#also talked more about india - and south asia in general - because i'm indian so i can speak on south asian issues more

[mahoutoons]

i'm feeling controversial today so here's another hot take. and before you type away at your keyboards, know that this is all coming from a south asian.

white leftists have got to stop acting like christianity is the only religion that deserves to be criticized and you cannot touch any other religion because that'd be racist and bigoted. because as an indian who's watching my country progress towards hindu nationalism, this attitude doesn't help at all.

white people see hinduism as this exotic brown religion that's so much more progressive but don't know the violence of the caste system, how it others a large portion of the population on the basis of caste, literally branding them as "untouchables". they teach us in school that this problem is a thing of the past but the caste system is still alive and shows itself in violent ways. and that's not even covering how non hindus are treated in the country. muslims especially are being killed, have their houses bulldozed, businesses destroyed, and are being denied housing, our fucking prime minister called them infiltrators and there's this fear among hindu extremists that they'll outnumber the hindus in the country. portraying hinduism as this exotic religion does a disservice to all those oppressed by the hindutva ideology

similarly, white people see buddhism as this hippie religion that's all about peace but have no idea how extremist buddhists in myanmar have been persecuting the rohingya muslims for years and drive them out of the country.

if anything portraying these religions as exotic hippie brown religions is a type of orientalism itself.

and also y'all have got to realize that just because christianity has institutional power in america doesn't mean there aren't parts of the world where they are persecuted on the basis of religion. yes karen from florida who cries christophobia because she sees rainbow sprinkles on a cake is stupid but christian oppression DOES exist in non western countries where they're a minority. pakistani christians get lynched almost on a daily basis over blasphemy accusations. just look up the case of asia bibi, a pakistani christian woman who was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges because of something she said when she was being denied water because it was "forbidden" for a christian and a muslim to drink from the same utensil and she'd made it unclean just by touching it (which is ALSO rooted in casteism and part of pakistani christians' oppression also comes from the fact that a lot of them are dalit but that's a whole other discussion). and that's just one christian group, this isn't even going into what copts, assyrians, armenians etc have faced and continue to face. saying that christians everywhere are privileged because of american christianity actually harms christian minorites in non western countries.

and one last thing because this post is getting too long: someone being anti america doesn't automatically mean they're the good guys. too many times i've been seeing westerners on twitter dot com praise the fucking taliban just because they hate america. yes, the same taliban who banned education for women, thinks women should be imprisomed at home, and consistently oppresses religious and ethnic minorities in afghanistan. yes, america's war on afghanistan was bad and they SHOULD be called out for their war crimes there. no, the taliban are still not the good guys. BOTH of them are bad. you cannot pretend to care about muslims and brown people if you praise the taliban. because guess what? most of their victims are BROWN MUSLIM WOMEN. but of course white libs who praise them don't rub their two braincells together to make that conclusion.

this post has gotten too long and i've just been rambling so the point of this post is: white "leftists" whose politics are primarily america centric should stop acting like criticism of ideologies like hindutva, buddhist extremism, and islamic extremism BY people affected by these ideologies is the same as racism or religious intolerance because that helps literally no one except the extremist bigots. also america is not the centre of the world, just because something isn't happening in america doesn't mean it isn't happening elsewhere

[agentoffangirling]

as a south asian why the hell did they make aladdin and jasmine south asian. I am so confused. Isn't jasmine's name literally persian

Okay okay so there's a bit of a story for this

And to quickly answer your last question, yup, Jasmine is one of the forms of Yas/Yasmine, our jasmine flowers

So back in the 90s, and still a little bit today, many production companies such as Disney didn't really see a difference with the Middle East and South Asia. When Disney decided they wanted to make an adaptation of "Aladdin" from "One Thousand and One Nights" (slight tidbit here, the story of Aladdin is not part of the original book. A French guy added it in and for some reason, set it in China? One Thousand is a Persian story, most of the stories in there are Persian, so this choice was. Interesting), it's not like they suddenly hired a bunch of Middle Eastern experts to consult on the film. No, they just created a desert-y landscape and lumped in Persian, Arab, and South Asian all in there

