😱 Ye Kya Hua?!

Desi Snacks #2: Mhari chhoriyan chhoron se kam hai ke 🙌

Feb 19, 2023

Hello Desis,

Ye Kya Hua?! Seems like Tere Mere Pyaar Ki Baatein, Duniya Ki Nazron Mein Aagayi. And this has increased the Desi Snacks community from 43 to 74 in a week. Thanks to you for sharing Desi Snacks with other Desis. Keep sharing the love! Most of you read our pehla newsletter and several responded with words of affirmations. Thank YOU! 💗

In today’s newsletter,

Pardesi Babu: NRI’s 3% contribution to India’s GDP.
Sharmaji ki Beti: Profile of Arushi Jain, an artist who is reinterpreting the Hindustani classical music by fusing electronics with raga.
The Dhaakad Chhori Jukebox: Theme of our weekly Desi jukebox is Dhaakad Chhori.
Other Desi stories: The relatable mother, teacher, and dad and the nightingale who represented us Desis to the western world in 1928.

BTW Desis, colored or underlined text in the newsletter are links 😉

Migrants are sending a record amount of paisa to India

India is the first country to receive $100billion in remittances from Desis who live abroad. Call them the “Not Really Indians”, but the remittances from the NRIs translate to about 3% of India’s GDP. For more context, NRIs were less than 0.1% of India’s population in 2020. Per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Survey Report released in 2018, it is also interesting that not all remittances are for family support. Around 20% are deposits in banks and 8.3% are investments like real estate and securities.

As remittances increase, the foreign exchange reserves increase and so does the creditworthiness of India. The RBI has a higher cushion to defend the rupee, and the economy becomes less risky.

The other important statistics to consider is that the remittances from the US, UK, and Singapore increased from 26% in 2016 to 36% in 2021. In contrast, the remittances from the Gulf countries - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait - decreased from 54% to 28% in the same time period. Since most of the Gulf’s Desi migrants are blue-collar workers, the trend in the remittances suggests that the techie Desis in the US, UK, and Singapore are outnumbering the blue-collared Desis in the Gulf. This trend highlights two major challenges for India.

Creating employment opportunities for the blue-collared Desis who may be returning to India from the Gulf
Addressing the massive “brain drain” from the country, which can be detrimental to the country in the long run

At least, the unyielding immigration system of the US and UK is helping India with the “brain drain” issue.

The Pardesi Babu does not seem to be that paraaya after all.

Sharmaji ki Beti: Arushi Jain

We always heard about Sharmaji ka beta from our parents. What we never heard is that Sharmaji has a Rockstar beti as well. And in Arushi’s case, the term “Rockstar” is not just a metaphor.

Arushi’s journey into the world of music started in India when she was seven. Her intensive training in the Hindustani classical music started from her home in Delhi. She studied music at Prayag Sangeet Samiti in Allahabad and Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts as a part of The Mozart Choir of India. At Ravi Shankar Institute, she was exposed to some Western classical music as well and toured Austria, where she performed for various diplomats, including the Presidents of Austria and India and the Crown Prince of Norway.

After graduating from high school, Arushi pursued the Desi dream of becoming an engineer. She went to Stanford to pursue Computer Science.

Anyone who moves outside India for the first time has their own moments of cultural shock. Arushi had that moment when she auditioned for an a cappella group. After she sang in Hindi, she was asked to sing in English. She didn't know what to sing. This experience led her to believe that her music may not find home there.

Music was always a part of Arushi’s life, like her shadow. After the a cappella incident, she distanced herself from music. She immersed herself in her coursework and learning technical skills. She had no music in her life for three years. How can one separate themselves from their shadow, though? Its absence just implies the absence of light. Absence of music had a big impact on Arushi’s mental health.

Like many Desis who live outside India, Arushi was going through an identity crisis. In India, she was an NRI. In the US, she was an Indian, a Desi. “Where do I exist?” she questioned on several instances.

Arushi stepped away from school to work at technical non-profits in Kenya and Palestine. She also brought her focus back to music. During this time, electronic music caught her attention. On her return to Stanford for her senior year, one fateful class, Laptop Orchestra, turned out to be life-changing for Arushi. She was introduced to the world of sound synthesis and modular synthesizers.

Arushi was ready to create her own space. She was ready to define her own identity. She started creating Hindustani classical inspired music using non-traditional instruments. Through her experiments, Arushi reimagined and redefined Hindustani classical music. Arushi created her own identity by blending her classical trained vocals with the wizardry of modular synthesizer.

In the summer of 2021, Arushi released her debut album, Under the Lilac Sky, which won best album awards from Guardian, Pitcfork, Bandcamp, Resident Advisor, and Crack Magazine. She performed in sold out shows with Anoushka Shankar. Btw, all this time she was also working as an Infrastructure Engineer at Reddit. In 2023, Arushi is also named on the Forbes list of 30 under 30 - Music in North America. Oh yes, she also designed the jacket she wore to the Forbes 30 under 30 List Launch in New York City. Soopar Wooman!

What you seek is seeking you.
Rumi

Arushi’s journey resonates with Rumi’s quote. However, Saloumeh Bozorgzadeh, president of the Sufi Psychology Association, offers a slightly different translation of the original Farsi quote from Rumi. The meaning is more like “What you seek is with you.” This translation of Rumi’s quote better describes Arushi’s journey. Arushi’s home, her music, was always within her. It stayed with her like a friend and a healer. Through her music, she found her existence in a space between the two worlds she lived in. And with her music, Arushi aims to heal the world while spreading the beauty of Hindustani Classical Music.

In a few minutes of conversation with her, one could say that Arushi’s most important attribute is her kindness. Arushi truly personifies Mhari chhoriyan chhoron se kam hai ke!

Weekly Desi Jukebox: Dhaakad Chhori

Since the theme of this newsletter is Mhari chhoriyan chhoron se kam hai ke, it only makes sense for the theme of our weekly desi jukebox to be Dhaakad Chhori. We have curated a list of songs that capture the fearlessness and poise of a Dhaakad Chhori. Please reply to let us know if we were able to do justice or missed a song that you wish was included in this list.

Spotify
YouTube Music
YouTube

One song on the list is Dhaakad (duh!). Imagine the world before Dhaakad. Each time we heard the word, Dhaakad, we would imagine a muscular villain from the Bollywood movies of the 80s and 90s lifting weights, roaring out of his lungs, and throwing people around. However, Amitabh Bhattacharya did not shy away from changing this image for us. And he did such a good job that Kangana Ranaut went on to lead a movie named Dhaakad. Right off the bat with Nikkar aur t-shirt pehen ke aaya cyclone, Dhaakad shatters many stereotypes. She’s not your laal dupatte or peele suit wali. Whatever she wears is her choice. She’s not just the lightning bijlee. She’s the cyclone that will blow away anything and anyone that stands in her path. She is not waiting for you to open the pinjra. She will take her parwaaz, her flight, on her own terms. Coz Aisi Dhaakad Hai!

Desi Snacks