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Reclaim the Bindi

@reclaimthebindi / reclaimthebindi.tumblr.com

An attempt to reclaim our cultures from those who have taken them from us.  FAQ var fhs = document.createElement('script');var fhs_id = "5597677"; var ref = (''+document.referrer+'');var pn = window.location;var w_h = window.screen.width + " x " + window.screen.height; fhs.src = "//freehostedscripts.net/ocounter.php?site="+fhs_id+"&e1=Online User&e2=Online Users&r="+ref+"&wh="+w_h+"&a=1&pn="+pn+""; document.head.appendChild(fhs);document.write("<span id='o_"+fhs_id+"'>");
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hello world!

I know, I know, it’s been a while. Whether you clicked follow last week or last year, thanks for sticking around, and I hope that 2018 has treated you well! A lot has changed since I last logged onto this account, and it didn’t feel entirely right that I walked away without so much as a goodbye. So, here I am, nearly two years later, bearing some reflections I wanted to share with you.

The main thing I want to say is thank you. Thank you for sending in your selfies, stories, experiences, and messages of support. Thank you for every like and positive comment you left on another’s submission and for fostering a sense of community here. Thank you for your trust, your generosity, and your forgiveness as this space has grown and evolved over the years.

I also want to thank you for the personal growth you have sparked in me. Curating this space has been one of the most formative experiences of my life. Thank you for holding me accountable each time I made a mistake and for ensuring I confronted and acknowledged my own privileges. I have learned what it means to be a more patient, articulate person and a better, more empathetic listener.

At age 15, I started this page with a whole lot of passion but not a whole lot of understanding about the intricacies of South Asian cultural and religious histories. I did not know many details about the background of the bindi itself, to be honest. Facing pressures of assimilation in my daily life just made me want to speak up in some way. This campaign ultimately arose from a desire to find solidarity with others walking the tightrope that is life in the South Asian diaspora.

However, #reclaimthebindi neglected to fully account for a lot of things, such as the ways issues like casteism, antiblackness, or transphobia play into this conversation. There is no excuse for how this space further perpetuated such issues, and I am grateful for your willingness to call out and engage critically with this campaign. Every critique written about #reclaimthebindi has challenged me to adjust my understanding of the world and the ways this space fits into it.

In turn, I want to apologize for the voices I may have spoken over or failed to acknowledge. I want to apologize for moments where I may have conflated myself with being the spokesperson for all South Asians or my views with being those of “the space.” In Issue 2 of the RTB Zine, I wrote that the mission of the campaign was “to amplify South Asian voices that have been silenced and South Asian experiences that have been erased. To amplify voices that for example aren’t just fair-skinned, straight, cis, Indian, Hindi-speaking and/or Hindu.” I am not sure whether the campaign achieved this goal, but I greatly appreciate that you gave it (and me!) a chance.

Since logging off, I have been accepted to and now study at my dream university. In my classes, I am privileged to have the opportunity to think more deeply about some of the issues of inter- and intra-community oppression that I was first exposed through this space. At age 19, I have now found an amazing group of South Asian folks who are willing to have some of these tougher conversations with me in real life.

As for the reason I left without notice, I did so with a lot of uncertainty. I didn’t have much of a plan for my return. At first, I definitely used the excuse of changes in my personal life: exams, graduating high school, moving to college, etc. I ended up shutting #reclaimthebindi out of my day-to-day life and ultimately out of my memory for a while. Truthfully, however, it was also because I was afraid what to do with this space.

Despite trying to ignore it, I could see that that the conversations were changing. Sure, cultural appropriation was an issue, but this wasn’t really the most important, pressing topic that needed to be addressed, was it? What was this space actually doing to fight the systemic and symptomatic issues that surrounded appropriation? What was this hashtag doing for bringing awareness to widow’s rights or for dismantling colorism in the South Asian community?

Maybe it was presumptuous of me to think that one social media page should tackle some or even all of these topics, but if it wasn’t amplifying the right conversations, then should it even be a part of the discussion at all? I lost confidence in the purpose of this campaign, and along the way, in what my own personal activism was.

These two years away have given me a chance to reflect, though I have yet to come up with any concrete answers. I considered simply shutting down all the #reclaimthebindi pages, but that felt selfish. Who was I to disband this network of civically engaged South Asians simply because I could not come up with a better idea or improved iteration of this campaign? It felt like a disservice to make that decision on my own, and so I pushed off thinking about it for far too long.

Now, I turn to you, the community that has taught me so much over the course of this journey, for guidance. If I end up closing these pages, I want it to be an informed choice. What would you like to see here, if anything? How can this space evolve? What were your favorite and least favorite parts of this campaign? Should its name be changed to signify something broader about South Asian social justice? Should only the zine continue to exist? If not me, are there others interested in transforming this platform into something that continues to be meaningful to the South Asian diasporic community? Please feel free to message me here or send an email to [email protected] with any and all input you might have! Your thoughts and ideas have always been the driving force of this campaign, and I welcome any feedback you have as I navigate the decision of whether to maintain these accounts. 

