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Party
puts the spotlight on Desi culture .....Katie Rook
[National Post October, 2006]
Diwali
celebration reveals confidence and pride of young Indo-Canadians
Sonya
Bhatia of PR firm Sadharana Communications organized Diwali Fusion,
a modern take on traditional Hindu New Year celebrations, to promote
South Asian culture among a wider audience.
Young
Indo-Canadians' affectionate fusion of Indian and Western culture
will be celebrated tonight at a Diwali party that puts a contemporary
spin on the Hindu New Year.
No
longer content to celebrate at home or GTA banquet halls, artists,
designers, entrepreneurs and friends will meet over sweets, hors
d'oeuvres and bhangra-inspired beats at a downtown restaurant.
Diwali
Fusion is born of an emerging confidence about what it means to
be "Desi" -- as South Asians often refer to themselves,
says event organizer Sonya Bhatia.
The
25-year-old, one of a group of Canadian-born conduits of a new culture,
has opened Sadharana Communications, an agency promoting Desi culture
-- and not only to Desis.
"I
see Indian culture in evolution," she says. "Having grown
up in Canada, I realized that we as Indo-Canadians have a beautiful
opportunity to be exposed to a blend of cultures and ideas."
Young
entrepreneurs such as Manny Brar, the co-founder of clothier Desi
Wear, and Sapna Jain of Masala Girl Cuisine are sponsoring the event.
Author Devyani Saltzman, director Deepa Mehta's daughter, and Bollywood
dancer Lopa Sarkar will speak briefly about how Indian culture has
inspired their work.
Global
TV's Robin Gill will host the event, at 5th Elementt on Bay Street.
Ms.
Bhatia says she has always enjoyed her family's traditional five
days of Diwali -- gathering at her cousin's Brampton home, playing
poker and eating Indian sweets. But she sees an opportunity for
the traditions to be modernized.
"A
lot of people think that Indian culture will be diluted and forgotten,
but I think people are doing their best to implement it," she
says.
Along
with his brother Jassi and friend Suvin Malik, Mr. Brar, 30, founded
Desi Wear, a company selling clothing online, in part as a means
to pay tribute to his Indian heritage.
"The
whole thing started when I was [in high school] and I came up with
an idea: manufacture urban clothing geared toward South Asian pride
for first-generation Indians in North America ... I wanted to cater
to my own people and let them be proud," he says. "I feel
it's my duty to let [Canadians] know about the Indian culture."
Desi
Wear T-shirts incorporate Indian symbols and have caught the eye
of such celebrities as director Gurinder Chadha (Bride and Prejudice,
Bend It Like Beckham) actresses Aishwarya Rai and Parminder Nagra
and musicians JoSH and Rishi Rich. Nelly Furtado has also been spotted
in Desi Wear threads.
"Every
pocket is going through the same thing, the first generations,"
Mr. Brar says.
"I
grew up with Greeks, with Portuguese, with African-Americans. I
grew up mixing with all cultures, and every culture is going through
the same transformation to blend both cultures."
A more
pronounced confidence among Indo-Canadian youth in their roots does
not surprise Arti Dhand, a professor of South Asian studies at the
University of Toronto.
Prof.
Dhand says attitudes toward Indian culture have certainly evolved
in the 25 years she has lived in Canada.
"Twenty,
30 years ago, there was a huge pressure to conform to mainstream,
white-Canadian lifestyle, to assimilate.
"As
numbers have grown and associations have grown, as [a new] generation
is really coming into its own educationally, in terms of occupations
and so forth, there is a much greater comfort level in embracing
South Asian identity and even religious identity."
Prof.
Dhand celebrated Diwali last Saturday with her family in Toronto.
Of the nine guests her son invited to the park for fire-crackers,
none was Desi.
"You'd
be astonished at the number of people who came up to us and said,
'Happy Diwali' and shook our hands and congratulated us," she
says.
"This
is the wonderful thing about being in Canada. There really is a
culture of predominantly of wanting to celebrate and participate
in each other's major events."
The
Masala Girl, Ms. Jain, comes from a family of spice importers and
says she started her own importing business, and began teaching
Indian cooking classes, to make Indian culture more accessible to
Canadian consumers. In keeping with her company's slogan, Ms. Jain
says she would like to help ''diversify'' Canadian culture by ''simplifying''
and ''demystifying'' Indian cuisine.
"In
some ways an event like this really represents who I am," she
says of tonight's Diwali party. "It's a way to celebrate who
we are and our traditions and also share that with other people
who are interested [but] who may not be of the same background."
Mr.
Brar believes Desi culture is on the cusp of a new beginning in
Canada.
"When
my parents came here, yes, Diwali was a very traditional thing.
Back home, it's done in a certain way.
"This
fusion is Canadian along with my Indian heritage, and that together
is the new definition of Desi. As it was for my parents to go and
celebrate it traditionally, this is going to be our tradition.
"My
children are not going to know how Diwali was celebrated traditionally
in India, however, they will be taught to celebrate Diwali the Indo-Canadian
way -- and that's why events like Diwali Fusion will be that much
more important to our generation.''
CREDIT:
Peter
J. Thompson, National Post
After
this article was published in National Post, several Indo-Canadian
bloggers rallied to post their views, making for an interesting
reading:
- ...
frenzy and fuelled ongoing debates about race, identity and patriotism
— is a provocative look at this transformation of South Asian
culture that resonates ...beautyinfoguide.com
- "Twenty,
30 years ago, there was a huge pressure to conform to mainstream,
white-Canadian lifestyle, to assimilate" [Hyphenated
Canadian responds: We can't have that now, can we? If immigrants
assimilated English-speaking Canadians might actually share a
common culture and identity. Oh, the horror! The horror!
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