptionist at a Hollywood celebrity and gossip magazine. She has no experience in the feild whatsoever, but likes it so far. Some people have given her the cold shoulder however because of the way she dresses. Anne Hathaway plays the main role in The Devil Wears Prada and she has a rough start because she isn't as high fashion as the other women. Both Priya and Hathaway are quick learners however and are making their way up. Both of their work offices have a woman who is in charge of things and is the boss, the "dragon lady".
Priya's arranged marriage is going better and she and Sanjay talk a lot more now. It seems like such an odd concept but I have a friend who's parents are in an arranged marraige and they seem really happy together. Personnally I think it would be too weird to have to get to know a person after you marry them, but thats probably just because its a foreign concept to me. I'm sure that overtime you end up growing closer to your spouse. I also think it would be hard to not be able to choose who you are going to marry because in America, its a right, not a privelege. Something I'd really like to know is how divorces work for arranged marraiges in India. I'll look it up and maybe write about it in a later post.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Q4 3A
I'm reading The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani.
This week I read a few more pages and Indian culture and American culture have been clashing for Priya. She got a jod at the Hollywood Insider, a gossip magazine. She feels that she needs to change her clothes so that she doesn't stand out as much. She recently got her license and is scared to drive on the freeway and because of that she takes the side roads and has trouble making it home for dinner so her mother-in-law is helping out more. Her sister-in-law has a pierced belly button and doesn't wear traditional Indian dress, making Priya think that she is a "bad girl".
This week there was also a chapter I read about their arranged marriage. Priya and Sanjay didn't meet until a week before their wedding to exchange vows. The husband's family also gives money and other large gifts to the bride's family called a dowry. In India, women don't take only the husban'd last name, they also often take on his first name as their middle name.
This week I read a few more pages and Indian culture and American culture have been clashing for Priya. She got a jod at the Hollywood Insider, a gossip magazine. She feels that she needs to change her clothes so that she doesn't stand out as much. She recently got her license and is scared to drive on the freeway and because of that she takes the side roads and has trouble making it home for dinner so her mother-in-law is helping out more. Her sister-in-law has a pierced belly button and doesn't wear traditional Indian dress, making Priya think that she is a "bad girl".
This week there was also a chapter I read about their arranged marriage. Priya and Sanjay didn't meet until a week before their wedding to exchange vows. The husband's family also gives money and other large gifts to the bride's family called a dowry. In India, women don't take only the husban'd last name, they also often take on his first name as their middle name.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Q4 2A
I'm reading The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani.
In the few pages that I read this week, Priya continues talking about how she will be the first woman to ever have a job in her family. Her father had said to her, before she got married, "'No woman in this family has ever worked outside the house-- and, look at your sisters are all at home where they belong'" (p. 26). Priya is slowly deciding that she doesn't agree with him, that all women can be happy working in the house. She is reminded of her favorite magazine, which is extremely modest to American magazines that have articles that she finds 'embarrassing' to read. Priya has been dressing in treditional Indian clothing and is considering not doing so because she feels that she is drawing attention to herself. She wears red powder in her hair, symbolizing that she is a newlywed. Many of the women at the magazine she wants to work at find it odd that she lives with her in-laws. This book covers alot of culture clashing, but I think Priya will assimilate fairly quickly to American culture.
In the few pages that I read this week, Priya continues talking about how she will be the first woman to ever have a job in her family. Her father had said to her, before she got married, "'No woman in this family has ever worked outside the house-- and, look at your sisters are all at home where they belong'" (p. 26). Priya is slowly deciding that she doesn't agree with him, that all women can be happy working in the house. She is reminded of her favorite magazine, which is extremely modest to American magazines that have articles that she finds 'embarrassing' to read. Priya has been dressing in treditional Indian clothing and is considering not doing so because she feels that she is drawing attention to herself. She wears red powder in her hair, symbolizing that she is a newlywed. Many of the women at the magazine she wants to work at find it odd that she lives with her in-laws. This book covers alot of culture clashing, but I think Priya will assimilate fairly quickly to American culture.
Q4 2B
I'm reading The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani.
Today was my birthday so I took my driver's test, which I passed by the way!! :) But what I found interesting was that everyone waiting in the lobby for various reasons was so open about themselves. In my post 1A I mentioned how Priya comments about people in America being much more open about their personal lives to people that they just met or people who are complete strangers and I just realized how true it is. In the 20 minutes that I waited to take my test, I learned that the man sitting next to me was waiting for his 18 year old daughter to pass her driver's test and it was her second try. He grew up on a farm and started driving when he was 12. He is a painter. He is getting married this Saturday and it is his third marriage. He is a chain smoker and has health issues. In only a few minutes I had heard most of his life story. Another woman was a stay-at-home mom and she quite obviously took a lot of pride in her son as she rambled on abotu his good grades and extra cirriculars. When he walked in and announced that he failed, she erupted like a volcano even though she had seemed so peaceful and gentle. Priya would most likely say that women do not show rage and anger like that in public back in India, but in America, "everyone knows everybody's business."
Today was my birthday so I took my driver's test, which I passed by the way!! :) But what I found interesting was that everyone waiting in the lobby for various reasons was so open about themselves. In my post 1A I mentioned how Priya comments about people in America being much more open about their personal lives to people that they just met or people who are complete strangers and I just realized how true it is. In the 20 minutes that I waited to take my test, I learned that the man sitting next to me was waiting for his 18 year old daughter to pass her driver's test and it was her second try. He grew up on a farm and started driving when he was 12. He is a painter. He is getting married this Saturday and it is his third marriage. He is a chain smoker and has health issues. In only a few minutes I had heard most of his life story. Another woman was a stay-at-home mom and she quite obviously took a lot of pride in her son as she rambled on abotu his good grades and extra cirriculars. When he walked in and announced that he failed, she erupted like a volcano even though she had seemed so peaceful and gentle. Priya would most likely say that women do not show rage and anger like that in public back in India, but in America, "everyone knows everybody's business."
