  So I got to my parents' house today and the first words out of my mother's mouth were not hello or how are you, but: "You look like a Jew. You look like a Hassidic Jew. " To which I replied, "Well, this scarf came from Jerusalem, so that's a pretty good call. " Now, first off, before you go any further in this post, you have to get past any idea that this post is any kind of prejudice. It isn't. All right.
Carry on. So my mother was referring to the scarf I had on my head. Lots of cultures and religions cover their women's heads. In fact, basically anywhere you go around the world, you'll find this: in Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Hindu communities alike. I don't know off the top of my head about Buddhists, but I don't think it matters to them. Anyway, I wasn't really making a cultural or religious statement by wearing a scarf on my head.
I like how it looks. At the same time, it is considered a modest statement (and if you're Christian, at least, a submissive statement) to cover one's head. So I win on all three counts, even though I'm not a Christian. Which brings me to my next point. Why limit yourself to one culture or one stereotype? I was born in New York City, which is itself an amalgam of so many cultures, I can't list them all.
Why not just take what you like from where ever you find it, and put it together? That's what I do. I'm as likely to wear a Bengali sari as I am an African daishiki, or a Mennonite cape dress, or a Kuwaiti jilbab, or an Israeli head scarf. I'm just as likely to be wearing some rag of a denim dress I got at Walmart. The point is, I wear what I like. I pick and choose from an unlimited array of styles and statements to make something uniquely my own.
People, for some reason, find this unnerving. I think it upsets them that they can't find a way to categorise or stereotype me. I refuse to be stereotyped. People miss out when they limit themselves. Have you ever had some serious Jewish home cooking? How about Greek pastries dripping with honey?
Germans can cook, too.. I spent twenty years looking for a recipe for a bread called "studen". I finally found it, thanks to a lady from Bavaria. Have you ever had basmati, golden with turmeric and fragrant with ginger and spices? Or hot chilies, pickled in mustard oil and spices, hot as fire and incredibly flavourful. How about even in our own country?
Have you ever had okra, fried til it's just golden and perfect, or bagels straight from Manhattan with cream cheese half an inch thick? Have you ever eaten Cajun food? Have you ever had grits? If you grew up in the south, have you ever had farina, which is the Yankee version of grits? Have you ever eaten something you can't even identify, and said, "Damn, this is good. What is it?
" When you limit yourself, the only one who loses is you. There is a whole huge world out there, and so many things you won't ever have the opportunity to learn or enjoy, if you don't take a step forward. So me, despite the fact that yes, I might be a 'fashion 911' and I might be considered weird or whatever.. I have always tried to explore outside my own little world, and take from what I've found those things I like the best. On any given day, I might look like an Anglo east Indian, in a sari, or maybe a Mennonite housewife, or a Hassidic Jewish woman, or perhaps a Muslim woman. In reality, I'm a sixth-generation American, Gaudiya Vaisnavi, chanting Hare Krishna, detached from other people's perceptions of me, and doing it my way.
I don't care what you think of me, and I promise you, you'll never find a stereotype I fit. You can't categorise me. I follow my Guru's instructions, and I follow the rules and regulations of my spiritual practice. But don't try and fit me into some pigeonhole, because you can't. There's worth to be found and good to be had everywhere, if only you can get past your own self and your own fears to look. Which is why I said right in the beginning that this post isn't about prejudice.
It's the farthest thing from prejudice: it's looking at all cultures, races, practices, and civilisations equally, and taking from each to create something that is above and beyond, that can't be categorised, and that transcends everything to be uniquely yourself. Let go of your fears and give it a try. urlLink 
