Desi Manifesto Blog: The Forum for South Asian American Men

* The quirky and forward-thinking Canadian TV (CBC) show, “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” is being adapted (and potentially ruined) by FOX. Even if it doesn’t make it to air, this is progress. Unless it’s some kind of feeder for “24″ villains. Ugh. Props to writer Zarqa Nawaz, as she has created a show unlike anything currently around. The desi moment is that she’s of Pakistani origin, BTW.

And she answered some questions after the pilot aired. Watch the pilot (takes a long time to load). [Thanks Nirali Magazine]

[PART 2 OF 2] TO ALTER the course of my thinking, Former-DM Gal inquired how our parents ever would have found a place if everyone thought like me.

I reflected. Our parents needed a start somewhere too. They also were clean and considerate and not morons, therefore they would have responded to the initial inquiries in the posting properly.

But this wasn’t enough to get me off the hook, was it? I condemned the LA redneck, yet I saw an international student, then a fellow brown man, and I did the same thing. I felt at peace with it because I “know” the difference. I have a better feeling for who would be dirty, flaky, and inconsiderate. But even taking my Indian knowledge into account, am I being fair from one person to another?

Former-DM Gal said maybe I should give the guy a chance. I didn’t know him personally. Checking my email later, as I wondered if perhaps she were right:

Hay please contact me on 310-806-2649

Nitin Tabu

But I knew enough. I’m sharing my living space, and if he flakes, I’m paying double rent.

Fair ends at my emaciated wallet.

[PART 1 OF 2] I LIKENED THE JOURNEY of finding a new roommate to being a female inmate in a maximum security prison, locked in a death match with a hefty con named Big Sally, beating one another senseless with food-specked lunch trays until one of us no longer can stand.

This is what it was like when I looked for a roommate on Craigslist.org and encountered, and even generated, racism.

I think somewhere in my brain, an older Indian national represents India herself. Like my parents, someone like him is the closest I have to the motherland, and by extension, the history and the culture. Except, Garage Uncle is not required to like me.

But the willingness to oversimplify other people who are considered non-white, the idea that it’s only offensive if someone hears (and only when it’s someone of that particular “lumped together” identity), and the flawed understanding that minorities are treated differently solely based on numbers… That’s the white America I know.

I was not Christian, I was not white. This alone was enough to invalidate any chance of being president… [But in] this new millennium, in this present day, things have changed. We finally have a South Asian candidate running for president – Barack Obama.

Before you point out the obvious, allow me to explain.

We were also invaded by a couple different groups throughout history, and on the whole, we’ve been stepped on because of our race, deemed to be inferior to the invading stock. I believe we’ve proven otherwise. But if we’re so stupid that we then turn around and do the same to another race in our very position, I feel we’re only proving that we may indeed lack mentally. At the very least, we’re not learning from history.

As it’s a new year (well, not if you follow the Hindu Calendar), I figured it would be appropriate to draw up some resolutions for myself and desi fellows in general… Much like the electric rickshaw to the right, it’s all about modifying what works and dropping those things that pollute you. Or something more clever than that.

I resolve…