New immigrants in ethnic enclaves tend to have a stronger support system but once they fly the coop into the prestigious suburbs and into Americanization, there is a chasm of distances to overcome between friends. We are monetarily richer but are we poorer in friends?
Browsing: Desi
“Pride was so powerful for many of us. We Bhangra’d and garba’d our way through the gay district of Chicago, Boystown. Not only has it been 50 years since the riots at Stonewall, but it is the first pride for me after IPC 377 was overturned,”
Film journalist Aseem Chhabra is a great believer in the power of cinema to heal and rejuvenate. Instead of an apple a day, his mantra is a film a day and he often watches 365 films in a year. The veteran of several film festivals, he has traveled to many across the globe, and has captained the ship of New York Indian Film Festival
New York taxi drivers, including a few desi ones, pose as pinups for a 2017 calendar which will benefit charity.
By winning the Miss America title, Nina Davuluri has scored big for all those little brown girls who were always the outsider and had to answer the taunt “But where are you really from?” Generations of kids were often asked why their mothers had dots on their heads and whether they lived in huts and about their connection to tigers, snakes and elephants.
The title of Miss America makes Nina Davuluri as American as apple pie, as American as American can be. In fact, you can dance the bhangra, eat dosas and sambar, worship any God you choose – and you’re still American. Davuluri’s win shows Indian-American children that their many differences are what make America rich and special, and don’t make them any less American
Desis are a dynamic, evolving breed who are constantly surprising themselves and others with their creativity, success, and growing place in the world. And yet, despite all this, there are some things about desi culture that never seem to change, such as our craving for spicy food, our inherently musical nature, our extremely dry sense of humor…and our work ethic.
No matter how much we evolve, desis just cannot seem to give up the laissez faire style of working that we have long practiced in our motherland and which we import with amazing tenacity to the new world. So mind-boggling is this phenomenon, in fact, that it is difficult to express its essence in plain prose and requires an imaginary conversation between two desis to be communicated effectively. Guest Blog.
Does your family try to smuggle Tupperware containers filled with daal chaval into Disneyland?
Do your parents have drawers full of ketchup packages from McDonalds?
Do your parents yell into the phone even when they are not calling India?
Does your family own a Toyota or a Honda?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are definitely, really, Indian! These are part of a quick quiz by light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek ‘anthropologist’ Sanjit Singh whose book ‘Are You Indian?’ is a humorous look at growing up Indian in America. Singh checks out the Indian-American phenomenon right from infancy where the little bachas are being already prepped for the spelling bee by their anxious and ambitious parents to SAT and College Admission, right on to the traumas of finding a mate.
“How many of us like to go to social events? Let’s be honest. A bunch of strangers standing around, some have their friends, some don’t; some are nice; some are not. Finding your place at a bunch of single networking events can be daunting, especially if you are on the introverted side.”
Guest Blog – Single Desi
“This next blog is dedicated to all you single 20-something’s, who aren’t sure about where life is headed and turning 30 seems to be a scary prospect. Sit back, relax and enjoy yourself, because I am about to share with you some thirty-something secrets that will surely give you plenty to look forward to: yy thirty you should own your own furniture, your own style sense, your own sense of taste – and one great romantic memory.” Guest Blog – The Single Desi
Being single has its benefits. You are free; you are open to new experiences. You go wherever the world takes you and you have all that money and time to yourself.
However there is some negativity attached to being single. For example, there is no socialization security. You limit yourself to whoever is open to you. You go out, put on a nice dress and attract whatever the universe sends in your direction.
In Sex and the Single Desi, Sarina Jain talks about Masala Bhangra – a popular fitness program which she started 12 years ago from her garage. This single woman talks with Monica Marwah about health and fitness and succeeding at what you do. She says, “It is about good nutrition but its also about working out. Lifting weights as well. Building that strength.” She shares quick tips for exercising while commuting and food items she’s never without.
“Over the years, I have learned to be more protective and loving towards myself, therefore making excuses for other people’s blatant disrespect is something I am not willing to spend my life doing.
Sometimes, when you are around someone who is being uncharacteristically rude or nasty and walking away is leaving you with unanswered questions, then posing the question “Why are you so mean?” can help get a person to understand that it isn’t acceptable to behave this way around people, regardless of whether he likes you or not.”
Guest Blog – Sex and the Single Desi
“One of my friends in the States is a head turner. Not only is she unrealistically stunning but is also an extremely bright and successful lawyer. She is just the woman we all aspire to be. But what meets the eye is in sheer contrast to the life she leads.
At home with her husband she is a subdued woman who does not dare speak – her life is run more in fear than in the worship she so obviously deserves.” – Chatty Diva
Anand Giridharadas’s ‘India Calling’ – evocative and insightful – is almost a road map to the New India which has so much of the old India mixed in it. The book has been re-introducing young Indian-Americans to the land many left as children or may have never seen. Then there is the older generation of Indian-Americans who came as immigrants many years ago and still see the India they left decades ago, frozen in time.
“As I get older, I find myself trying to rediscover some of the values of our Indian culture which shaped my childhood and still run as an uneasy undercurrent through my adult psyche, but for the most part have been suppressed in the desire to adapt to the New York lifestyle.
As with all value systems, of course, not everything is desirable and it’s necessary to pick and choose the best of both Indian and American values in order to be truly happy.” – Sanjay Sanghoee
Why did I marry this person, when God knew that our marriage wouldn’t last more than two years?
Why did I hook up with this guy and get dumped afterward when God knew it would happen, what was the point?
Why did my best friend in the whole world steal my boyfriend, why did God introduce her to me and why did we click so well?
Why did my loser ex-husband take my children and money, when all I did was give him my love and support?
Why did I study so hard for a career that landed me unemployed and/or unhappy?
Guest Blog: Sex and the Single Desi
As Galleon co-founder Raj Rajaratnam’s trial
Insider trading scandals have been a staple of the American landscape for decades and while the more sensational ones like those involving Michael Milken and Martha Stewart are legendary, they are only symptoms of a larger disease that is the true bane of the business world – The Old Boys’ Club mentality.
Guest blog – Sanjay Sanghoee
When you are in your adolescence and twenties, you want to do what the norm is. If everyone around you wants to be more Indian, then so do you. If everyone wants to be more American, then so do you. It depends on where you are living, your social experiences and how much impact your family has in shaping your cultural life.
In a society where social networking is as easy as a click of a button, we all want to move ourselves to a better version of ourselves. We are living in a time where everyone has something to say and teach us. With tools such as Twitter and Facebook, we often compare ourselves to others and wonder if we are enough. (Guest BLog)
It’s taken a century of lobbying – both formal and informal, organizational and personal – to arrive in the America of 2010 where Bobby Jindal sits in the Governor’s Mansion in Louisiana, Nikki Haley is poised to become the next governor of South Carolina, and where scores of Indian-Americans are serving in the Obama White House and many more are standing for political office.