Monday, April 21, 2008
Global Issue
I've decided to do my research on China and Tibet, mostly about the recent crackdowns and what it means for China and its plans to host the Olympics.
Here are my sources:
"Tibet crackdown, 2008" by Human Rights for All
http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Abuses/China.asp#Tibetcrackdown2008
"Chinese Nationalism Fuels Tibet Crackdown" by the NY times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/world/asia/31china.html
"Protests Mar China's Grand Plans for Olympic Torch Relay" from SIRS
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-4466&artno=0000274954&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Protests%20Mar%20China%27s%20Grand%20Plans%20for%20Olympic%20Torch%20Relay&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
Here are my sources:
"Tibet crackdown, 2008" by Human Rights for All
http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Abuses/China.asp#Tibetcrackdown2008
"Chinese Nationalism Fuels Tibet Crackdown" by the NY times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/world/asia/31china.html
"Protests Mar China's Grand Plans for Olympic Torch Relay" from SIRS
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-article-display?id=SMN0307H-0-4466&artno=0000274954&type=ART&shfilter=U&key=&title=Protests%20Mar%20China%27s%20Grand%20Plans%20for%20Olympic%20Torch%20Relay&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=Y
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Q4 1B
I'm reading The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani.
I can't believe all the changes Priya has gone through in her first two weeks in California! Alot of the differences that Priya points out between American and Indian culture were things I had never thought about. If I were Priya I would be very overwhelmed. Her husband, Sanjay, is a very nice guy, but they have absolutely no romance in their marraige. Priya doesn't have any friends in America either. Her in-laws are extremely critical of her and she isn't exactly sure what they expect of her. No woman in her family has ever had a job. I find this most interesting of all because in American culture today, almost every girl grows up dreaming of the life they will have and that would most likely include a job that you love. It almosts seems that Priya had never considered a job and it seems foriegn to her where to me, it seems like one of the most natural things in the world. In America self-sufficient unwed women are common whereas form Priya's point of view, it seems less common in India and women let their husbands provide for them and their families.
So far I can't decide if I like Priya's character or not. She is doing extremely well for being taken from her old culture and thrown into a completely different one with no friends nearby. I would be an emotional wreck if I were in her place so I admire her courage. The one thing that annoys me however is that she seems way too concerned with what other people think of her. She seems to think that her sole purpose is to please her in-laws and her husband and I really want her to just do something for herself more often.
I can't believe all the changes Priya has gone through in her first two weeks in California! Alot of the differences that Priya points out between American and Indian culture were things I had never thought about. If I were Priya I would be very overwhelmed. Her husband, Sanjay, is a very nice guy, but they have absolutely no romance in their marraige. Priya doesn't have any friends in America either. Her in-laws are extremely critical of her and she isn't exactly sure what they expect of her. No woman in her family has ever had a job. I find this most interesting of all because in American culture today, almost every girl grows up dreaming of the life they will have and that would most likely include a job that you love. It almosts seems that Priya had never considered a job and it seems foriegn to her where to me, it seems like one of the most natural things in the world. In America self-sufficient unwed women are common whereas form Priya's point of view, it seems less common in India and women let their husbands provide for them and their families.
So far I can't decide if I like Priya's character or not. She is doing extremely well for being taken from her old culture and thrown into a completely different one with no friends nearby. I would be an emotional wreck if I were in her place so I admire her courage. The one thing that annoys me however is that she seems way too concerned with what other people think of her. She seems to think that her sole purpose is to please her in-laws and her husband and I really want her to just do something for herself more often.
Q4 1A
I'm reading The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani.
Priya has just moved in with her husband and in-laws in America after an arranged marriage and has been noting all the cultural differences between India and America for the first couple of chapters. Women in her country do not normally work. Their main job in life is to keep the house clean and raise their children, yet Priya is now in search of a job. Another difference between the two cultures is that women are less modest in America, which she notices this after joining a gym. People also are more open about their private lives in America. Priya notes that one person asked another person, a complete stranger, how things were going in a line at the post office. In only a few minutes the man had told his life story, including his recent divorce. Priya also claims that American clothes are smaller and there are many more goods available to the consumer.
Priya has just moved in with her husband and in-laws in America after an arranged marriage and has been noting all the cultural differences between India and America for the first couple of chapters. Women in her country do not normally work. Their main job in life is to keep the house clean and raise their children, yet Priya is now in search of a job. Another difference between the two cultures is that women are less modest in America, which she notices this after joining a gym. People also are more open about their private lives in America. Priya notes that one person asked another person, a complete stranger, how things were going in a line at the post office. In only a few minutes the man had told his life story, including his recent divorce. Priya also claims that American clothes are smaller and there are many more goods available to the consumer.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Village Bride of Beverly Hills
I chose to read The Village Bride of Beverly Hills by Kavita Daswani because it caught my eye on the shelf at Barnes and Noble (it's pink!) and the book also happens to sound interesting. :) The main character, Priya, is Indian and has been set up in an arranged marraige, part of her culture that I find interesting. She and her new husband move to Beverly Hills and Priya gets a job at a Hollywood gossip magazine. I think that there will also be a lot of culture clashing since it is her first time in America and everything is so new. I find it interesting how some immigrants become americanized quickly while others tend to keep their culture. The author has lived in many places and was born in Bombay, India and is now living in Los Angeles. Even though this is a work of fiction, the author will most likely have first-hand experiences that she was thinking of while writing this book. I hope I like it!
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