To Say or Not to Say ‘Merry Christmas’
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
Christmas is no longer an exclusive religious event in the United States of America anymore. There is no doubt about its theological origin but nowadays it is mostly a social and cultural celebration referred to as ‘holidays’. During this time, Americans travel long distances to reunite with their families, especially their parents, host big parties, enjoy lavish dinners, and spend generously to exchange gifts with each other. These are some of the warmest moments of their lives, something they look forward to every year. However, in these special moments there are only two things that remain cold and detached from the rest of the US: the weather and the local Pakistani community.
Traditionally, the holiday season sets in motion after Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November every year, when the President of the US pardons a white breasted turkey. While most Americans enjoy Turkey dinners with their families on that evening, most Pakistanis get ready to spend money in malls on the following morning — Black Friday. Way before dawn, millions of people hit the stores to snatch the best deals on the discounted merchandise. Shops are packed with people, who wait in lines for hours excitedly to buy the top of the line stuff on sale.
During this time, if you also visited a superstore and zoomed in on its farthest corner, a deserted, dark spot usually reserved for the clearance section only, you will find a quiet, confused and aloof man, scavenging for the lowest priced merchandise, in the lowest price section. Looking at his droopy brown eyes surrounded by black halos, reflective of his sleepless night, his ears covered by a scarf, you could easily identify his South Asian origin. If you paid a little more attention to his curved mustache, his ill-fitted jeans folded at the bottom, his loose polo shirt irregularly tucked in his pants, his dull grey jacket, and of course, the aroma of sautéed onions around him, all of them would only confirm your suspicion about his nationality.
When this aromatic man waits for his turn in the line, the queue suddenly gets shorter, usually one-fourth of its original size. People ask him ‘spontaneously’ to check out first, which helps him to make his purchase in less than 30 minutes, beating the odds of waiting in line for at least three hours just by his cooking and dressing preferences. Being an observant and sensitive man, after this experience, I am sure you would wear extra cologne every time you went outside.
While he is in the queue, his hands are full of ‘gifts’ too. Nonetheless, these discontinued and out of fashion items that he has bought after hours of deep pondering, are not for the people around him in the US. Instead, they are designated for the ‘loved’ ones back in Pakistan. After the purchase has been made, they are going to be stashed away for another year to ‘mature’ before being handed over to their ‘rightful’ owner in the summers. Interestingly, with easy web access, people living in Pakistan now, as opposed to a few years ago, are more up to date about the latest trends in electronics and fashion. They immediately evaluate the open market worth of the imported goods and decide to either sell the product, upgrade it with their own investment, or pass it on to their ‘inner circle’ of friends to keep up the good work of ‘altruism’.
In the next few days, the whole country lights up with indoor/outdoor Christmas decorations. Homes, offices, and shops, even hospitals, are embellished with colorful ornaments. Everyone wishes each other happy holidays or Merry Christmas except the Pakistanis (in general). In our desi neighborhoods, the holiday season does not step in after Black Friday, and Christmas is not welcome at all. This part of the city insists on remaining dark and desolate, with its dwellers asking themselves: is Christmas even permissible?
Don’t get me wrong; even though they do not exchange gifts, and behave religiously perplexed on this occasion, it does not mean they have no plans for the post-Christmas sales. They in fact have ‘big’ plans for those days. The whole family intends to fill their wardrobes for the next year (or many years to come). For their six-year-old, they need to buy clothes that are at least two sizes larger. It means he will get a ‘Large’ when he needs ‘Small’ in shirts; size three in shoes will automatically become size five; jeans would be size 10 for eight and jackets would be big enough to replace a small blanket. If they don’t fit, they will be piled too as gifts for the loved ones in Pakistan.
Had you not witnessed our ‘participation’ during Christmas time yourself, and observed our eternal hunt for real deals as the only sign of solidarity with Americans, you, like most Pakistanis, might also have blamed Caucasians for not letting us assimilate in society. But now you know, it is not true. To a large extent, it is our responsibility to take the initiative by actively participating in the local festivities while maintaining our separate identity.
(The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com )
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