So, once in a blue moon, I like to revert back to childhood memories and watch Bollywood oldies. This past weekend I binged watched my bollywood favorites, to even thrillers like "Samay" which then led to watching star interviews, who else does this, is it just me? Ahhhh... It was Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut's interview with Arnab Goswami that really stumped me. In her interview she stated:
"The Indian audience suffers from Stockholm Syndrome, and does not appreciate indigenous talent. These are the fans that have always hailed foreign actresses. They don't like their own color, they don't like their own language."
I was shocked about how true her statement was! While Kangana refers to just India, I want to be inclusive of ALL my South Asian brothers and sisters from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, so on and so forth in that experiences might feel similar. Hearing her say this brought up my own insecurities as a child about hearing my mom tell me not to play outside in the sun or else "mein bohaut kali ho jayegi" or I'll become too tan.
From setting fair skin & light eyes as the beauty standard to speaking in fluent English as intelligence, many South Asians are experiencing identity crises and intergenerational trauma as a collective. Stockholm syndrome is a human defense mechanism, when a victim develops affection or trust towards a captor in a hostage-taking situation.
In other words, South Asian countries were held captive under colonists and later gained independence such as Pakistan from British Raj on August 14th and India from British Raj on August 15th. However while we may have gained independence from colonizers, our minds remain enslaved.
While India for example is an independent country, British systems are still set in place and engrained in the education systems in that the truth of our own history is withheld from us. There are more English speakers than Sanskrit speakers per say, and is the language in which I am sending out this message in order to connect with more people.
Hence, our journey is about decolonizing our minds and freeing our bodies, hearts, & souls. To awaken & remember our roots so that we can come back "home".
Perhaps all of this sounds great and makes sense but this isn’t your reality yet. You don’t know where to start on your journey of feeling loved and belonged in community. I know how this feels and I've been there myself! That is why I created a community for this, a women's & femme circle for multicultural sisterhood, which you can read more about here . If you are craving community but are wanting to walk this journey at your own pace first, I also offer individual psychotherapy as well as couple's therapy. You can read more blogs here and receive free wisdom & news by subscribing to my newsletter below.