This is why the palace of Agrabah heavily resembles the Taj Mahal on a more Arabic-sounding name. Rajah, Jasmine's pet tiger, is an Indian word for king. Names such as Jafar and Jasmine are Persian in origin, while a lot of the clothing is Turkish-inspired. Villains such as the Captain and Jafar have a lot more stereotypically Middle Eastern features (hooked nose, bushy eyebrows, etc [and it's a convo for another day about how the "good" characters don't have these exaggerated features])

This melding of several cultures is what led up to the live-action "Aladdin" in 2019. The creators of that movie wanted to be more respectful of the region, and so this time, they did hire consultants and the like to help ensure it would be much less offensive ("where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face", nice going 1992)

And for the most part, they did that. Except for Jasmine

Jasmine is played by Naomi Scott, a half white half Indian woman, and look, it's pretty obvious she only got this part because she's well known. I would also like to point out that the casting calls for the characters in general once again lumped Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern people, however, almost all of the cast is Middle Eastern, and several of them are Persian (Sultan and Mara, notably)

So while everyone else is wearing clothes more indicative of the Middle East, you have miss Jasmine over here dressed in sarees and Indian-inspired clothing because costuming department went "oh! She's Indian now!" Agrabah is also a lot more similar to South Asia than the Middle East, further deepening this issue

To an outsider, "Aladdin" is Indian. To them, there's some Arab inspo, but they would mostly think it's set somewhere in India or South Asia. That's what the casting and costuming department in "Rise of Red" were working with, and so they just opted to go the whole South Asian angle. None of the actors who portray Jasmine, Aladdin, and their kid are Middle Eastern, they're all South Asian. The clothes they're wearing are very obviously from that region

And if I'm being completely honest, that's exactly what I expect from Disney. Why would they bother to do research for extremely minor characters with two lines? The problem here is what I've been talking about above, is that Hollywood is constantly thinking South Asians and Middle Easterners are interchangeable when we're not. If I see a MENA character on screen, more often than not the actor is South Asian. This is a continuous problem no one from these places wants to see happening, and yet it is because Hollywood doesn't actually care. The more it's done, the more they think it's okay and so they continue to blur the lines between several different cultures

So, on an ending note, Jasmine and Aladdin are Arab, if not Persian, and the idea that we are interchangable with South Asians harms both our cultures

[ara-line]

So, queer POC.

A lot of left wing people are uncomfortable acknowledging many queer POC face marginalization from their own communities.

This is especially true if you're from an immigrant family.

"But Bee," you say, "your grandmother and mom are very open minded towards the gays and they grew up in uber homophobic India. They managed to unlearn their homophobia. You have coworkers who've been in Canada for less than a year and they include their pronouns on their LinkedIn profiles. The Chennai Rainbow Parade is a thing. There are Indian universities with LGBT support clubs. So just because they grew up in a homophobic environment doesn't mean they'll be that way for the rest of their lives."

Yes, that is true, especially among urban university educated Gen Z Indians. But there are still many who for whatever reason, don't unlearn those views.

And their potentially queer children, who already struggle to see eye to eye with their parents because of how wildly different the environments in which the generations grew up in are, struggle even more because of it.

Many white North American middle and upper class LGBT people, who are able to come out and are privileged compared to many of their fellow gays because of this, are left wing and are quite uncomfortable acknowledging this reality out of fear of being racist. We can recognize this reality and also not be racist or xenophobic. What matters is doing so with respect and nuance.

As a result, many queer POC are not able to get support from their own POC communities and from their fellow LGBT people, leading to a whole new level of alienation. Jasvir Singh is one openly gay Sikh man, and he has discussed how many LGBT Sikhs are excluded from their communities when they come out.

See: Bruce MacArthur was able to kill gay male POC, primarily men from South Asia and the Middle East, because his victims concealed their homosexuality from their families because they knew their families were homophobic. TW for murder, torture, and dismemberment.

