oh, there's a paywall...

“I’m not into Indian girls, but you look [other ethnicity]” you’re into Indian girls.

“Omg I love Indian food” and it’s just butter chicken or chicken tikka masala.

“Chandelier earrings” you mean my jhumkas?

“I love avatar/atla” you don’t know what the concept of an avatar even is.

“Your slums are dirty” tell that to the unusually low Covid rates in those slums.

“Indians don’t experience colourism” that is certainly an echo chamber chronically online take.

Exams during our festival season while every other religion gets their days off. Told to speak English when many of us in the diaspora already do (thanks colonialism!). Made to take English exams or considered international students on the basis of our names. Overlooked in job applications. Blamed for climate change. Blamed for lack of jobs. Blamed for crashing economy. Blamed for terrorism (more issues there). Random TSA checks. Random hate crimes. Stolen culture. Stolen property.

Uncredited for simple things everyone does nowadays. Coconut oil, miswak, mehndi, indigo, the number 0, banking cheques, chess, yoga, chakras, third eye, evil eye, turmeric, clean girl aesthetic, lost wax casting, bindis, kohl, dupattas, bangles, courtyards in houses, paisley, the very concept of rebirth and reincarnation. I could go on.

The racism towards Indians is so entrenched in every single western culture that nobody bothers to look twice when India suffers a heat wave. You all love Greece and Rome but did you know they directly benefitted from trade with the Indian subcontinent? Did you know Indians were taken as indentured labourers too? Did you know we were slaves too? And I’m speaking for South Asia as a whole here, did you know many of us are still slaves?

What's your blog title from?

What movie have you watched most recently? What did you think of it?

what are you looking forward to right now?

if you could do anything at all today, what would it be?

What's your drink of choice? (Coffee/tea order, alcohol of choice, pop, etc)

What's your hair routine like? Anything special?

what's your favorite way to travel? Is there a mode of travel you haven't done that you want to experience?

favorite month of the year and why?

favorite time of day and why?

do you play or follow any sports? & elaborate on that?

what kind of music is stuck in your head a lot lately?

dishes or laundry?

what's something you learned recently?

if you could give a TED talk on anything, what would you talk about?

What's a piece of advice you find yourself giving a lot?

what's a piece of advice you would give to yourself five years ago?

do you believe in luck and superstition? Do you carry any lucky items or follow any lucky rules?

Are you musical? Play any instruments or sing? Would you ever perform for an audience?

Write, type, or speak?

GIF COLORING CHALLENGE - show gif with and without coloring

tagged by @sunnypeachyy & @russianblush 🫶

Louis B. Mayer, the founder of the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, which would later merge into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), established the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1927. Mayer's purpose in creating the award was to unite the five branches of the film industry: actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Mayer commented on the creation of the awards: "I found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to hang medals all over them ... If I got them cups and awards, they'd kill themselves to produce what I wanted. That's why the Academy Award was created."

In the wake of a 1926 union agreement between film studios and technicians, Louis B. Mayer, the production chief of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, sought to strengthen the position of the studios in future union negotiations. [emphasis mine]

All major Hollywood awards are a popularity contest, that potential nominees have to put themselves up for, and the winner isn’t necessarily who is most liked so much who has the most money to spend on campaigning to remind voters, many of whom do not even watch or listen to the potential nominees ahead of both nominee and winner voting, why they should win. And the Emmy’s specifically, are nominated not by show but by episode! Entrants submit one episode that they feel best reflects their season of work—which for directors or writers who are only directing one episode a season makes some sense, but is also the case for actors, including mains. Nominees and winners create the taste by winning, and win by cultural or in-circle taste, creating a circle-jerk of prestige.