Sanjaya, the Anti-Ambassador for Indian Americans
India Currents, Commentary, Sarita Sarvate, Posted: May 07, 2007
When I was in high school, my best friend Chitra and I won a debating trophy. We had traveled by cycle ricksha to a vernacular school in the old part of Nagpur, dressed in uniforms of navy blue skirts and white blouses. Our Sanskrit teacher, whom we called Pathak Sir, and whom everyone admired for orating in Sanskrit at every Independence Day, Republic Day, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak birthday, rode his bicycle beside us. After a day of speeches, I suffered a migraine headache. But when I delivered my extempore piece, and heard the judges declare us winners, it all seemed worthwhile. Chitra insisted on taking the silver-plated trophy home, so that it was she who was mobbed on the school playground the next morning. At the assembly, Principal Joshi congratulated us, declaring, "Excellence is True Beauty."
Excellence is True Beauty.
The words became engraved in my mind forever. They were the guiding principle of my young life.
It seemed to me then that I could do anything. I could go abroad, study science, write books, see the world. I could become a mountain climber, fly an airplane, jump with a parachute, live alone in a foreign city.
Physically though, I had always been a somewhat timid child. Unlike my friend Viju, I would not jump from roofs of houses. In later years, I would even be afraid to drive in India through the chaotic traffic.
The moment I realized these limitations was the moment I grew up.
I did win the National Merit Scholarship and the Atomic Energy Commission Fellowship. I did go on to the Government Science College, and later, to IIT. At each stage, the competition got fiercer. It was at IIT that I got severely depressed after realizing that I really did not love physics. Luckily, I was able to survive this setback too, by coming to Berkeley and studying Energy and Resources.
In the United States, the possibilities seemed limitless at first. America of the late 1970s seemed less competitive compared with India. There were few Indians around, so I became an ambassador for my country.
But then I faced some serious setbacks—physically, personally, and, as a result, professionally. I realized I was mortal. It dawned on me that I was flawed physically, emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually. I realized that we humans do not control everything. Destiny plays its part in our lives and no matter how hard we might strive, many of us are forced to recognize that the attempt itself and not achievement, the dream and not its realization, has to satisfy.
Later, I began to raise my sons and discovered that they too had their own struggles. I observed that they really did not have the competitive drive. So I began to emphasize happiness, kindness, generosity, and a love of life and nature, rather than intellectual achievement, in their lives.
So I am intimidated to watch Indian Americans excel at everything today. I am proud of my ethnic group but I am also filled with terror as I read Jhumpa Lahiri’s fiction and Atul Gawande’s essays in the New Yorker; as I watch Mira Nair’s films at the cinema; as I hear Norah Jones’s songs on the radio; as I listen to Vandana Shiva’s speeches on the News Hour; as I watch Aishwarya Rai’s interview on 60 Minutes. I am worried about the pressure this puts on our younger generation to compete and excel and win, and most of all, to work and work and work.
I have heard stories of young people buckling under the pressure. I want to tell them that when I got that debate trophy, I wasn’t planning to win, but to have fun.
Which is why I am so intrigued by the latest phenomenon of Sanjaya Malakar, whom I have not yet watched on American Idol, but in whom I have discovered the ultimate anti-achiever. The irony is, he is excelling by doing exactly the opposite of what his culture expects him to do; namely being himself, being different, and being daring.
Ironically, Indians are so hip in America today that these very traits, which would have made him a caricature a decade ago, are winning him fans.
At first, from the media clips I had seen, I couldn’t decide if Sanjaya was the biggest bumbling idiot or a genius on par with Steven Colbert. For, like Colbert’s parody of Bill O’ Riley, Sanjaya seemed to be parodying American Idol, which, let’s face it, has been in need of taking itself less seriously for some time.
I eventually concluded that the secret of Sanjaya’s success could be summed up in one phrase—a sense of humor. Sanjaya has brought to the forefront the one Indian quality that has not yet become a cultural stereotype, Rusell Peters’s success on Comedy Central notwithstanding, namely, a sense of humor. One of the things I most miss about India is the self-parodying, the joking and clowning, the easy banter that pervaded every aspect of our lives. Sense of humor was the glue that held the country together, what kept the poorest from losing hope, what helped us face red tape, electric blackouts, dry taps.
In making fun of American Idol, Sanjaya has not only sent up the hype of American reality TV, he has challenged young Indian Americans to laugh at themselves, to be anti-heroes, to under-achieve.