I am aware there's many other factors at play with respect to Bruce MacArthur, but given some of my own experiences growing up as a first generation Canadian from India, I do think this particular fact of life I'm talking about did play somewhat of a role in why MacArthur evaded justice for so long.

So I do want to acknowledge queer POC who aren't able to come out due to homophobia within their fellow POC communities and because many usually white North American middle and upper class LGBT people, aka the ones who are safest coming out because they're able to get support easily and don't have to fear marginalization, refuse to acknowledge their privilege and support their fellow LGBT people who are less privileged and less safe in coming out.

In short, white, economically privileged LGBT people with supportive communities need to do more to support their fellow LGBT people. Especially POC ones and queer first generation immigrants.

[zephycluster]

Precolonial HWS SEA Rant Post, feel free to ignore

If you're still reading, then you're probably looking for evidence or some juicy tidbits to throw back at me or to try and find dirt to cancel me, like typical Tumblr/Twitter. Go ahead, I don't really care.

First off, let me just say that If you like Precolonial South-East Asia AUs, feel free to keep enjoying them. I will respectfully support your passions from afar. This post is just to explain why I don't like it, especially the way they keep insisting/portraying PH in it.

Still here? Then let me begin.

Since the recent confirmation that the ASEAN Six Majors (Can't really say ASEAN 10 atm since it's still missing some people) Were completed and the Ma-Phil-Indo Trio was included, there has been a large surge in 'Precolonial' fanarts and portrayals of South East Asians, those three especially.

Even long, long before, circa 2010's ish, a rather well-known fan universe known as 'Maaf' dealt with their story and how their Author thought their intertwined histories went. Written by (my best guesstimate) an Indonesian writer who wants to explore the old, SEA bond.

When I first stumbled across Maaf (I was in Highschool at the time, around age 16-ish), I took a casual interest in it and tried to read it through. But, I will wholeheartedly admit that at the time, Pre-Colonial cultures of South-East Asia in general, let alone Philippine, did not really interest me that much. The focus (I think) was mostly on Indonesia, a country I didn't really know back then, and the liberal use of 'ancient' names and artwork just made it feel like an entirely Original Work (that needed a degree in History to really appreciate) and not something from Hetalia. I also completely disagreed with what I could gather was the story's portrayal of PH but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Do I hate 'Maaf'? No, I don't hate it. Do I wish I never came across it or that it didn't exist? Of course not. Just because I didn't enjoy it or appreciate it that well doesn't mean I wish any ill toward it, its fans, or its creator.

Fast forward to April 2021, the long awaited inclusion of South East Asia to the canon Hetalia verse. I was happy, the other fans were happy, all was good.

Then started the questionable fanarts, fan theories and fan pairings.

Especially the expansion of Precolonial! PH.

Let's go back to Maaf for one moment. From what I understood of Maaf, PH there was a character who once was like all the other South East Asian cultures, trading with them, all around being a nice family.

But all that changed when the Spaniards attacked, so cry the precolonial buffs. They destroyed everything, ransacked and marginalized the tribes, erased everything that PH was!

Did that happen? ABSOLUTELY. The Spaniards had this vision in mind that they must spread Christianity to all of the 'savage, unchristian heathens' of their realm. :V /s

But back up a second, back to PH's portrayal in Maaf. The way she (yeah, she) was portrayed there was that she was slowly losing her memories of being a 'true' South East Asian and grew more and more westernized in the process, like some sort of Culture-specific Alzheimer's or something.

Firstly, that is seriously depressing, and secondly, I just really don't see that happening.

Here's why.

Point 1: Even before Colonial Masters, Filipinos as a people cannot agree on anything.

I'll just begin this segment with a Philippine proverb that outlines what Filipinos call 'Crab Mentality' or 'Crab Bucket Mentality'.

"You don't need a lid for a container when you're keeping multiple crabs. If you keep at least two crabs together, they will just pull each other down instead of helping each other up."

