Clash Of Cultures

26. Dresses And Makeup

Noor

"Noor, how many cups of coffee have you had already?", Kimberly asked as I walked in to the resident room with a Venti Starbucks coffee cup.

"Not enough...", I answered.

"Seriously? Its only noon and you have 4 empty cups of coffee at your workstation that weren't there this morning!", Kimberly noted, giving me a side eye.

"Someone needs to focus on their own work!"

But she was right. I had been drinking way too much coffee lately. And between rotating through the Peds ICU and working on the research study that I had recently acquired funding for, I was probably working more than a 100 hrs a week. Which meant little time to sleep and eat, and no time to think about anything outside of work.

To be honest, work had become a refuge from men and marriage, as well as parents and in-laws. It provided an excuse for everything: from not having time for a formal engagement ceremony to not being free to meet the man you had agreed to marry, or talk to the man who continued to occupy your inner thoughts despite your every effort to forget him. I was well aware that this was not a sustainable solution to my problems, but at the moment that was the best I could do.

"Earth to Noor...earth to Noor...", I heard Kimberly call out at me.

"I am sorry, were you saying something?", I turned towards her.

"Yes! I was. Make sure you get your work done early today. The Resident Spring Ball and Award Ceremony starts at 7"

"Oh I don't think I'll be able to make it.I have to finish putting together the consent forms so I can start enrolling patients in my study asap", I tried to make it sounds like a reasonable excuse.

I had never been to a ball before, and didn't want to have to deal with the awkwardness of alcoholic drinks and dancing. The closest thing to a ball that I had ever attended was an end-of-year dinner and dance at our very westernized high school. The only reason my parents had allowed me to go was because it was the last year I could ever attend it and the dress code was shalwar-kameez (the national dress of Pakistan)! There was no alcohol and my mom dropped me of herself, and promptly picked me up two hours later.

"Noor....NO! You have got to take a break! All work and no play will make Noor a very, very dull girl! You better come otherwise I am calling for intern backup and we will physically haul you the ball if we have to", Kimberly pointed to Scott and Emily who were sitting nearby, "You know me, I will call them if I have to"

"But I don't even have anything to wear...clothes, makeup...nothing", I legitimately didn't have anything resembling an evening attire, and there was no way I was going to have time to buy something after work today, especially, since the kind of long, unrevealing dresses I was interested in were hard to find.

"Oh I am sure you have one of those sexy dresses that has a long cloth you wrap around your body. Several of the Indian origin faculty used to wear them to formal events at my med school. What do you call that dress again?", she asked me squinting her eyes. 

"Are you talking about a sari? I have one, but I am not sure I would wear it to a ball. My mom made me bring one, in case I had a desi wedding or something to go too. I would look like like a freak wearing that to a ball"

"You let me decide that, I am coming over to your place after work and we are getting ready together! I'll also bring some of my dresses which you can choose from. Promise they are not too revealing and you can always wear tights and a jacket with them", my friend insisted. 

"Kimberly it's not just about a dress, what would I even do at a ball? I don't dance, I don't drink..."

"You can just eat the food, drink water and mingle with people. And lots of people don't dance, just sway from side...", Kimberly got up and pretended to shuffle her feet uncomfortably, "This is what the faculty does, you can just join them"