Hey Mom, It Was EPIC!

For those of you who have read or seen the Namesake, you'll know that it was heavily focused on the immigrant experience and more specifically, the challenges faced by their children. Growing up as the child of Indian parents definitely has had its share of ridiculous experiences. There are some concepts and ideas that are simply impossible to fully communicate to your parents. This divide among generations and the funny moments and conversations they produce I dubbed "Jhumpa Lahiri moments" in honor of the author of the Namesake.

A classic Jhumpa Lahiri moment of mine was centered around skiing culture. Growing up outside of Boston, most kids definitely spent weekends and vacations at the slopes. I never really understood why their winter jackets would have these random tickets hanging off of paper clips, or what "fresh powder" meant, if not something to cure a rash. Slowly, especially as my friends in high school started snowboarding, I decided this was something I could really get into.

Bringing this up with my mother was an amazing conversation. To those who have grown up skiing their whole lives, it probably makes all the sense in the world. However, just picture someone straight out of a tropical climate and explaining to them skiing. Her response was effectively, "So...you're telling me, you want to go out in sub-zero temperature. Put on a bunch of layers of uncomfortable clothing and shoes. Then, go down the side of a steep mountain at speeds approaching that of a car, and you achieve this speed with two little sticks on your feet, potentially seriously injuring yourself and even potentially dying. And to top it off, you spend hundreds of dollars on those sticks and the tickets for entry to the mountain??? No thanks." (and remember, she didn't even address trying to drive a 2-wheel drive sedan into a treacherous mountain trying to get to the mountain).

Needless to say, I never really got into it until post-college when I decided to try to bring some happiness to the otherwise dreary NYC winters by learning to snowboard. The past few days have been amazing, as the major snowstorm from the weekend translated into absolutely ridiculous conditions all week, with mid 30s sunshine, blue skies, and powder. As I'm still getting the hang of the culture, and only recently learned things like what a Hot Toddy is, I'm still amused by some of the lingo. I heard the word "epic" used by five different locals (both during lift chatter and at a bar) and I guess that's the only word to describe some of these past few days. I conquered my first double-black diamonds, and then after getting cocky nearly did break my arm. When my Mom asks me how the week was, I can now legitimately answer her with, "hey Mom, it was epic."