I don't know how it goes with Indonesian or Malaysian history class, but what I know of my homeland, both pre- and post-colonial history, we were never really 'united' or 'together' in the sense that Indonesia and Malaysia were (from what I assume).

Let me pull up a somewhat related question on r/AskHistorians.

The reason I brought this up as it shows the reasons why, in my opinion, a single entity that is 'Precolonial Philippines-tan' is an impossibility.

The answers are long and would extend this already long post to stupid proportions, so I'll just quote relevant sentences. The link is here for those that wanna deep-dive into the answer.

"All this to say that there wasn't a name used for the entire Philippine islands before the Philippines that people now would agree to. An interesting comparison would be the Holy Roman Empire, which might also be characterized as disparate politico-geographic groups of relatively small size that had a history of relations between each other, but one thing they had that the Philippines did not was a common language, or at least a family of mostly mutually intelligible languages, so that the name Deutschland or Germany isn't terribly offensive to anyone. If you called the Philippines the 'Lupang-Tagalog' or even 'Lupang-Tao' the other ethnic groups would protest."

For those in need of translation, 'Lupang Tagalog' means 'Land of the Tagalogs' and 'Lupang Tao' means 'Land of People', specifically. The first one is already exclusive and offensive, as the Tagalog peoples are but one of many ethnicities here.

And for the 'Lupang Tagalog' suggestion specifically, it's even more offensive as they are the majority ethnicity (not by much, just around 28%) From this chart from Geography Now! It would basically be alienating everyone else in the 72% remainder that isn't 'Tagalog'.

And even 'Lupang Tao', the most generic name in a local language you can think of, would be met with contempt because the name itself is in the Tagalog language.

Just travelling between two individual island groups today would sometimes require a translator because the words can change very rapidly and very drastically. Here's a sample of some differences coming from a friend living in Visayas (in Red) vs. the words I know living in Luzon (In blue).

Ate vs. Manang = Older Sister

Ibon vs. Pispis = Bird

Tumawa vs. Kadlaw = To laugh

Takot vs. Hadlok = Fear

Kain vs. Kaon = To eat

Ngayon vs. Subong = Now, at this point in time

Iyak vs. Hibi/Gibi = to cry

Talampakan vs. Tiil = Foot (in Tagalog, the word retains its 'body part AND unit of measurement' meaning)

Tulog vs. Tuyo = to sleep (Tuyo in Tagalog is either a dried salted fish or 'to dry')

The kicker is that just like Tagalog is just one of many languages here, so too is the language my friend speaks. Ask an entirely new person, like someone from Mindanao, they'll probably have an entirely new set of words.

It's not just Luzon vs. Visayas vs. Mindanao, either. Here's a map listing some of the ethnic groups here.

Even the way they're written differs from location to location.

While we're on the subject of Island divisions, a casual skim across Twitter and Tumblr has shown that their Precolonial PH has been one of the following ancient civilizations: Tondo, Butuan, Sugbu, Namayan. There may have been others but that was what I have found.

Notice how even today, the posters of Precolonial PH can't seem to agree on what he's supposed to be? With Indonesia it's either Majapahit or Srivijaya and Malaysia it's usually Malacca iirc.

What is the big deal? Well, let's go back to the Ask Historians post. "Why didn't the Philippines ever change its name to remove the colonial mark that being named after a Spanish King has?" The answer: "If you suggested something dating to precolonial times, the other ethnic groups would protest."

Since we're on a roll with maps, let me bring this up.

As you can see, the precolonial PH posts have a reason to not be able to agree on one thing, as there is a LOT of options. Do you also see how THAT list is also split up?

It's split up into those aligned with China (Sinified), aligned with India (Indianized), aligned with the Middle East (Islamicized), and no alignment (Animist). Now, let's go back to the main suggestions for which Kingdom/Polity/Civilization/whatever Modern Philippines used to be.