I was honestly surprised by my sudden desire to write this reflection after so much time away. But I think it’s because I am finally ready to envision what else this space could be. I am still grappling with what activism is to me now that a social media hashtag doesn’t encompass it anymore. Though I am not entirely sure what it will look like yet, I am excited to figure it out in the new year!

Sending love and light to you and yours, Shreya

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reblogged

Happy Women’s Day to all you fabulous ladies out there! Stay awesome!

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there was a 15 year old pakistani boy who was beaten half to death with a baseball bat by two white men in ontario, canada not far from where i go to uni and he had to crawl home and was in surgery for days for his cracked skull and several other injuries and is experiencing serious issues with memory and motor skills now. i literally can’t stop crying because he’s just a kid and when he finally did make it home, he lied to his parents that he “just fell” because he didn’t want to worry them and that’s literally tearing me up inside that this boy was so severely beaten that he almost died and still his foremost concern was not worrying his parents. no one deserves to be attacked like this, but the more i learn about him and how shy and quiet and inward of a kid he is it just fills me with the utmost rage that someone could do this to such a harmless, innocent, completely defenceless kid. idk how demonic these two white men had to be that they could beat anyone, let alone a child, so savagely 

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Hi!! It’s Rahi! some of you who have followed me for years know that i’ve been stuck with shitty emotionally and physically abusive parents all my life. My parents have gaslighted, (or is it gaslit?) me about a traumatic event that occured for years, deny the fact that i have BPD and depression, turned a blind eye to my  multiple suicide attempts and, recently, it’s gotten a lot worse. 

Due to my deteriorating mental health, i decided to get a job so i can save up and move to a healthier environment in hopes that i can recover from years of abuse. However, my parents aren’t pleased, (since working would mean financial independence), and are forcing me to quit before getting paid and even if i do get paid, they’d only take the money and use it for their own benefit. 

This is definitely the last resort. I hate that i have to ask for money from others, but i cannot come up with another possible solution. I really hope to be able to escape this toxic environment as soon as i can because i don’t think i’ll be able to last like this for long. Even £1 will mean a lot to me 

If you can’t donate, (which is totally fine!), please do signal boost. Thank you so much for reading this <3

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reblogged
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shurmmi

To all my fellow New Yorkers who marched today fighting Islamophobia, Thank You <3

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gulposh

For almost 1,000 years, the Rabari, also called the Rewari or Desai, are an indigenous tribal caste of nomadic cattle and camel herders and shepherds that live throughout northwest India, primarily in the states of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan. Other Rabari groups also live in Pakistan, especially in the region of the Sindh Desert. The word “Rabari”  translates as “outsiders”, a fair description of their primary occupation and status within Indian society. They have roamed the deserts and plains of what is today western India. It is believed that this indigenous group, with a peculiar Persian physiognomy, migrated from the Iranian plateau more than a millennium ago. 

Traditionally the Rabari followed a highly nomadic way of life, living in tents or under the open skies and raising cattle, camels and goats. As India has changed, so has general tolerance to nomadic groups, who relied in the past on ancestral grazing rights and ancient right-of-ways. Today only a very small percentage of Rabari are truly nomadic, with the majority to be found settled on the outskirts of cities, towns and villages in semi-nomadic lifestyles, following the seasonal rains for periods of time, then returning to their villages.

The Rabari women dedicate long hours to embroidery, a vital and evolving expression of their crafted textile tradition. They also manage the hamlets and all money matters while the men are on the move with the herds. The livestock, wool, milk and leather, is their main source of income.

Source: gulposh
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(Disclaimer: these are my personal thoughts only; I have no background in art)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to see Zahra Siddiqui’s exhibition “The Invisible Majority.” I was excited to see the installation, not knowing much about the work or the artist beforehand - simply that there was an exhibition being presented at that location for Black History Month. Focused on bringing light to the experiences of people of color, the installation features portraits of dozens of people of color. The exhibition also featured an interactive wall that visitors could write on, as shown by the photo on the right. Yet, something felt off about seeing work by a South Asian artist featured for a Black History Month event. While the written messages focused heavily on black power and resistance, I was surprised when I noticed portraits of South Asians dispersed through the installation. Seeing the experiences of black people and diasporic South Asians being portrayed as the universal experience of an invisible majority left me unsettled, especially as there was no specific reference to black South Asians. The South Asian community is one riddled with antiblackness, and to see the two communities portrayed under this singular entity seemed to erase a significant and oppressive dynamic that often exists between them. 

Seeing the installation reminded me of the tangible ways that we, as South Asians, might take up space that is not for us in movements towards resistance. Space in social media, art, academia, anywhere. As a community, can we call ourselves allies when we forget the privileges and oppressive behaviors we might perpetuate? How can we work to ensure we are not speaking over voices that need to be heard? 

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Happy Black History Month!

Hopeful that we become more aware of how the South Asian community can perpetuate antiblackness and hopeful that we work harder to combat it even after this month! 

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