Tone-Up

Upon my arrival in Dehli I was greeted by hot wind. For those who have never felt hot wind, do as follows; turn on your oven with nothing sweet baking in it, wait 30 min, open it and let your face just stay in front of it. Not a feeling you want after exiting a cramped plane in clothes you’ve worn for a day and a half straight. Despite my dehydration, I could not wait to observe how India had both changed and remained the same since I last visited in 2007.

Driving through the highway I took note that India’s traffic is still the same, if not worse. There were cars, trucks, motors, bicycles and rickshaws all going in different directions in the same lane. Thus, causing me to have mini heart-attacks as I screamed to the driver in Hindi, “Deheere Deheere!!! (slow, slow!!). To distract my mind, I looked up at the billboard advertisements, my eye catching a bold one. A woman had her back faced to her viewers only wearing a tank-top, underwear, and Sketcher’s “Tone-Up” sneakers. I laughed to myself as I remembered my mother scolding me as she helped pack my suitcase, “Don’t show your cleavage! Make sure you wear a tank-top underneath everything!” Yet, here I was in India, a place to be known as backwards and forwards at the same time, staring at a billboard of a woman half naked displaying her toned buttocks.