If the Filipino peoples' couldn't agree on something as simple as WHAT TO CALL THE LAND THEY'RE LIVING ON, what more a living, breathing, walking, talking entity that is supposed to be a beacon of all of their 'unified' culture? ESPECIALLY if that entity used to be a currently existing Kingdom/Polity/Rajahnate/Sultanate/whatever.

Tondo? "Of course, always the damn Tagalogs. Tagalog this, Tagalog that. First the capital city, then the language,* THE REST OF US EXIST, YOU KNOW! What about us in Visayas? Mindanao?"

*The national language known as 'Filipino' is just standardized Tagalog*

Butuan? "Wait, you want Butuan to represent us? They're they only Indian-aligned city in the Islam-majority Mindanao! They're not even that many of them! I'm not gonna change my religion!"

Sugbu, the other name for the Rajahnate of Cebu on the map? Lemme bring back my Visayan friend again. According to her, she hails from the Hiligaynon part of Visayas.

"Sure :v and the other islands are what?

Chopped liver?

Not to mention the language and writing barrier helloooo"

And Namayan? Well. I'll let this pic speak for itself.

To summarize, no matter who you pick as Modern PH's previous identity, it will not end well nor be accepted by the other Kingdoms at the time.

"So where does that leave Modern PH, he had to have been ONE of them, right?"

Well, not really. He doesn't HAVE to be one of the Ancient Kingdoms that lasted till the modern day. I mean, predecessor representatives exist in Hetalia canon, after all. Like Modern Greece is a different character from Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and Modern Egypt, heck even England and his brothers have a canon mother that was the rep before them.

Or you could even use the same logic that Germany does, in that each specific region has/had its own representative and that Modern!PH is just the 'mediator' between them (cause gawd does PH need one). There could be a Tondo, a Namayan, a Butuan, and a Sugbu, all arguing and this Proto-PH is just trying to make headway in making them all satisfied.

But, even after all this, there is another reason why I personally don't subscribe to the 'Precolonial PH' idea, and by tangential extension, the Indo x Phil pairing.

Point 2: Even without intending to, Precolonial Indo x Phil just comes off as patronizing

This second point is just ENTIRELY personal preference and barely has any facts to back it up.

Again, if you like the pairing and disagree with me, You do you. I will respectfully support you and your passions from a distance.

But for me, Indo being Phil's seme/bae/boyfriend and consistently bringing up precolonial times just comes off as patronizing.

Just one more time, I'd like to point out that I am NOT bashing Indonesia, its people or the subscribers of Indo x Phil. This is just how the pairing feels to ME specifically.

The way I see it, Indo x Phil as a pairing, especially if it extends back into precolonial times, reads the same way as a long-since married couple where the husband/wife CONSTANTLY brings up that ONE outing you had together, or that ONE prom night where you kissed while dancing, even it happened like 30 some-odd years ago and so much more happened since then.

Even in a platonic sense, It reads like two besties where one ALWAYS mentions stuff like 'Yeah but you looked so much cooler back in High School' or 'Back in Grade School you would've known that', or 'Remember back in Pre-school we did X? How could you forget that?'

How does one respond to the notion that no matter what you do now, it will never compare to a past you've already forgotten or barely remember? That the best version of 'you' is already long gone?

"That's because the westerners made you forget your culture! You gotta take it back!"

While it is true, yes, as a collective we barely remember the Kingdom that commissioned the Laguna Copperplate, or created the Banaue Rice Terraces, or created the millennia old bonds that we still share with Indonesia and Malaysia.

But to keep pushing the precolonial identity would be to neglect and cast aside the one REAL binding belief and culture that spans the entirety of these islands we call the Philippines.

We take on all the bad stuff that happens to us, conquer it, and make it our own. Be it natural disasters, foreign powers, or negative stereotypical mentalities.

Yes, we've forgotten the ancient kingdoms of old and are just now digging through the closet for those remnants of the past. Yes, the colonizers imposed that on us, and made us forget. But in the process we've also taken everything that they left behind, everything that they threw at us, and created something that can only come from us.

