Twisted DNA

T – 2 weeks

An evite for a kid’s first birthday arrives. You can count on the following things in the evite: picture of the kid, Indian restaurant venue and a shot at bland humor

T – 3 days

Evite reminder begging people to RSVP […]

Chat/IM has become so prevalent a medium of communication that some times we may have to remind ourselves how the real world works. Here are a few things chronic chatters have to remember when dealing in real life.

It is not appropriate to ask “asl” when you meet a new person in real life. […]

Only a few things are certain in life such as death, taxes and the following chain of inevitability. You inevitably have friends. They inevitably get married. They will inevitably have a kid. You will inevitably receive an email from the kid! The email contains something like, “Hai TD uncle. […]

When you move to a different country and, somewhat, adapt to a different culture, you get used to certain language constructs and mannerisms which, if used in India or with friends from India, would be received with confusion, frustration, sarcasm or a combination of all.
On my last trip to India, a friend of mine actually […]

One of my friends has recently been going on several unexpected business trips. His travels have mostly been in the US but he is scheduled to go to Germany for a two week trip.
When I visited him and his wife last week, I inquired him about his upcoming trip. He quickly shhhh’d me. […]

Most of us*, Indian-Americans, strive to blend in into the American society. It’s amusing to observe some of the measures we undertake:

We start rolling our “r”s. Unfortunately we can never pronounce Rs like the natives do. So we end up sounding as […]

I was talking to a girl at work yesterday. A very nice girl who belongs to the rare breed of “Desis with dress sense.” While talking to her, I suddenly noticed her nails. Her nails, with only patches of once vibrant and lush nail-polish left, were looking like an old weather washed […]

Here is a a conversation that keeps repeating.
The scene consists of me and my friend.

Friend and I entering stage left
Me: You Northies …
Friend interrupts me, raising a stern hand
He (articulates ev.ery syl·la·ble): I am not a Northie
Me: Of course you are
He: I am from Nagpur, for God’s sake
Me: My point exactly. You are a Northie
He: […]

We all giggle behind the backs of Asians with funny names, like, “Phat Chin” or “Suk Mi.” But we, Indian-Americans, tend to be remiss when naming our own kids who are going to live in the US their whole life.
There is an immediate danger for kids with “lost in translation” names - the school […]