When Natu Natu from RRR is playing on repeat on full blast in the Auditorium, it’s easy to forget that it’s a Thursday morning at Fieldston High School. On February 2, the South Asian Affinity Group presented Fieldston’s first ever South Asian Assembly.
“The term “Asian” encompasses so much yet means too little, and often alienates those it intends to encapsulate,” I say to start off the assembly. The purpose of the South Asian Assembly was to recognize the struggles and celebrate the joys of being South Asian American. We wanted to highlight how diverse South Asia is, and how grouping us together into a single term, a single identifier, is simply not possible. But at the same time, South Asians are not any less deserving of being included in the term “Asian”.
While we all unite based on similar cultural backgrounds, our life experiences are vastly different due to a multitude of reasons, ranging from ethnicity to gender to sexual orientation. In order to highlight how unique each individual experience is, we invited five speakers to share their own personal stories.
Jaya Sooran(Form V) shared a heartfelt story on how the American definition of South Asian affected her perception of herself. “I looked in the mirror and couldn’t deny it anymore. The hairy girl staring back at me, was in fact, me.” she proclaims. It’s authentic and raw.
Aiasha Siddiqui(Form VI) talks about being mistaken for being Indian as someone from Bangladesh. “Bangladesh fought for its independence in the Bangladesh Liberation War and the refusal to acknowledge it as distinct from India and Pakistan would tarnish the work done by many Bengali activists.” She states firmly. “Bangladesh has a history rooted in revolution, and I could not be more proud of where I come from.”
Nikash Das (Form V) explained feelings of “whitewashed-ness” and his struggles with fitting in within the South Asian community. His appreciation and connection to his culture was a gradual process – “Now, instead of shame, I wear my Indian and Bangladeshi blood with pride.”
Yadna Prasad (Form V) reminisced fondly on what they love about being Indian. “My childhood was full of Indian music playing in the background, Bollywood movie references and the smell of chai wafting through the air into the living room.” It’s common to hear about the struggles our community has faced, but it’s equally important to understand how beautiful and complex so many aspects of our culture are, whether that be the food, music, language or family values.
With zero faculty members and little representation at Fieldston, the South Asian perspective is often dismissed and diminished, both inside the classroom and outside of it. But our culture is beautiful and our history is deep, and it’s crucial for Fieldston students to see that in order to be the inclusive community we claim to be. Fieldston may have an embarrassingly small community of South Asians, but our assembly showed everyone just how much of an impact we can make.