Yet, underneath this euphoria lies a worry. I wonder if, underneath the hype, the web postings, and even a potential win on Idol, lurks an undercurrent of racism that is making mainstream America over-eager to poke fun of a "Makaka." I relive my first few days in America, when Peter Sellers in The Party was what meant being an Indian to Americans.
But then I realize that joining the melting pot means ceasing to be ambassadors of our country and starting to be individuals, even if that means becoming a butt of other people’s jokes, as long as that is what we want.
Sarita Sarvate writes commentaries for Pacific News Service and KQED. A collection of her writings can be found at www.saritasarvate.com. This commentary was written before Sanjaya exited American Idol.
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User Comments
fj on May 31, 2007 at 12:27:39 said:
Sadly, Sanjaya was taunted in school. Here, Sarita Sarvate shows you don't even have to be of different ethnicity to feel superior. Take the ill-informed article off the internet already!
S. Puspawardhani on May 09, 2007 at 17:45:01 said:
Hi! I'm Stania from Indonesia. I would like to give a comment about Sanjaya.
Actually, I like him!:D
I used to follow his performance back in Jakarta. I like him because he was low profile at the audition round. Although, yeah, I think he's not giving his best during finals. But hey, IMHO, if it's about excellence, I think Katharina McPhee is a way better singer than Taylor Hicks.
Sunny on May 09, 2007 at 07:39:42 said:
Very nice article...its a self reflection of millions of Indian American.
Donna Spencer on May 08, 2007 at 21:24:05 said:
Sanjaya, is having fun with this. It took him a while to get over his shyness and then he had fun with it. I am sure he has been coached that he should just make the most of it. He did finish in the top ten and will be on the tour. American Idol knows that Sanjaya is going to draw the young girls on this tour so therefore, American Idol will make enough money to pay for the expenses for the ten to do this tour. In other words Sanjaya is being used to help promothe this tour. He has a nice shy singing voice but he will not be a great singer unless he is trained to project his voice. I think he will do great as an actor on a sitcom. He is cute and has beautiful hair.
Naomiani on May 08, 2007 at 16:17:29 said:
Sanjaya is everything that is peaceful,loving and beautiful. I don't think race has anything to do with any of the rude trash being said against him. There are rude obnoxious people in this world and Sanjaya rose up above it in meekness and I love his gentle spirit. He has an awesome talent and I for one will be looking forward to seeing him more.
sd on May 08, 2007 at 09:13:49 said:
I am indian and I am proud of Sanjaya. He has shown that Indians can too excel in other things than academics. Of yes if you are wondering I am 44 years old and I am proud of Sanjaya. He had a dream and he accomplished it. Also note he is an american first and then indian
rajni singh on May 08, 2007 at 06:23:57 said:
Absolutely, get a life if you did not see this young 17year old kid perform then ..get with it.
He's 17 years old on American Idol and yes some of the comments Indians make forget it..
Give the kid a break I wish someone ..can lap him up quickly in Hollywood..not Bollywood.
GO SANJAYA...HE'S 17 PEOPLE
Joan on May 08, 2007 at 04:47:39 said:
Sanjaya Malakar is arguably the most talked about contestant in the history of American Idol. Whether you voted for him or not, he entertained us every week. He gave it his all. He is a sweet, handsome and talented 17 year old, with a smile to light up a room.
Simon is always saying you have to stand out from the crowd. Well, Sanjaya did that. Despite the nay sayers, Sanjaya is a good singer. He has a warm, melodious voice. He just doesn’t have a ‘big’ voice. There are any number of big names making millions who are less talented vocally. And many wonderful singers of the past who did not have a big voice – Perry Como, Donny Osmond, Bobby Vinton and so many more.
Sanjaya was there because the judges thought he warranted being put through; he survived because people voted for him in droves. He had our attention. We were enchanted. I was moved by this young man’s courage to keep smiling and singing through the barrage of vicious attacks, many of which, I believe were racially motivated. I hope I’m wrong.
I wish Sanjaya the best. I think he’s going to be a big star.
Claire on May 07, 2007 at 22:08:29 said:
I don't really think Sanjaya's tenure on American Idol necessarily says anything about the condition of the Indian American. His dad is Indian, but he's very much an American boy in the way he behaves.
