The perfect early birthday gift
Updated On: 12 July, 2024 06:58 AM IST | Mumbai | Rosalyn D`mello
Learning that I had aced the intermediate-level German and Italian test, which only 50 per cent of examinees pass, was a wonderful way to start the week
Listen to this article :
Wearing the spectacular cotton sari gifted to me by my artist friend lent me an air of invincibility while taking the bilingual exam last week. Pic/Rosalyn D’Mello
The night before I was to take the bilingual exam last week, I was only nerves. I should have spent the previous week continuing to self-study, I should have been practising writing 80 to 100-word compositions in German and Italian so that I wouldn’t feel too flustered. Instead, I travelled to the Netherlands with our toddler and spent a chunk of every minute that he was asleep hanging out with Bhasha and Hanya, the two artists who were on the residency whom I went to visit. I decided at some point I would have to contend with the fact that I knew whatever I managed to learn and metabolise. It was too late to cram my head with anything new. In any case, that is the purpose of an exam, to test your existing knowledge on a subject. Failure would simply mean it was deficient. Nothing more, nothing less. This is an exam that at least 50 per cent fail. I opted to take it not only because it was free, but because it could serve to motivate me to accelerate the pace of my learning. In that sense, I had already succeeded. The last three months I had easily spent an average of two hours a day studying Italian and sometimes German.
Still, I needed a confidence boost. What better than a sari! As I was leaving the residency apartment in Wassenaar, Bhasha gifted me a spectacular cotton sari she had bought directly from a weaver and off the loom. She said she had watched the rani pink silk pallu being attached to the green cotton that formed the rest of the sari during her residency in Hampi. The rani pink looked so mesmerising, I wanted it to hug my skin, so I brought it around my neck so it could make my colour pop. A turquoise eyeliner was the only make-up I had time for. I couldn’t spare a moment to gaze into the mirror to see if the look was complete, but I felt so good. I felt a little invincible. I felt the way I never feel when I wear western attire. I got lucky and managed to hop onto an earlier, direct train, which meant I had time for a leisurely cappuccino and brioche.
Read Next Story
Trending Stories
Latest Photos
Latest Videos
Latest Web Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
Mid-Day Fast
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT