My new life as an Indian wife

Two years ago Lauren was living in the south of England. She now lives in Nagpur in central India together with her Indian husband while she is trying to adjust to life as a traditional Indian wife. Here's her story.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.



1. What was Lauren's job?
2. What did Lauren find strange when she moved to India?
3. Where did she meet her husband?
4. What feeling did both Lauren and her husband have when they first started to chat online?
5. How long did they spend together the first time they saw each other face to face?
6. When did Lauren move to India?
7. When do Indian women wear a sari?
8. What have Lauren's in-laws learnt to give her?
9. What does Lauren say about destiny at the end?


My name is Lauren Mokasdar, and I grew up in the south of England.  I found love online, so I gave up my career to become a pharmacist, and I moved to central India to get married to the love of my life.  I now live in a small apartment with my husband and my in-laws.
When I first came here it was quite stressful, because everyone was staring at me, and I was so busy.  There were stray dogs everywhere, even cows, and it was just quite strange, it’s definitely not anything like Sainsbury, what I’m used to, though very different, I’ve got used to it now.
I joined a vegetarian forum online, and within minutes, a stranger started talking to me, and I won’t usually reply to strangers, but on this occasion, I did.
I was working in New Jersey at that time, and then I joined a vegetarian forum, and then I saw that one day Lauren was online, and so I pinged her, and then we started chatting online.
And I started to think I must have known this person in a past life and just as this thought across my mind,  the words came up on the screen, ‘I think we knew each other in past lives’.
About six days from that day, I told her that I loved her.
In two months, he had flown from the U.S., where he was studying his master,s to London to meet me.
And when we saw each other, we were like almost crying because it was just too ecstatic.
And we spent an amazing ten hours. We went on the London underground to central London. And I showed him Big Ben, and the Thames, and the London Eye.  And it was so beautiful because it was night time and no one was there. It was just very romantic.
Lauren booked her tickets for Nagpur, and she came here in the month of June, and immediately when she came here, in a pair of few days, we went off to my hometown in Arabi and there we got married in a temple that I used to visit very often when I was a kid.
I’ve chosen to become a traditional Indian bride, so instead of wearing a wedding ring, I now wear a red pattern called sindoor in the parting of my hair, and a necklace called mangle sutra.  I’ve also had to learn how to drape my own sari. In my family, it’s traditional for the women to wear sari during festivals, and in many of the festivals, I get a new sari.
One of the things I’ve had to learn is how to make roti.  I’m not very good at it, but I’ve been trying my hardest, it’s a lot harder than it looks.
There was a communication gap between us, if I wanted to tell her something, there used to be some misunderstanding which created a lot of problems, but now we just giggle a lot. She comes from a different culture, and we’ve had to learn to give her space and privacy.
When I first came to India, I really wanted to visit a temple, because I saw them everywhere and they are so beautiful, but I was really nervous that I would offend someone and I didn’t know the etiquette of how you visit a temple. And since going to temple while my husband is at work,  I’ve gained so much solace and it’s really given me strength, and put me in touch with my spirituality and really helped me cope with all the struggles since we moved to India.
I genuinely believe that if my husband and I hadn’t connected on that vegetarian forum that our paths would have crossed somewhere, somehow, some place. It was just a matter of time because I really believe that it’s destiny that we are together.

Key:
1. a pharmacist
2. (stray) dogs and cows everywhere
3. on a vegetarian forum
4. that they had known each other in past lives
5. ten hours
6. in June
7. in festivals
8. space and privacy
9. Lauren and her husband were destined to be together

Reading test: Summer Deep-Freeze

Today’s reading, Summer Deep-Freeze, revolves around an article a friend of mine wrote for The New York Times after spending a holiday in New York. The article is good fun to read and throws some light on the way visitors discover a specific aspect of New York City’s life that might have gone unnoticed to many of its inhabitants.  For this reason, Summer Deep-Freeze lends itself to a class around the topic of culture shock.

Before going over the exercise and the article, discuss these questions with your classmates or friends.
Have you ever visited New York?
If so, what was the experience like?
What features of everyday life and the city’s organization drew your attention?
If not, would you like to visit New York? Why (not)?

Vocabulary and grammar are sometimes tested in the reading paper of an exam. We are going to do so with this article. Before reading Summer Deep-Freeze, go over sentences 1-12, taken from the text, and decide which of the options A, B or C best fits each space.

1 There is only one issue I would like (1) ……  on: air-conditioning.
A commenting   B to comment   C comment

2 But what I’ve encountered in New York City (2) …… anything I’ve known before.
A exceeds   B excels    C overpasses

3 Luckily, I had been (3) …… about it by some friends who had just been to New York.
A said   B warned    C announced

4 … to bring appropriate clothing to (4) …… the polar indoor temperatures we would experience…
A face up to   B stand up for   C withstand

5 … this advice would prove exaggerated and such (5) …… unnecessary.
A garments    B outfit   C article of clothing

6 … every time we (6) …… a shop, a restaurant, a museum or any public building…
A entered   B entered to   C entered into

7 The transition from the subway platforms to the deep-freeze temperatures inside subway carriages was something I doubt I could have survived if I (7) ……  a little older or in worse health.
A had been   B would be   C would have been

8 Getting near the place where dairy products are kept in supermarkets requires dressing as if one (8)…… a member of Amundsen’s or Scott’s polar expeditionary teams.
A is    B would be   C were

9 In the fruit and vegetable section of a well-known Midtown market, staff members were actually (9) …… thick anoraks.
A wearing   B carrying   C having

10 I’ve no objection to keeping office buildings refrigerated ([10] …… those who work in them might).
A despite   B in spite of   C although

11 We won’t (11) ...... to hotel, restaurant or department store staff members working in their shirt sleeves…
A oppose B deny   C object

12 … don’t make us shiver in our sandals (12) …… waiters and sales clerks in winter-weight attire can be comfortable.
A for   B so that   C because

As you may have guessed from the sentences above, the thing that surprised my colleague while visiting New York was the fact the temperature of the air-conditioning was really high anywhere you went. Now read the article Summer Deep-Freeze to find out all the details about it and to check the answers to the multiple choice questions above.

Once you have read the text, discuss your reactions to the article with your classmates.
Have you ever gone through a similar experience, either in New York or anywhere else?
Have you ever been shocked by local customs, attitudes or behaviour when visiting a city or country?
What features of everyday life and the city’s organization do visitors find more surprising about your city or country?