Word!

It's About Time!

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the frustrating and very daunting task of finding a ‘real’ job looming over me.

As a recent graduate, I thought all my writing experience and education would guarantee me a nice little editorial position at some glamorous magazine.

I imagined it would kind of be like Ugly Betty meets The Devil Wears Prada. An office with glass doors, interns to get you coffee, backbiting editors – not to mention, all the free stuff!

However, after being all monster.ca’d out, I quickly snapped back to reality. I came to terms with the fact that getting a job at a bubble gum publication wouldn’t be easy – and more importantly - wouldn’t be fulfilling.

Who was I kidding? Did I  really want to spend the rest of my life writing about Paris’ antics or which shade of lip gloss was ‘in’ this season? I think not.

I want to write stories that I would enjoy reading. Stories that are filled with humour, diversity, art, culture – all while appealing to the mainstream audience.

But there was no such magazine… until now.

A couple of days ago, I noticed something glossy with a white cover, sticking out from between the pages of the Toronto Star that was sitting on my kitchen table.

I pulled out the insert and discovered it was the second issue of Desi Life. It’s a new magazine published by the Torstar Corporation. And it’s free when you buy a copy of the paper (yes, aunties, you heard me right, you can put those rupees back in your purse.)

I quickly began flipping through the issue, which featured funny man, Shaun Majumdar; tabla musician, Zakir Hussain, and R&B singer, Deesha – just to name a few.

I loved the variety of articles in the magazine. It included five different ways to make the perfect “cuppa chai,” writer Raheel Raza’s experience as an unofficial matchmaker, and a candid interview with Bollywood’s Rahul Bose, who appeared in films like Silsiilay and Pyaar Ke Side Effects. 

Without sounding like a PR rep for the magazine, the reason I like the magazine is because it’s straying away from stereotypes created by publications like Stardust and Suhaag-  that often suggest our lives revolve around Bollywood and shaadi’s.

I’m glad companies with the big moola, like the Torstar Corporation, are catering to South Asian readers and providing a versatile publication like, Desi Life. It’s about time.

Until next time...WORD!

Check out Desi Life on the web at: http://www.thestar.com/desilife

A New Chapter

Eh, psssst!

Yeah, you!

Guess what?

I just heard about a new book called A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini that I’m absolutely DYING to read.

Okay. Sorry. I don’t want to turn this blog into a gossip column. But the truth is, whenever I read or hear about a really good book, I have to tell everyone about it.

Maybe it’s because during the last four years at university, I’ve been deprived of books that I actually want to read. Trust me, reading all 200-something pages of the Dialectic of Enlightenment by Horkheimer and Adorno on a hot summer day, is not fun. In fact, it’s beyond painful.

But I have a confession.

Once in awhile, I did find ways to spice up my bland assignments with a dash of South Asian literature.

For instance, Amita Handa’s Of Silk Saris and Mini-Skirts came in handy for a paper I was writing for a women’s studies course. Not to mention, Devyani Saltzman, author of Shooting Water: A Mother-Daughter Journey and the Making of the Film, was nice enough to chat with me about her memoir for my radio and magazine assignments.

I’m finding that the quality of South Asian literature has elevated. I can finally relate to the characters in the books I’m reading. Now, our stories are being told. Being ‘desi’ is not just about Bollywood and biryani anymore.

Our stories span over time, across oceans - transcending borders. “Desi-lit” to me, is as much East African, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan as it is Indian. It is as much Hindu as it is Muslim. It is many shades of brown.

I’m excited to leave behind my journalism and political science texts and enter into a more familiar world of South Asian literature.

No more Horkheimer and Adorno.  No more listening to the Rishi Rich Project on my iPod when I hop on the subway. (Okay, just maybe one song…)

But seriously, this summer I’m letting Kiran Desai transport me to Jemubhai’s house at the base of the Himalayas in The Inheritance of Loss and going with Anosh Irani to the “real Bombay” in The Song of Kahunsha. I also plan on sharing magazines and news items that interest me.

Hopefully, this summer you will also turn the pages with me. Until next time, WORD!

Tasneem