So yday I was invited to dinner with a upper middle class traditional English family.....and ofcourse as always I started having palpitations and immediately ducked under an imaginary desk aiming to avoid being sighted.... my friend literally had to pull me out from under my imaginary desk and coax me into going...'why the hell are you so reluctant to go??' my friend screamed.... ' What? How can you ask me that question - what if they dont talk to me and think I am like a bull in a china shop?'... My friend retored 'yes, they are going to invite you for dinner and then not talk you? are you mental? and you are not a bull and their house is not a china shop - so please relax'..... I decided to go... but truth be told I was intimidated by the thought of dining in a typical upper middle english household.... for all the classes I have had on the forks and knives I never quite remember what is for what... and I never quite understood what wine should be had with what... and I never quite understood what the boundaries were... can I ask questions to a typical stiff upper lip englishman??...

so clutching the carefully chosen wine bottle I strutted off to the household - palpitating all along hoping that I would be less of me today.....

but when the doors opened all my fears were laid to rest.... they were the warmest family I had ever met... they greeted me as if I was their family friend from yore.... and soon took me to the kitchen and gave me an introduction to their English kitchen... and I learned the difference between supper and dinner....I was offered a glass of wine... and had a fabulous dinner overlooking the thames... while all the while engaging in interesting conversations about Britain under Thatcher and post world war.... and I was amazed at how polite the English are.... so in one of my self depracating moments, I said India has not yet developed enough to take care of all the individual citizens... and they immediately came to defend India saying 'but look at how wonderfully you have improved over the years - there is still so much time'... I felt good.... they were so respectful of my culture and my differences..... and then we finished the dinner with a traditional cup of english tea....

I came away feeling stupid for having thought that the English would in anyway treat me differently than an Indian would..... and walked away feeling a little more happy that I had finally got to see an aspect of Britain that I had not ever got to see when I was a student.... I was thankful....

and my friend was right - I was not a bull and their house was not a china shop....