Fancy a curry?

I am an Asian girl, so that must mean that when I go home, I immediately get changed into a Punjabi suit and step into the kitchen to whip up a spicy curry, as I’m apparently a culinary expert at cooking curry. Right? Actually….No.

It’s quite surprising that some people still have these narrow-minded notions. I was faced with explaining my ethnicity at work recently through a string of some ridiculously naive questions by an elderly English woman. (A bit like a Little Britain character.)

“So where are you from? Where are your parents from? When you go home do you wear a suit? Do you visit your family in India?”

Left completely astounded, my response to those questions were, “Well I’m from here, (Wolverhampton actually!) I hardly ever wear Indian attire, well, only at parties, and all my family are in the UK, I have no family in India.” I added, “I’ve been to Spain more times than I’ve been to India.” To which she seemed slightly confused because I am pretty sure that I threw her perceptions off course.
I was overcome with a feeling of amusement and shock. I wasn’t offended but I did feel slightly uncomfortable. These questions weren’t asked maliciously, but innocently which made me wonder how many other people think like this and think its perfectly normal to do so.

From my own observations, there is still an element of stereotypical values in the media. The Asian shopkeeper and the overly-religious family etc. We’re not all the same. I am very proud of my identity and of my British Asian roots; however it does get annoying that people can ask such ignorant and slightly amusing questions.

Right…I’m off for a curry now.

Brit Awards 2010...What a shambles...

An amateur school performance…those are the words which spring to mind for the Brit Awards. What a disappointing show, it lacked talent and class and real musicians. Instead, viewers were treated to a two hour circus show of singers who couldn’t even manage to sing live, Peter Kay, the presenter who looked like he was trying to hold the show together and really didn’t look like he wanted to be there and a string of lame jokes where watching tumbleweed roll across the stage would have been much more entertaining.

Stop me if I’m wrong, but I thought the Brits were all about celebrating the crème de la crème of British music? When I switched over to ITV, I certainly didn’t expect to watch a poorly organised and edited show starring a batch of reject guests…Spice Girls…(well two of them) and Sam Fox. Then to see Jonathon Ross walk on stage in a ghetto-esq outfit was just too much and I actually felt embarrassed for him. What a desperate attempt to entertain. The cherry on the cake was watching Cheryl Cole mime…she couldn’t even manage to do that properly. Why people think she can actually sing and see her as a role model is beyond me. Then Robbie Williams just looked like a drunken uncle at a wedding.

In my opinion, the only worthy singer to actually deserved all three of her awards was Lady Gaga. She sang live and sentimentally dedicated her performance to the late Alexander McQueen. I actually felt insulted for Lady Gaga when Geri and Sam Fox said that they would have preferred for her to sing something which they recognised…how narrow-minded for a “musician” to say. I’m sorry Geri…are all artists supposed to play the same songs over and over again?! As for “Kula Shaker where are you now?!” Well, to that, I say, “Spice Girls where are YOU now?!”

I don’t think the Brits are about real musicians with actual talent anymore. From last night’s debacle, it’s turned into a freak show for deflated egos. What a shambles.

All I know is that I will never get those two hours back.

Artwork by Kaz Matharu