Clash Of Cultures

45. Urgent Page

Noor

After taking a day off to recover from the burns on my arm, and deal with the aftermath of the difficult conversations with my parents and Omar, I was going back to work today. As I walked to the hospital, I thought about everything that had happened in the last 36 hours.

While I was talking to Omar, mom and dad had called his parents and broken the news to them. Understandably, they had a lot of animosity towards my parents and me. According to my mom they had said that my parents should be ashamed of raising a daughter they could not control. To this my dad had replied that children were not meant to be controlled, but to nurture and guide before releasing them in to the world to make their own decisions. That had given me some hope that he would eventually forgive me.

But he had spent the better part of yesterday in his room, avoiding any contact with me. He did briefly come out when my mom told him exactly how I had gotten the burns.

"These bloody Americans...", he said examining my bandages, then asked, "Why didn't you call any of us?"

"Umm...Salman was there and I didn't want to bother...", before I could finish that sentence, he was already in his room and slammed the door shut. I was actually a bit worried that the door would come off its hinges with all the slamming it had to endure over the last day.

My mom, given her type A personality, was more interested in the next practical steps I was going to take.

"Maybe I should meet him and talk to his parents? Its best when parents are involved in this process", she said.

"Mama, have you ever heard of a Pakistani woman's family sending a proposal to the man?", even the thought of that amused me. I definitely thought of myself as a progressive woman, but even I wasn't about to do anything that absurd.

"I think I need to step back from men and marriage for a bit. This has been such a traumatic experience for me, I am not sure I can take more of it right away"

Besides I didn't know how Salman felt about me, and as far as I knew his parents weren't even in the picture. I could only imagine my mom showing up to his house and him making an insulting comment about desi parents.

Yeah...that is a disaster I want to avoid at all costs.

Because it was Friday today and I was on overnight call, my mom convinced my dad to take her to Indiana to spend the weekend with her cousin. I wholeheartedly agreed with that plan, hoping that if my dad got some space from me he would realize that I was not wrong in calling off the wedding, even if I was late in doing so.

This will be good for everyone...I need some space myself.

When I reached the hospital, I met Kimberly at the entrance.

"Hey girl! How is the reality tv life of yours going? Seriously...I have never met anyone with so much drama in their life!", she said and laughed loudly.

She was not wrong about my crazy dramatic life, so I couldn't help laughing with her too. I had cancelled the wedding evite yesterday, with a brief note saying that due to personal circumstances the wedding was off. Anybody who got the original evite would have gotten the cancellation notice as well. Kimberly, of course, had called me right away asking for more details. And I had not held back. She may not carry the same cultural and religious baggage I did, but she was a true friend. And I had really needed a friend then.

"So what did Sal say?", Kimberly asked as we got in to the elevator.

"Nothing...I actually haven't heard from him at all", I said, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice.