Comments on: Desi-spotting by decade

By: WhereItsGoing

WhereItsGoing — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:50:22 +0000

the 2010's.... wow.. and she's holding hands... with another desi guy! Quick ! take a picture.

By: Sameer

Sameer — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:39:44 +0000

â€¦next decade (or maybe two decades from now depending on how things go): Dude, there is yet another desi person on television WITH an obviously desi name doing a mix of American and South Asian cultural things and food and no one bats an eye (yawn that).

By: Darth Paul

Darth Paul — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:43:49 +0000

Also, the Hebrew nickname for Yonatan is…Yoni.

By: Darth Paul

Darth Paul — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:39:12 +0000

Jonathan doesn’t really sound Indian.

That’s because it isn’t. It’s the ENGLISH variant of the HEBREW name Yonatan, which means “given by god” or more loftily, “God’s gift”. Find a proper designation in any desh language and it would be an “Indian” name. The virtue of being attached to an Indian doesn’t make any ol’ name Indian.

By: Sooraj

Sooraj — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 04:39:59 +0000

Anna and others,

As a full blooded who lived in Kerala for 17ish years, and another 5 all over South India, I have to say that Jonathan doesn't really sound Indian. John, Mathew (and Mathais), Paul (or Paulose is you wish), Kevin, Lenin, etc? Sure. I am yet to meet a Desi Jonathan. Also, as a side note, a lot of Christians in India has names like Arputharaj and such.

I will concede this though: When Americans think of Desi sounding names, they don't think Biblical ones.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:34:27 +0000

Like I said, names like Jay, Anna, Mindy dont bother me at all. It’s freaking names like Punju, Ganihanaju ,or whatever that annoy me. Names that are not remotely Indian or any other nationality. Unless there is a double meaning or intentional satire, I despise use of nonsensical words because the writers cannot be bothered to learn a few real Indian names that could still serve a comedic purpose.

By: A N N A

A N N A — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:20:30 +0000

this decade: Dude, there is yet another desi person on television (yawn)â€¦but without an â€œobviously desiâ€ name:

“obviously Desi” should really say “obviously hindu/muslim/sikh/jain” etc. A very common Christian and Indian Christian name is “Jonathan”.

I know, a trivial nitpicky gripe, but “obviously desi” shouldn’t mean “obviously not a christian”

FWIW, I don’t think it’s trivial or nitpicky, but I’m used to being the Christian killjoy. We’re never going to sound “obviously” Desi, to Desis or anyone else.

By: BrownianMovement

BrownianMovement — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:28:45 +0000

Let's not forget desi's are directing and producing movies as well: m night shyamalan , Jay Chandrasekhar, Mira Nair

Jay Chandrasekhar is Sendhil Ramamurthy's cousin. Who knew ? Don't forget Rhona Mitra, the original model for Lara Croft. Seems to have cornered the fantasy /vampire genre. Was in the last Underworld movie and now in the series "The Gates".

By: neal

neal — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:16:58 +0000

Neal you thought the cell didn't suck?

yeah, i thought it was pretty good. Probably from lowered expectations given that it starred Jennifer Lopez. That said, Ebert called it one of the best in 2001.

BTW - sunil, thanks:

A better example of a good Tarsem Singh movie would be "The Fall"

i missed it when it came out....top of my netflix list now.

By: Yoga Fire

Yoga Fire — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:49:46 +0000

Jonathan in “30 Rock” is adopted.