*Obno-bougie post alert*
‘The ghost of beaches past’
Current NYC city life furnace is bringing those ocean dreams back. ⛱
Shall we find one soon madame photographer? @rubybell
Brown girls who love getting browner. Two sisters choosing life. New York, New York
After 4+ months of being land locked and mostly locked down. I present pallu on bougie beach with black silhouette penguin types.
The return to mother 🌊 short lived but so essential 😌 Cooper’s Beach
T’was a night of bittersweet magic. Stepped out in this piece by the wonderful @bibhumohapatra to honour and raise resources for those fighting India’s covid plight. Thank you @indiaspora @1billionbreaths_ @basuratnam and all the organisers (@shrutirya) for creating a shared sense of community here in NYC. We rejoiced in seeing old friends, in coming together after so long, but also felt our mutual pain, longing and ache around what’s happening in our homeland.
Over $400,000 was raised towards India’s covid relief efforts. As the Aussie-Indian amongst the American-Indian diaspora, I was reminded of the power of community and shared heritage – bonds based on love – which can achieve so much when like-minded souls unite.
Visit https://www.chalogive.org/kindredkitchen to donate! New York, New York
This #internationalyogaday I hope to move, to feel lighter, freer, more open. It’s an everyday quest. But sometimes things get blocked along the way. When a trauma cycle takes over… breath becomes stuck, the body freezes. Movement and dhyaan have always brought me home. It’s time to go back. ❤️
📸 @rubybell
Too lip or not too lip. 🌷
Looking out at my next adventure ❤️
📸 @rubybell
Reminiscing about the days when I got to play a dreamy role in a dream-like fable… in the words of @vibhupuri, in a Bambai Fairytale.
A shot of Sitara as she looks at her #Hawaizaada from a majestic set erected in Gondal, Gujarat to recreate Bombay of 1895.
Missing everything about shooting in India 🧡
Pushing through to the other side.
As a wee thing a decade ago, I shot the climax of my first indie feature at this fountain. Today I came back, after dancing the morning out, to reflect on the journey which has been and that which continues to grow. To reflect on the time when, as ‘brown actors’, we were told that our space is limited and our choices few and far between.
I feel the rumblings of change, and feel grateful that I’ve mustered the resilience to stick to a path that originated as a childhood, fantasy: ‘When I grow up, I want to be an actress!’, I would exclaim. At the time, I only envisaged it was possible in the shape of a kohl-laden maiden in the fields of Bollywood filmdom…and so I mustered courage and chased that wondrous world. But the realities of being the child of the diaspora caught up with me, and my journey took a sharp u-turn into a more confused but equally courageous quest towards being seen as a human before my colour.
And so here I sit, wondering when the us and them of who we are will finally evaporate and stories will just be stories for all of us to equally tell and celebrate. Central Park, New York
This is 🧡. Even for hangry Sean Seanery’s goon face. New York, New York
The bikes changed everything. #newyork #twobridges #byciclediaries
From Route 66 to the streets of LA. To friendships that last🍻
Make it Rogue. #torontodiaries Toronto, Ontario
Hello Los Angeles! Silverlake / Los Feliz
Take me to the ocean… let my soul be free 💙🌊
Looks like I still goat it. The Hamptons
Just had a conversation which brought to light (more like the dark of) the systemic racism I am up against in the workplace everyday. It really sucks: having to listen and acknowledge as you are unseen. I know many of my followers are young people of colour/minorities who face these dilemmas daily. I just want to say, hang in there. It will be better for our kids and even better for theirs (if the world doesn’t implode first).
The decolonisation of minds is still a long way away… but if we continue to persevere… it will be better. I’m saying this for myself just as much as for anyone else. This is not victim mentality. This is the voice of a woman with agency who chooses to hear what is being said rather than sweeping it under the carpet in pursuit of being palatable. #keepthefireburning #nevergiveup 🙏🏽🔥💕
In the history of photo taking, this was one of the worst.
In the history of friendship making, it was one great heart burst.
From the the corridors of Law School, to being New York street tools.
And a show called Retrograde, in which my boss ran the travel trade.
I could continue to rhyme, but I’m terrible as pudding with fungal thyme.
It really is a crime.
PS – @ronnychieng, when you get that Flexi, send me a texty.
Today @ausequityfoundation awarded #Retrograde the most outstanding comedy ensemble!
Playing Maddie Mishra was a career highlight. My first ever project shot completely in my home city, our small BIG show – brainchild of @mehgmeg – was green lit in the wake of the global pandemic, then was cast and in production (thank you @danjlake & team @orangeentco) within weeks. This time last year I was in frantic daily zooms with my legendary cast members @maxbrown.was.here @ilaiswindells @estheryeah @mariagloriagraceangelico @nickboshier under the madly skilled leadership of @nbdirector. As a South Asian lead I was invited into writers rooms and encouraged to deep dive with the creators into the authenticity of who Maddie Mishra was until the point that she entered that fated online bar amidst one of life’s many ‘Maddie’ conundrums.
Alongside my credit as an actor, I was credited as a script consultant. This is noteworthy because so much of my (and my BIPOC colleagues) work involves making sure that cultural representation is authentic on screen – that the words we speak and the gaze through which we are portrayed doesn’t exoticise, fetishise, stereotype, omit. So thank you @mehgmeg for being a true collaborator and ‘seer’, for ensuring that my skin was lit to its true colour, my beautiful make up team were skilled in South Asian hair and faces, for hiring a wonderful cross-section of Melbournian crew & listening so empathetically. For having the courage to designate and to reward in a world where so many of us have been fighting the lifelong reality of being sidelined.
Our show was led from the top down by strong women and men of all orientation, ethnicity and walks of life. We were given space to be who we are. I know in my work how rare this is. It goes down as one of the most challenging shoot experiences I’ve had, but equally the most rewarding.
Thank you to @queminhluu @abctv @fyiordie @declan_fay @edende33 @natmakeup_hair @tessmakeuphair @leonardtheodoreroberts – and all the other incredible humans that came into my life while we inhabited this world with reckless, joyous, zooming, abandon.
More #retrograde retrospective to come!
Distanced. Before we peaced out. Saying goodbye to @surajsharmagram through the lens of @soniadtully.
Formidable, forlorn, but not yet forgone. Toronto, Ontario
There’s a lot you can do in lockdown.
Throwback to one of the many @abctv promos for @retrograde.tvshow – because 🔥 💃🏽 🕺🏽 this time a year ago we embarked on a pretty ‘slappin’’ (yes I just used that) journey.
I feel like a #retrograderetrospective is in order.
Yup, it’s going to happen. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Probably the easiest yet hardest chat I’ve had.
It’s been tough: not saying much. Just riding out the wave from one country to another, floating on that thing called hope which ultimately leads you to believe that the world is abundant and your back is covered.
But the reality is that sometimes you’re not covered, by humans or circumstance. Sometimes every ounce of gumption you muster falls short when it comes to softening a fall. Sometimes you exhaust every tool you have in your kit to trying to just survive the tidal wave, unable to steady the ride.
‘Why did you stop working in Hindi films?’, many people ask. I often fail to respond. Still somewhat frozen in the face of public interaction. Still somewhat heartbroken. Because I love India, I miss it. It really is where I ‘belong’.
But Ami from @tuckeredoutpodcast helped me lift the veil on my reasons – this time not just through my writing, but with my voice.
Two South Asian women, old friends, no holds barred. Just talking about it.
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.
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#southasian #diaspora #firstgeneration #intersectionality #indianaustralian #browngirls #representationnotdiversity
Photo credit 📸 @rubybell
