I D E N T I T Y
For a long time, I didn't have many South Asian people around me. I sought connection through things like Bollywood, or the occasional YouTubers- both of which have their well known caveats. Very little of what I consumed was South Indian, however. Even when I started at UCLA, a lot of what I was immersed in was North Indian cultures. There was a disconnect for me on what it meant to be Indian- it meant one thing when I was with my family or at home, but another thing when I was looking at media or meeting friends in college. The differences were small but significant, especially when I realized that a lot of the people I was surrounded by couldn’t resonate with things I experienced like growing up with darker skin, or not speaking Hindi, and how that impacted my connection with my identity. Things might have been different if I’d grown up in a close-knit community that had a shared sense of understanding about these nuances, but again, I was in central Washington for some of the most formative years of my life- I didn’t have that. When I began using social media and gaining followers on TikTok, I interacted with a lot more South Indians, and noticed so many similarities to my culture- the culture I would experience at home, or whenever we would go back to Karnataka. I felt seen and validated. South India is a beautiful and vibrant region that is often overlooked in the broader category of “India”. The Western perception of India tends to focus heavily on North Indian Hindu cultures, and as a result, I didn't have a community of people to share my culture, traditions, and heritage. This issue is so common within the South Asian space, not just with South Indians, but people from countries other than India as well. We have so many cultures, languages, and regions within India that unless we shed light on all these cultures, we will intentionally be leaving people out of the conversation. Who are the people who tend to be promoted? People that fit the preconceived notion of what it means to be Indian, which actually empowered my transition to embracing and identifying as South Indian specifically. I also say all of this with the acute awareness and acknowledgement that I am incredibly incredibly privileged, and have experienced only a percentage of what a lot of other communities and minorities have experienced navigating their identity as Indian.
THE INDIAN STANDARD | 35
