Baggy Trousers or Arabian Nights in Barcelona

E. didn't know much, she said, but wanted to learn a lot, and faster. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and she did it very much. She thought she had good communication skills, but missed the basic rule: imagine yourself on the other's point of view. She just wanted to make her point, being different; in some way, defiant.

So, she bought some baggy trousers in a weird and dark shop in Gracia, with an odour of Arabian Nights mixed with smoke of new-age incense. Her mother had some prejudices towards Islam, resulting perhaps to her long exposure to such culture or, probably, due to her lack of any exposure at all. She would become scared to listening any Muslim music, like if it was a curse Allah was casting upon her.

E. bought such baggy trousers like unconsciously stating to her mother, "hey, mom, I wear a piece of Islam between my legs!" What a brave girl she was, she probably thought. Besides, that would raise her status as an experienced explorer among her friends, another notch she could brag about after her safari in Barcelona. Experiencing foreign cultures was part of the curricula, as dressing local costumes, eating local gastronomy or practicing dances and mating rituals.

The funny thing, though, is that such trousers were not, not even by far, Arab, Islamic, nor Muslims, but Indian, from India. The shop appeared not to be so alternative as expected and was just another branch of a chain, selling the same kind of clothes that can be found everywhere in the neighborhood. Being alternative has nowadays become mainstream, and there are many kinds of disguises for those who want to taste a pinch of exoticism in BarcelonAventura!!



Anyway, let's freak E.'s mom out a little with this music, a version of Springsteen's Worlds Apart played by a Syrian orchestra and sung in Catalan by Maria del Mar Bonet, the beautiful Majorcan singer, of deep and dark eyes and hair. What a nice mixture of flavors!

"Acompanyen els estels el camí que hem inventat
El teu cor amb el meu cor, per damunt dels mons apart"

"The starts go along the path we have invented
Your heart with my heart, above such worlds apart"

I used to listen to this song in Japan, out loud in my car while coming back from work, just to scare that kind of people and also to feel the salty taste of the Mediterranean in my mouth, the same taste one experiences when swimming in her or while eating fresh clams at El Serrallo in Tarragona.