It does say something about the power of an overmatched individual to strike back at those who would abuse him. Sanjaya began the show as a painfully shy kid, with very little formal training, who had a very lovely, quiet singing voice he did not know how to use well. They expected him to be easy cannon fodder and made him feel bad every time he was not eliminated. The adults who set themselves up as his judges gave him no concrete feedback that he could use to evaluate his own performances and learn what he had done. He was just vaguely told that he was not good and asked to raise his game.
Eventually, he stopped behaving like a human punching bag, embraced the fact that he was vocally outmatched by professionals ten years his senior and began to compete aggressively as best he could, with moxie, drive and courage that just took my breath away. His raw performance skills improved immensely in a single month. He took huge personal risks, especially for a boy who, in his bio, said that overcoming shyness was his greatest obstacle in life. The mouse roared; the punching bag fought back.
It takes amazing courage for an ordinary teenager to take on the American Idol corporate machine, which routinely dismisses and destroys the hope of young people for sport, and demand to be viewed as a contender despite their designs to make him a fool. Instead of being an early boot, Sanjaya Malakar lasted long enough to become the toast of Washington DC earlier this month and it is rumored he will begin working on his solo album soon.
He is generally regarded by the media as the breakout star of American Idol 6. I've heard his studio recordings; he actually sings very well, but the crassly competitive American Idol stage may not have been the most nurturing place for him to develop what is still a very fragile and nascent talent. American Idol is a glorified kareoke contest; it does not have enough musical integrity to slam a boy who just innocently wandered into the auditions because "I thought it would be fun to sing on TV" and somehow got passed all the way to the top 24.
Manny/mahadevan on May 07, 2007 at 22:03:21 said:
You are clueless... Sanjaya is not an underachiever. You are.
Sheesh!
Last on May 07, 2007 at 18:11:36 said:
"Sanjaya Malakar, whom I have not yet watched on American Idol, but in whom I have discovered the ultimate anti-achiever. The irony is, he is excelling by doing exactly the opposite of what his culture expects him to do; namely being himself, being different, and being daring."
You know what? He actually DAS what his inner self expects him to do namely being himself, being different, and being daring.
And I love him for this. And yes he is half Indian, half Italian and ALL AMERICAN!
Please watch first before casting judgment..
Megan on May 07, 2007 at 16:40:14 said:
It's May 7, 2007, and the author of this article thinks that Sanjaya is still on the show!
rage on May 07, 2007 at 16:14:13 said:
Loved this article! Most Poignant!
Sanjaya was not as much the perfected representation of his Indian heritage as he was the justified informant to the world of that low level of fakery to which Americans have gullibly succumbed, with our over-indulgence of these so-called reality shows. It took guts to get up there, week after week, exhibiting little to no talent whatsoever, to prove that it requires no real skill or erudition to stay on the American airwaves. Sanjaya proved that all you need is a good hook with which you can captivate a near brainless audiance until its attention is lost to the next cute trick that excites, mesmerizes, and captivates. Sanjaya proved that our afflictive addiction is televised mediocrity and mundacity. He showed the world that we are crippled by this pathetic addiction. Yes, Sanjaya's consistent victories said much more about the American public than about his ability to sing pop music. Sanjaya, like every culturally erected idol before him, only took the thorough advantage of us our own intellectual malaise and short attention spans allowed him to take.
Sincere Sanjaya Fan on May 07, 2007 at 15:38:30 said:
You have not seen this kid! He is charming and sings beautifully, it's just that he is out of the dull norm. PLEASE check him out on the american idol website before commenting. All the clips are there.. the audition, the songs, the interviews. Just a disclaimer... he is more popular with women, and teenage guys and girls. Also, not familiar with Indian culture, so maybe not your thing. (He can't be an ambassasor - he's ours!) To get the opposite view from the mainstream media and see what the young people are saying, see some of the many fan-sites.
mickey on May 07, 2007 at 15:05:42 said:
He didn't "underachieve"at all! He CAN sing! I'm amazed that you have so much to say about his performance without ever having seen it!
Ram Ramachandran on May 07, 2007 at 14:34:01 said:
I am amazed at the implication of your article. Sanjaya is an American and not an Indian. His mother is an Italian. I am yet to see one article in any italian publication berating him like the indian media. I am not even sure whether Sanjaya understands what it is to be an indian. I didn't see in any major media in the US (I have been in the US for 35 yrs) making Indian jokes about him. I hope everybody in India (certainly indians in the US) cool off a bit and let this youngster live his live the way he sees fit.
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