Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Repeatedly approached by Indian men - Posted by Maggie

Ok, the first time it happened, I was caught off guard a little. I was walking along in Plaza Singapura - 'n huge shopping mall not far from where we live when a friendly looking indian man approached me and started talking to me. I was a bit weary of him and tried to get away but didn't want to be rude, so I listened to him. I thought he was probably going to try and sell me something but instead he said (or this is what I heard) "grid on forehid means you heff goo luck and bring goo karma". I said "excuse me?" and he said again "grid line on forehid mean you heff goo karma". I smiled and thanked him, trying to be polite and he continued with a monologue of what the lines on my forehead meant, sort of like an impromptu palm reading (instead he was apparently reading my forehead!). I didn't listen to everything he said because I could hardly understand his thick accent and politely tried to get away from him as quickly as possible. When I got home I told Darin about it and we both laughed.
The second time it happened was right in front of our townhouse. Another random Indian man approached me and pointed at my forehead exclaiming loudly "you are lucky lady, the line on forehead means good luck to you". This time I was speechless. Two men randomly approaching me in Singapore saying the same thing? Darin and I thought that perhaps *they* had let loose some indian guys in Singapore and gave them instructions to approach random western woman and talk about their foreheads. The odd thing was they really did not want anything in return, they weren't trying to sell me anything and they were really friendly.
I had forgotten about all of this until yesterday. I was walking around downtown in the business district carrying my cousin's teddy bear to take pictures of it with Singapore sights. (To make a long story short, my cousin has a school project where they send their teddy bears all over the world, and the 'hosts' have to take pictures of the teddy bear in foreign locales so that the kids back home can learn about different countries and cultures etc). I set up Bob the bear in front of a famous sculpture by Salvador Dali and felt rather stupid, standing amongst people in suits and high heels holding a teddy bear (me, not the men and women in suits). When suddenly I heard a loud voice behind me saying "You are very lucky woman!". I turned around and there was another indian man walking toward me saying "your forehead means you are very very lucky woman" all the while pointing to my head. I thought it was rather rude, and I immediately avoided eye contact with him, threw Bob into my purse and tried as quickly as possible to disappear into the faceless mass of the business lunch-going throng of people. I did not look back.
One time is really odd, two times is definitely weird, but three times is really freaking me out. I am wearing a hat from now on!

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