Newcomer saves the day

By Meera Gulati

Image credit: Vladislav Muslakov on Unsplash

 My friend Trudy was going shopping and asked if I wanted to go along. There was a sale on bedding, she said, and she was hoping to pick up some comforters along with mattress and pillow protectors.

I was happy to tag along, the only thing was that I had no idea something called mattress and pillow protectors even existed or what their purpose was. Why would anyone want to “protect” their mattresses and pillows? What did they need protection from?

I mulled over this for a bit and then decided to come right out and ask. Nothing asked, nothing learned, being my own version of nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Trudy was astonished that I didn’t know what those were, their use very obvious to someone who had used them all her life.

She explained that a mattress protector was like an extra sheet that you put first on the mattress, under the bed sheet, and that a pillow protector was like an extra pillow case (which she called a sham, but that’s another story) that you placed the pillow in first before putting it in the actual pillow case. Both served to keep the mattress and the pillows cleaner longer.

I digested that bit of information and then asked her a question. Why not, then, just use old sheets and pillow cases, ones that had faded or were worn thin, instead of spending money on new ones?

It was her turn to think about it for a few minutes. Then she gave me a wide smile.

“Atta girl! You saved me a good amount of money today! Let’s go for coffee, instead!”

And so it was that over coffee, I explained to Trudy the truly Indian concept of jugaad!

What’s your story? Every newcomer, no matter how savvy or where he or she comes from, has a story to share about their early days in Canada. Do you want to share your story? E-mail it to us at canadaboundimmigrant@rogers.com.