The lanterns that the Spaniards used to light the way to the morning masses they made us attend became our globally known symbol of Christmas. The junked vehicles that the Americans left behind in World War 2 are now rolling works of art that announce themselves loud and proud on the streets (for better or for worse). The iced dessert recipe that the Japanese forced us to learn while they were occupying the country is now so distinct and famous it is synonymous with us, and is so delicious even Italy has taken notice.

Even after all this? Even after all the 425-ish years total we have been under a foreign power, with all the progress we've made as a country, a people, and a nation, you would still imply our fragmented, jigsaw puzzle state of being in the past was better just because it was pure 'South East Asian' like everyone else?

We might not be as well put-together as Indonesia or Malaysia, but we made this melting pot of angry, leg-pulling, dogpiling, Native, Mestizo, Chinoy, and Fil-Am crabs OURS, damnit!

It's now 4:30 AM and I have work in 5 or so hours. I'll be going to sleep now.

[wherestoriescomefrom]

I'm sorry if this is a personal question, but what are your research interests?

not at all anon!!! its really funny, i started this blog when i was like. fifteen, and i had no research interests then. so i never managed to naturally lean into what i like studying and make it a part of my blogging identity, if that makes sense???

anyway, my primary areas of interest are actually popular culture and nineteenth century print culture. i know thats an odd combination, but it just is like that sometimes. sometimes you gotta have an excuse to look at jane austen while also looking at print culture and making disparate connections with fandom. if you really want to know, my ma work is on how fandom builds on a lot of the idiom of early nineteenth century reading cultures.

i actually know a decent amount about nineteenth century reading practices, something that,,,, well, to be honest, idk anymore. lately my discomfort with white histories has increased, and there's more interesting fandom practices taking place in south asia, so my focus is shifting there. i've been finding more and more print histories for south asia, and also just material histories of things like clothing - and all of them are kind of broadening my mind. print histories in south asia are SO confusing, besides... there's like no work on the northeast, some on bengal and urdu writing, and some other work from each state of india - but nothing very comprehensive. i think it would be hard to write something comprehensive about south asia, just considering how many languages we have in india alone, let alone remaining countries.

but besides that, i'm genuinely really interested in the texture of fandom. a lot of fandom studies is approached from a sociological lens - and it SHOULD be!! pure literary analysis is for no one. but i think there's some interesting stuff happening in the way the idiom of fandom feels inherently different from published work, and how published work gets influenced by fandom. stuff that could benefit from classic literary analysis methodology a little. just something i think about a lot.

other interests don't come up a lot, but i have side-along also got my fingers in many other pies. i've done a bit of work in children's literature (particularly about blyton in india), some work on bollywood, and the crime fiction genre.

i wish i could give you guys a comprehensive list of things that excite me, because there are many!!!! some of them don't actually manifest into academic work. like the insane amount of information i have for twentieth century british playwrighting, or just the amount of fantasy fiction i read. i've started reading so much more literature from south asia lately. i struggle so much more reading stuff which comes from america now, even if it is by people of colour. i just like reading stuff that's set here and meant to be read by me, yk??? most of it skews less fantasy and more in the standard fiction, but there's a lot of romances in there, and the very fun subgenre of south asian adaptations of austen, of which i have read and seen VERY MANY. one of them is a truly secret one, and it's not bride and prejudice. i love reading indian science fiction, which is a genre you wouldn't think is thriving, but it really is (remind me to make a reclist some day). i think i struggle with reading indian fantasy fiction because it's INSANELY casteist. like all the immortals of meluha and all, with their harking back to ancient india and references to hindu mythology? no thank you.

im rambling again. apologies!!! anyway, as if we could ever summarise ourselves on our tumblr blog, right?? i must say tho it's nice to see people ask me for recommendations for things, or my research interests. like i promise im not going to become an out and out booklr (i love fandom things too much), but its nice to talk more about the books i like. a lot of them (apart from the fantasy fiction i read) don't really make it on to my tumblr otherwise, or on tumblr in general yk??

