English Subtitles

English Subtitles

I mastered the “silent lie” when I first began sneaking out my freshman year, and carried it out all the way until I hit college. I figured, “what my parents didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.” It was a mutual effort all on my part; I would get to do what I want and they would be blissfully ignorant.

This life wasn’t ideal. Of course I got in trouble, and caused my parents a lot of pain. I caused a great deal of guilt upon myself, but it was the only way to be happy. The art of lying essentially became the only way I could live at all. The more I lied, the more I got caught, the more I needed to craft my lies judiciously to continue living the free lifestyle unshackled by Indian tradition as I could.

When I was thinking, “What could possibly be an overarching question to all this?” I could only come to one conclusion; had I really mastered the art of lying and successfully lived a double life as an Indian-American female, or had the art of lying consumed my Indian identity completely?

Hindi Dialogue

Main “chupki joot” master bungaye jaab mainai rath sai baar jaan vaste gaye meri noo grade main, aur maine essi karthi thi jaab main school sai baar nickelgaye. Maine socha ki, “jaab mere maa-bap nu nahi patha hai, toh kya furuq paartha hai?” Saare safle mere paas te; main baar jasakti aur kuchbi kaarsacti, aur mere maa-bap haasthe haasthe nahi paatha chalege.

Ye zindaagi acha nahi ta. Haan, main musibat hoothi thi aur mehne mere maa-baap nu both darda paaya. Menoo sharam aatha tha, paar baas ye vala rastha tha kush hoone vaste. Meri chalak joote meri saari zindaagi ki kushi bungayee. Hoor joote, hoor musibat, aur hoor mere joote chalak bungaye kyoon ki main Hindustani laarki vala zindaagi nahi jaana jathee thi.

Jaab main soocheri thi, “ye jaberthust saval kya hoosukta hai?” main baas ek baand soch sukti thi; kyoon main chalak vale joote ki master bungayee aur ache sai doosera zindaagi jeengayee Hindustani-engraygee laarki vaste, ya chalak joote ki art meri saari

Hindustani pahechan cha hoogayaan?

English Subtitles

Coming from an Indian family, tradition was valued over human worth; therefore, growing up, my parents were very strict.

Girls jobs in India were to cook, clean, and sit quietly. We couldn’t talk to people of the opposite sex and had to talk extremely respectfully to any and all elders. Girls are always wrong in the presence of elderly verdict.

I was born in America, so all of my friends went out, talked to boys, and stayed out overnight. To me, I felt like a prisoner, but my parents thought I was living the fun life. Compared to my mom, I had an infinite amount of freedoms, but freedom didn’t come easily.

To get simple pleasures out of life, I had to learn to lie at an early age. Something as simple as wanting to go to the arcade with a group of friends including even a single boy required a lie that the group is strictly female. Since these were white lies, or “judicious lies” as Mark Twain would say, little to no guilt accumulated from things like this.

Then high school began, and the lies got worse. White lies like “I’m going to Brianna’s tonight and spending the whole night there” to cover up pulling an all nighter at a campsite turned into convincing them my bloodshot eyes were a product of contacts-irritation. My parents were idiots; I am the youngest, and they caught on quickly. My lies from then on became more calculated, or more “artful” by Mark Twain’s standards.

Hindi Dialogue

Indian rishte samnai, Hindustani di parampara umor di value kam hai. Jaab me petha hoorithi, meri mummy aur papa both strict thai.

Laarki di jobs hothe hai ki ussi kaana ban naan na hai, safai karane, aur chup chap betna hai. Ussi mundai ke saath baath ni karsacte, aur ussi elders zith ke saath baat karna. Laarkian hamesha galuth hote hai elders ke paas.

Main America’ch petha hogai, toh meri saare dost baar jathe thai, mundai ke saath baat karte te, aur rath baar rethe thai. Mere samnai main prisoner thi, mere mummy papa thai samnai main both jaberdust thi. Mere mummy samnai, mere paas both saare freedoms hoonthe hai, per assaan nahi tah.

Chote maastiaan vaste, main joot bolna shuru kaardiyaan jab main both choti ti. Chote baate jaise ki mehne mere dostiyaan ke saath arcade jaana hai aur ek munda humare saath aara hain, mehne joot bolna paraga. Kyoon ki ye chote chote baat thai, ya “samajdaar joothain” Mark Twain bolta hain, iss kaam sain mere samnai thori ya no sharam aatha tha.

Fer high school shuru hogayaan, aur mere jootain hoor boore hogaye. Chote joote jaise ki “Main Brianna thi gaar main rairi-hoon saare rath vaste” jab meh saare rath mere dost ke saath camp kaarethe kuch hoor bangaye. Fer meh boliti ki meri lal rung acke meri contacts toh vaja hogayaan. Mere maa-baap kamine nahi teh; meh sabse choti hoon gaar main aur usko paatha lagya. Jab se, mere joote pehle se socha hua, ya hoor chalak vaale hogaye, Mark Twain toh samnai.