Day 22: A Very Bollywood Christmas
In my Indian-American family, where no occasion goes by without celebration, getting into the Christmas spirit means trying Bollywood music. Although none of our elders grew up celebrating Christmas, they totally accepted it, and when we got together for Christmas dinner at my wife’s house in Los Angeles, everyone have a mission. While moms roast nuts with chaat masala and dads gather around wine, my job is to sync my phone with bluetooth speakers and play deejay. My father-in-law, Vrajesh Lal, the patriarch of the family, started the evening with a full pinot noir and ordered “something for Christmas,” such as “Elvis’s Christmas Album.” (Having immigrated from India to the United States in 1972, Vrajesh was an avid Elvis fan.) But as the nuts gave way to Cornish hunting hens and fennel-shelled squashes (for those with a fennel rind, that’s it.) vegetarian), he never fails to criticize me with a quip. new directive: “Let’s watch some Bollywood movies, huh?” My playlist consists of Bhangra style Christmas music covers, with beats from north India, songs from Bollywood brass band and some of my father-in-law’s favorite Bollywood hits. Not even the king can compete with this family’s compulsion to celebrate Christmas with jam from his mother country.