Anshina Verma Q2 Blog 5 - An ABCD’s Ode to Taarak Mehta and his Oolta Chashmah
Upside-down glasses.
Whose?
Taarak Mehta’s?
Why, who else’s?
These lines (in Hindi, of course) made up nearly the entirety of my childhood as an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi). I grew up watching Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashmah, a 2008 Hindi comedy serial, before Hindi serials turned into glorified Wattpad stories with bad plots and more sound effects than actors. The show's title, which is mostly in Hindi, translates to Taarak Mehta’s Upside Down Glasses.
The show depicts the minute and intimate details of the lives of a group of Indian families that all live in the same apartment complex somewhere in India. This show made me who I am, culturally at least. According to my parents, frequent trips to Kashmir as a child and nightly marathons of Taarak Mehta’s 2008 comedy are what helped me learn to speak Hindi fluently, and believe me, there is a difference between textbook Hindi and native Hindi or Hinglish.
Despite my fluency in my language, I am constantly reminded by kids my age who cannot speak any Hindi or any language from India, in today’s increasingly conservative society. Staying connected with my roots is an incredibly important thing for me, as I may not be the most culturally aware ABCD, but I do not consider myself whitewashed. Which is the term used to refer to Indian kids who are not in touch with their culture and have thus been washed by the whites? Hence, explaining why I value Taarak Mehta’s comedy serial so dearly. The show kept me connected to my language, my culture, and my community.
Racism towards Indian people is sadly incredibly commercialized, with us either being underrepresented or not represented at all (for instance, the 2025 Victoria’s Secret show, which only had one Indian model when nearly hundreds walked the runway), or mocked and ridiculed. Which is why, when I took a break from watching Baljeet in Phineas and Ferb or Ravi from Jessie (don’t get me wrong, Ravi will always hold a special place in my heart), it was refreshing to see people who looked like me depicted as normal people rather than freaks for American entertainment, Taarak Mehta taught me how to remain loyal to my culture and appreciate it, as I like many other indian girls had a phase where we wished we were another race. (It wasn’t white for me, believe it or not, but that's a story for another blog) When I was younger, the hours I spent laughing at the TV screen with my parents weren’t of much significance to me. Still, nearly a decade later, I have realized the tremendous impact the show has had on my identity as an ABCD, and I am forever indebted to my parents for introducing me to Taarak Mehta.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1708446/
WOAH Anshina are we taking inspiration from some other fantastic writers in this blog cohort who use shows to make a point? Imitation is the best form of flattery I hear :). Seriously, though, pulling in Tarak Mehta is so wild he single handedly carried Indian childhoods, I love how you’re able to make an impactful point in using references to the show! I can confirm as an Indian Born Fully Desi person that this reference made my day :). I love your inspirations from the Synthesis essay article too, and your critique of not only American society but also some of the Indian-American community too. In your writing, in my humble opinion, your blog is HILARIOUS and your humor is a great addition to it, which helps our Gen-Z brains focus on what your point actually is (we all have borderline ADHD from social media at this point). Starting off with the English translation of the show’s opening (is it a theme song?) hooks the audience in very effectively, which again helps us pay attention to the important point about community that you’re making through the references. Your use of anaphora is clear in your seventh paragraph when you mention it having an impact on your language, culture and community, which I believe really helps you highlight what an impact the show had on you. Overall, thank you for this amazing piece!
ReplyDeleteHi Anshina! I related to many points you made in your blog. Firstly, I too cannot fathom what possessed Indian film producers to add that many sound effects to one episode. It feels like I’m having an aneurysm trying to watch serials. Indian serials have a special place in my heart too since I used to watch them with my grandma while sneaking biscuits (she wasn’t supposed to have them since she was diabetic). Thank you for bringing back that memory out of my archives. I’m jealous you can speak Hindi fluently—my broken Telugu is starting to become the bane of my existence. Maybe I’ll switch out the Netflix sitcoms for some Telugu shows.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said it was refreshing to not see Indian characters to be portrayed as “freaks” in American media. As a child, I never thought much about Ravi or Baljeet’s overdone accents or how it made it seem like Indians study quantum physics all day. It made me reflect how absurd it is that I had normalized that treatment towards Indians. I am glad you’ve been able to stay close to your culture and I hope that continues. Thank you for sharing!
Anshina, no way. I am an ABCD too! For a while I even put it in my Instagram bio, but I took it down recently because of the backlash that incited from my friends. I never watched Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashmah, but it sounds very similar to a lot of Bollywood content that I have watched. I completely agree with your assertion that native Hindi and Hinglish are very different from traditional Hindi. I learned to speak Hindi by watching a lot of Shah Rukh Khan movies and other Bollywood movies during a 3 month trip to India when I was 5 years old. I’ve always wanted to visit Kashmir, I’m just waiting for the tensions to die down a little bit in that region. I agree that racism towards Indian people is becoming commercialized, but that is the blessing of living in Fremont, we are in a way shielded from the abundance of racism that America has decided to take part in. However, the way that I think about racism is in a way, people who are racist are just jealous, what they are jealous of I have no idea. I’m looking forward to your future blog where you tell us what other race you wanted to be instead of Indian. For a while and at times even today as a 16 year old, I sometimes do wish that I was another race too.
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