Jelisava

Peacocks on Indian-print Fabric / March 2007

"In America, anything is possible." That's what an immigrant father from India tells his son in the movie The Namesake (based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and directed by Mira Nair). The movie is full of vivid images and sounds of India and America and we were riveted to our seats the whole time -- all the way through the credits. When we got up to leave, an Indian couple came into the theater so we asked about some of the things we had seen in the movie and had a wonderful chat about India and America (both of their sons were married here in Indian ceremonies -- one in Atlanta -- that included the tradition of the groom arriving on a horse). Another couple came in and the woman announced that her granddaughter had been an intern on the movie (I told her to sit through the credits to see her grandaughter's name). In America, anything is possible: you can you go to a movie about an Indian immigrant couple in America and meet an Indian immigrant couple in the movie theater and the grandmother of an intern on the movie and then go for lunch at a Jewish Deli and have the best "Reuben Sandwich" that you've ever had (made with pastrami).