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01 March 2007

"Reflect what you are."

Bus to West Seattle, Seattle, WA, 07-Oct-06

"In case you don't know."

There's an air of delightful narcissism about my friendship with Sambot (aka Sammit). After all, the reason we were compelled to meet was because we were routinely mistaken for each other, mostly around Cambridge, and once in Austin. (The latter instance is particularly memorable because the gentleman who thought Sam was me had just been introduced to me. That says a lot about the, er, lasting impression I make upon people, doesn't it? haha)

Doppelgänger intrigue aside, I was also drawn to Sam because of the fascination I've had with twins since I was a child. I desperately wanted one of my own and am still somewhat envious of the many sets of twins I've met. (I've known so many pairs that I've lost count, but the number is likely around twenty and increases regularly, what with babies and new co-workers and all. Knowing this many sets of twins might not be statistically improbable, actually.) Twins became super-cool to me about five minutes into The Parent Trap. From there it was a straight line to Double Trouble and Sweet Valley High novels.

Really, Sam and I don't look much alike; we ourselves can't figure out why people are fooled by us (is it because we're both a little short? Maybe it's because we're both Sri Lankan). I still love the confusion, though. Obviously, I'll never have a twin, not even a long-lost one, but with Sam, I get to pretend every now and then.


TRACK LISTING: The Velvet Underground, "I'll Be Your Mirror"

7 comments:

SBP said...

You look like perhaps you're related to Sambot, but there's no way I'd mix the two of you up!

Being a twin is no big deal, trust me. The only thing that happens is that your sister gets the better presents at Christmas!!!!

Nirmala Basnayake said...

AND you have to share a birthday, which I know SOME PEOPLE don't like.

But wasn't it you who received Wham's Make it Big LP for Christmas one year -- the record that KKP coveted?

SBP said...

Oh, that's so true! KKP got the screwjob when she landed Cyndi Lauper's She's so Unusual that same year. But don't worry, after a few years passed Make it Big found it's way into KKP's record collection, and it was me in the end that got the screwjob!

Nirmala Basnayake said...

SBP - I heard that Kylie eventually claimed your Wham record.

Simon - no, I'm a noob, because I can't even confirm if Sam is Tamil or Sinhalese. Booooo. (My family is Sinhalese, though.) Yet I can tell you definitively that MIA is a Tamil beauty!

Nirmala Basnayake said...

Also, I just remembered that the man who mistook Sam for me at SXSW worked for the American counterpart of my current employer!

sambot said...

i came upon this and grinned again. i'm a sinhalese one as well. let's get you current employer a nirmasam primer.

Nirmala Basnayake said...

Sam! My twin is here! I should say, thankfully, that I have yet to be confused with anyone at my actual workplace. (Last fall I temped at an office where I was routinely confused for another brown-girl employee. That was fun.)

Of course, there's no telling what sort of mindfucking would happen if you showed up at my office. Hey! let's pull one of those twin tricks. You come and sit at my desk one day, just for a short while, and we'll see if anyone notices the difference! Wait, no, that might be depressing, if no one noticed.