I read, therefore I am … part two

Woman 1/29/09

Having finally gotten the chance to watch Slumdog Millionaire recently, this woman struck me as having a great resemblance to Freida Pinto, the lovely actress who played the female lead in the movie. Perhaps resemblance is a misnomer. She looked like she could have been the older (albeit still youthful) sister to Ms. Pinto.

The face is familiar to many by now. Her hair was just as long, dark and wavy – reinforcing the perception that she shared DNA with the actress.

It was actually her shoes that caught my attention. A friend had pointed out to me her own “Uggs-not-Uggs”, and this woman had on shoes that could be described as such. It had similar tan color, approximate height, and light fur running up the sides of the boots. It was not quite as rounded in the front, and missing the Uggs label on the heel. As always tucked into the boots were a pair of jeans – these were your basic blue denim, though not skin-hugging skinny.

On her head was this mesh back Adidas baseball hat – perhaps it could be described as ‘trucker-not-trucker”. It was a very faded blue with the added patina of yellow. Like it was a tooth that just hadn’t been brushed. But the hat wasn’t frayed or showed signs of wear – just a peculiar color of supposed neglect.

Her winter coat was another double-take. At first glance, it was a simple black and white double-breasted wool number with black hood trimmed in black fur. The pattern of the weave looked like it was a modern herringbone weave of some sort. A closer look revealed that it was a plaid pattern of some sort, or at least a geometric pattern that from afar looked like a herringbone weave. Herringbone-not-herringbone.

For extra warmth, there was a thick chunky turtleneck sweater. Black, with the sleeves sticking out from underneath the sleeves of the winter coat.

Early in her ride, she pulled out a yellow magazine-sized deck that turned out to the Spring course catalog for The New School. Right there, the rush to judge pegged her as a young, hip, college student. Cool, seemingly label-less clothing, everything that was trendy but just a little less so – breaking her from the standard.

Just then, the catalog was put away, and she pulled her Blackberry from her bag. It was a large handbag- the size of a tote. There were this large pocket on the front panel, and each end of the bag had large pockets as well that utilized drawstring clasps. It was pale pink, and the sheen suggested nylon not leather. It looked quite interesting, and if assuming she was your typical NYC college girl; that bag could have been an Urban Outfitters or Anthropologie offering. As she put her Blackberry back into the handbag, the zipper pull of the main compartment flashed the brand; Stella McCartney.

The book she proceeded to flip through from end to end only added to my obvious premature and misguided judgment. It was credited to the Deen Bros. Titled Y’all Come Eat. She was flipping through this cookbook, written by the sons of Southern cooking maven, Paula Deen. This would have been the last thing one could expect her to read.

Looks like Freida Pinto. Dresses like she shops at Urban Outfitters. Carries a $1500 handbag. Interested in Southern cooking. Somewhere out there is a man or woman that worships the ground she walks on. May they find each other soon.