beyond dev patel + a hungry google
WASN’T PURPLE ON THE INSIDE, TJ’S DECEIT —
dancing has always made the cut — even in the literal sense, when a dance teacher snipped off my bangs in pre-show and competition anxiety.
(we didn’t place)
in retrospect, dance was the one part of my culture i’d cling onto far before i became comfortable with haldi stains on my fingers and yoghurt containers filled with ginger garlic paste. and it wasn’t just any genre of dance, it was bollywood dancing (i had a feeble one year attempt at ballet - which came to a close when my mom realized that my ripped tights weren’t thanks to a design flaw, but defiance).
growing up, garba was the standing saturday night plan i had during the fall. dance class was the excuse to hang out on a sunday evening with the other brown girls (and if we were lucky…brown boys). school talent shows became an annual excuse to copy paste choreography from the latest hindi movies with my bestfriends. when the other half of my dance duo fell sick the day of our sixth grade talent show, i did it solo in front of my whole grade.
(i got second place)
more later, including the different green lights that culture gets when we’re young, but first my words + reads:
my words: i explained google’s recent spike in appetite for user-friendly startups.
etc: tweet me questions ahead of today’s panel!
learning lesson: when we dig a bit deeper on m&a trends, stuff makes us blink twice. for example, here’s a quote an analyst told me for the story: “why would google buy two companies to make sure they operate as is? i mean the bottom line here is antitrust enforcers should be embarrassed.”
unorganized tab time:
when halfway to unicorn status becomes a flex
for anyone doing intermittent fasting
anyways
looking back, a lot of what i accepted about my culture was bet on affirmations from The Popular Kids (also known as the kids that got lunchables instead of rotis in their brown paper bags).
lucky for me, and ideal for my mom, dancing to hindi music in glittery dresses with eyeshadow to match was deemed interesting from my sixth grade class. a few years later, in the eighth grade talent show, me and my girlfriends were cheered on when we slipped a subtle slumdog millionaire’s reference into our dance remix. dev patel was in, and dancing was cool, and different, and perfectly palatable for the lunchable kids.
now at 23, i’ve noticed that the popular kids are no longer popular to me. and that i don’t need to reference dev patel in order to prove that my culture is cool. and that joining my dance team in college was not for the clout but for the company. and that garba nights in the fall have become about nostalgia, not so much the instagram opportunities.
so here’s where we make this about you: i don’t think there’s a point in regretting the past, much less scrutinizing it. who cares if dance was once a token i used for talent show clout? growing up means finding ways to embrace the unique parts of your family, your history, and your culture. it doesn’t matter how you do it. once you find something, anything, that lifts you into a little bit more of what is a roti wrapped around some vegetables instead of a plasticky lunchables box, be proud. and be even prouder if it sticks.
to lunchables kids,
n
my college dance team!