[ji-jii-visha]

Learning about the history of your family

Learning about the history of your friends' families

Learning about the history of your town or city

Having your phone system language as Hindi or your native one and navigating through it.

Texting in literal Hinglish. Like दिस.

Embracing your ethnicity while embracing your modernity.

Taking special interest in the villages you cross while travelling.

Stopping on your way to somewhere to admire the little frame of your desi world, how the roadside trees look, how people are travelling, what they wear, what they might do as a job, to look at the horizon and think that this is your world

Learning about the traditions restricted to your city/area.

Marriages, even though you might not wanna have a big fat wedding, but they are undoubtedly fascinating.

And the main part of it, how it all happens, the rituals and traditions of marriage

How your older relatives and parents used to spend weeks at the house of person getting married even if they were a distant relative.

Having goosebumps and tears in your eyes while learning about the sufferings of your people under British Rule in India.

Experiencing life at the countryside.

Honestly, as an Indian, I really wanna experience what it feels like to live in Delhi, Kolkata, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mumbai..... And the list goes on.

Learning Bengali

Learning Punjabi, legit Punjabi

Learning Tamil/Kannada/Telgu

Getting familiar with the dialects of your native language.

Learning about your textile industry

Very important, learning about the stories and tales of people who existed in the past in the world where you live in who did something important and worthwhile.

Fighting against patriarchal traditions and notions of your society, even if it has a cultural significance.

Fighting against anything about your culture which hurts a person's life or minds

Understanding the beautiful stories of arranged marriages in South Asian world but also understanding that a lot of such marriage become toxic too.

Appreciating the people who are working hard to make our world better.

Appreciating the teacher who works really hard to teach you.

Being cool and loving your culture.

CID. 😎

Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma. 🤩

Knowing that Bollywood ain't THAT bad

But also that Bollywood NEEDS to improve A LOT.

Bollywood romantic songs are top tier. No other language, at least for me, can't make me FEEL this feeling as deeply, purely.

Shah Rukh Khan

Aishwarya Rai

Indian Politics is a headache but we learn it to preserve our world, our culture, so that people's selfish reasons don't taint our beautiful world.

Loving the cultures of all the religions South Asia has.

Learning Urdu.

Comparing other languages you learn to your native language and finding it funny how sunbae in korean is a respectful term while the same in Hindi would definitely be very informal.

The inside jokes which only the people of your area get, like the inside joke which ones north Indians get, or which only Rajasthani people get, or perhaps just Tamil ones.

Your school culture. It's unique but not the fact that its made on a cemetery.

Am I the only one who doesn't like schools but loves learning?

The crazy competition culture, where science always wins until the art student clears UPSC.

Not my the same name or term, but Sharma Ji ka beta.

Living as a neurodivergent in India where living as a neurotypical is already so difficult.

Wishing that Kashmir gets its peace and that our world would not have more heartbreaking disputes.

Getting slut shamed for wearing western clothes, girls, let's change our world (not something beautiful but needed to say that)

Realising that America is not actually that great. Getting over your inferiority complex that all of our generations are facing since the independence.

The mughals are talked about but can we talk about the history of Hindu because the Muslim rulers arrived. I'm saying this because i genuinely wanna learn, so if you have some resources, please share.

Madhubala❤️

Things that should be included in the academia aesthetic (an Indian perspective) :-

• getting up super early to study and feel like a scholar from the ancient times

• incense

• learning Sanskrit & Persian

• reciting Ghazals to your lover

• Kurti supremacy

• reading the Mahabharata

• Rani of Jhansi

• reading about advances in the Islamic kingdom

• walking to your nearest tea/coffee shop from campus

• quoting Gandhi in your conversation

• reading books in your mother tongue

• Denim with Kolhapuri chappals

• having an enviable collection of jhumkas

• rose rings and kaali bindi

• literature before colonization

• reading about diverse yet same cultures of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

• hanging out in old buildings in a rural setting

• saving money to buy hardbacks

• dreaming of Dariyagunj

Please feel free to add more.