Dear Seema Aunty, I am a 23 year old, brown girl from a brown land and I like other brown girls (and also girls of other colours). But you know how brown world is. They will never accept me – not my family. Suggestions? Sincerely, Confused brown woman Dear “confused,” I have been thinking about...

Dear Seema Aunty, What if I don’t want to study medicine or engineering? Dear beta, Join the club. This is another tough road to take, but don’t worry, others have done it before you and survived. There are many Indian-Americans studying and doing unconventional careers. I think it is perfectly fine...

By Monica Grover Fitzgerald – Guest Contributor Washington, DC—We hurdled over tattered sweatshirts, jogging pants, hats, and gloves, remnants of discarded layers from overheated runners, strewn across the course beyond the start line. We darted past the stench of urine of men relieving themselves...

By Priya Mukhopadhyay – Stony Brook University “Mom, Dad, you don’t get it!” I’m sure we’ve all heard this phrase leave our mouths or even had to bite our tongues when wanting to say it numerous times.  Growing up in a South Asian household while going to school in a Western environment...

by Shritin Patel - Houston Baptist University Graduate   ‘Suitable Boy’ Checklist: Educated? Check. Good family? Check. Wealthy? Tall?  Fair?  Hot AKA Jay Sean? (Ahh, wishful thinking). Appropriate caste? Che…wait..WHAT? I’m at a loss for words 99.9 % of the time when I...

by Priya Mukhopadhyay – Stony Brook University Doctor, lawyer, engineer, businesswoman; take your pick.  These are some of the occupations that are commonly brought up in the typical South Asian household.  We have the freedom to choose one or the other, but if we decide to pursue anything...

by Nadya Agrawal – UCLA Dr. Gyanam Mahajan is the language Program Coordinator for SSEALC and she teaches Hindi-Urdu and South Asian Language and Culture classes at UCLA.  She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and has been teaching at UCLA since 1992. As an Indian mother of a daughter who currently...

by Trisha Sakhuja – Stony Brook University “If I had my child to raise all over again, I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later. I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less. I would do less correcting and more connecting. I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I’d...

by Jihii Jolly – Soka University of America My first time being called brown was in ninth grade. I’d just returned to school after a family trip to India over winter break – a week late as usual because how is a week nearly enough time to see two sets of cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents?...

by Syeda Hasan - University of Texas at Austin When I suggested to my mom that I be allowed to wear a sari to her cousin’s wedding in Pakistan this summer, I was surprised to see such a puzzled expression on her face. “A sari?” she said with a chuckle. “We’ll go clothes shopping together when...