Walking pass some shop lots, a Punjabi man approaches and says something very softly, almost whispering. You lean forward to listen closely to what he has to say. Being the good person that you are, you are guessing he could be lost, asking for directions.
And you hear “Very lucky face. You have a very lucky face”
You smile, instantly thanking him while quickly studying his appearance. A long sleeved white shirt and a pair of dark slacks, the typical office attire; carries a thick organizer. He tops it off with a distinctive turban.
At this point you get hints of fortune telling, and suspect it won’t be for free. So you politely decline and thank him, walking a steady pace for fear of a persistent service sales person.
Incident 2:
Years pass by and another Punjabi man approaches you while browsing the bed and bath section in the departmental store, turban and all.
He is rather soft spoken for his size but you lean forward to have a good listen nonetheless, because living in a helpful society, you can’t ignore a request for help before deciding if it is in your capacity to lend a hand. As soon as you hear “Lucky” wedged in his sentence, you instantly thank him, turn around and make a beeline to wherever you think he will not be heading next.
Incident 3:
More years pass by, specifically, two weeks ago.
You are seated on a plastic chair outside a car workshop, waiting for your car to get a full checkup. A Punjabi man approaches, carrying a suspicious soft spoken demeanor. You hear “very lucky face” and despite saying ‘no thanks’ and shaking your head, he went on and on with ‘very lucky face. Very good way of thinking. You have good fortunes. Small fee, I can tell you your future, plans and so on.”
You shake your head even more vigorously while saying ‘no thanks. I’m okay. Thank you’, because getting out of your seat and walking away would seem rude and offensive.
He finally gets the message and ends everything by offering a luxurious handshake, saying “good luck!”
You accept his kind gesture with a genuine smile, say a gratifying ‘thank you’ and as soon as he turns away, breathe a good sigh of relief; immensely glad that nothing unfortunate happened between you and the 'automatic fortune telling machine'.
Reflecting on all three incidents so far, you think to yourself, “why do they always come with a turban. Do they have fortune telling institutes or something?”
You blame all three incidents for this rather racist perception. You wonder why your fortunes sent you three different men from the same ethnic background, displaying the same demeanor; soft spoken, properly dressed and say ‘lucky’ way too many times.
You think to yourself ‘yeah, thanks, and that’s all I need to hear’.
It makes you wonder, if you look so lucky, why do strangers feel the need to tell you so? Or do you look so depressingly unlucky that you’ll buy any sweet word and foresight anyone tries to sell? With or without a turban.
Any luck with the answer?
Me neither.
Related picture from a random site.
No comments:
Post a Comment