My older sister is “half” desi. On the artificial construct and slippery slope of race, you would never know it. In fact, compared to my sister, the ladies featured in the article look alot more desi; in other words I’m surprised that they’re only “part” desi and would never even guess that they weren’t even “whole” (hair colour, eye colour etc. are more comparable to me – a “whole” desi).

Anyways, that’s besides the point. What I really wanted to contribute is the impact of our appearance/perceived race on our lives. My sister, being half-desi, had light brown hair and green eyes and pale skin, with the features of our father. At indian functions/parties, people were both implicitly and explicitly rude to my sister. I noticed it, too, and it made me feel uncomfortable and angry. They would stare, and even come up and ask why we had a white girl in our family, and then gossip amongst each other. Very ugy. Sometimes they would even speak in hindi /punjabi in front of her, not thinking the “white” girl would understand (she did). Some of the men made idiotic assumptions about her being promiscuous. It was such bullshit. On the other hand, if she took me to the playground with her, her friends would ask her why her sister wasn’t white – the tables turned.

While I have a story or two about racism I’ve experienced by society at large, within our extended family and community, my sister suffered from excessive scrutiny, stereotyping and judgement. Ugh. The memories are depressing me… Please don’t tell me about how I as a visible minority have it arguably worse in the real world and in the long run. I am well aware of that; I’m just pointing out it hurts me that during her formative years she was treated as an outcast.

It is only very recently that I realized the chorus yells “Bismillah!” in Bohemian Rhapsody. If only I had this knowledge over 10 years ago when Wayne’s World came out!! I would have been The Man in junior high….*sigh

um, I mean, even more of The Man. yeah thats it.

Did you know that Queen solist Freddy Mercurry was a desi? cool huh?! I love his songs.

Or she could be a scandal monger. I prefer the former.

Personally, I don’t think Deepa Mehta is a hack at all. B/H was a light tromp that made fun of the tedious identity-crisis films of the time. Maybe she just wanted to make something light and fun, instead of fighting off attacks and protesters, as she has in the makings of all 3 movies, “Earth”, “Fire” and the recently finished “Water”.

All of Mehta’s movies have dealt with typically off limits topics, or topics that people feel so passionately for or against, that extreme reactions almost accompany Mehta in any endeavour. Perhaps tired of all the tamaasha, she just decided to try her hand at a light comedy… It wasn’t brilliant, that’s true. But I found it enjoyable, and frankly I think we all know an individual or 2 that resembles a character in the movie. For that alone it was good laughs. Plus Ranjit Choudhury in drag is worth the cost of the DVD alone. The dance sequences totally sucked, but the soundtrack is hot upbeat stuff. (if you can stomach a few too many Sonu Nigam tracks)

All 3 movies of the elements trilogy are very emotionally dense, well acted, and thought provoking. They are movies that stay with you long after the film is over; movies that challenge your own views on society, your role in it, and what blinders we all wear in interacting with each other. In fact, perhaps “Earth” should be assigned to anyone wishing to comment on the “South Asian vs. cut out the muslims” debate… (granted, I haven’t seen Water, as it has not been released yet, but all the preliminary PR and information suggests it will be better than Earth)