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I Propose Arranged Marriage
My apologies to Kim Kadarshian’s behind, but if anything’s going to break the internet, it’s the clamor of newly broken-up Malayalee Catholic men at the doors of ChavaraMatrimonial.com. * * * Men do...
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Desi Dance Parties In The ‘90s And The Underside Of Identity Work
There is a scene in the film American Desi (2001) where one of the characters, Jagjit, reads aloud the following sentence from a campus newspaper: “The Indian club is dedicated to promoting Indian...
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A Real-Life Heart-to-Heart With My Grandmother
(Photo/Wikipedia/licensed under CC by SA 3.0) There isn’t much that dots the poor town in West Virginia my grandparents have called home for the last half-century. As new immigrants in a period of...
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In Search Of The Unknown: Secular Sanyasi
In 1807, William Thackeray concluded in his Report on Canara, Malabar and ceded districts that “In India, the haughty spirit, independence and deep thought which the possession of great wealth...
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Singapore’s New Indian Heritage Centre Traces History of South Asian Communities
Indian Heritage Centre night façade. (Photo/Indian Heritage Centre) Singapore’s Indian Heritage Centre opened on May 8, 2015. The museum’s jewel box-like façade towers over the historic and colorful...
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Drawing Inspiration: A Conversation With Visual Artist Chitra Ganesh
Chitra and Kavita, age 8, circa 1983 Chitra Ganesh is a South Asian American visual artist who has earned accolades and awards and exhibited her bold and inventive work all over the world. She’s also...
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Quick Picks: Author & Interfaith Activist Saadia Faruqi
This week we feature the current favorites and obsessions of Saadia Faruqi, author of the short-story collection Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan (read an excerpt here). Saadia...
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Do You Think My Muscles Are Sexy?
I recently had a conversation with a guy about how much muscle toning is sexy in a woman (relax Aunty, we were just talking). I think many women athletes can agree this is always a sensitive topic. As...
View ArticleVIDEO — Blessings: Little Pakistan, Brooklyn
Last week, Muslims around the world celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr after a month of fasting. On the eve of Eid, many people hold moon-sighting or “Chaand Raat” festivals around the world. My family and I don’t...
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These Things DO Happen To Us: How Indian-Americans Can Stop Failing Each Other
A few months ago, a Buzzfeed article entitled “How My Culture Failed Me When I was Raped” made the rounds on my Facebook news feed. In it, Beejoli Shah (no relation) writes about how her identity as...
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Me, My Hair, and My Brownness
9 years old: I find a tube of hair removal cream in the bathroom. I decide to use it on my arms, but it takes too long and smells awful, so I get rid of the hair on one arm and not the other. I wear a...
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They Call Her “Hot Chocolate”
Starbucks was the place, Hot Chocolate was the name. The barista greets me, we say our obligatory hellos, and I request a Hot Chocolate, size small. As is customary for Starbucks, the good barista...
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Watch Hyphen American And Read Our Q&A With The Filmmaker
Inspired by Martin Scorsese’s 1974 Italianamerican documentary about his parents, NYC-based filmmaker Chai Dingari made a film to share the story of his parents’ 1994 journey to the U.S. from India....
View ArticleComedian Hari Kondabolu On Queens, Twitter, Hinduism & A Whole Lot More
A photo posted by harikondabolu (@harikondabolu) on Aug 20, 2015 at 6:12am PDT Yesterday Hari Kondabolu had a 49-minute interview on Greater Philadephia’s WHYY-FM Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane....
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#AfterSeptember11: Remembering Balbir Singh Sodhi, the 1st Post-9/11 Hate...
September 15 marked the 14th anniversary of the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi. He died in the first fatal act of hate violence after September 11, 2001, when he was shot while arranging American flags...
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Open Letter: We Need to Talk About How Mental Health Affects South Asian Men
To my brown brothers, It’s been a year and two months since most of my time was occupied by my severe anxiety. Before anxiety hit, I believed I’d achieved the pinnacle of my life: A first class honors...
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Read Aman Sen’s ‘Elections In India: A Memoir’
When the general elections of 1977 were announced, my father, an itinerant civil engineer with the Public Works Department, was in his third transfer in five years, posted to a remote corner of South...
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Read The Rest Of Aman Sen’s ‘Elections In India: A Memoir’
Catch up with the first part of Aman Sen’s childhood memories and reflections on the 1977 General Elections in India. “What about you?” Mada asked me, “If you were voting today, who would you pick? No...
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Sujatha’s South Indian Vegetarian Kitchen #3: Avalakki Recipes & A Peek Into...
Kayi Avalakki (Coconut avalakki) The recipes for many of the dishes my children relish were crafted in a kitchen they have never set foot in. They’ve never met their great-grandmother, Shakuntala Bai,...
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Diwali Reflections On Visibility and Meaning in the U.S. & Singapore
For five years now, I haven’t been “home” for Diwali. Once again, this new year, I’m not opening gifts, eating gulab jamuns, or dressing up. When I was a child, some time around mid-October, my father...
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