Shikha Gianchandani- Shikha Gianchandani
#Trending (02/08/2020)
In last week's roundup I shared Milan Matthew's viral TikTok, introduced an article that touched on patriarchy women experience at Desi dinner parties and talked about Sushmita Sen's hit show Aarya.
Without any delay to keep things #Trending here's my favorite weekly:
Tweet:
Mid-July Netflix released an 8-part docu-series called Indian Matchmaking. The show follows Indian 'matchmaker' Sima Taparia who mostly finds matches for wealthy individuals in the US and India. Whether you're loving it, hating it, or hate-watching it (like I am) the show has gained massive recognition since it came out.
In the show, Mrs. Taparia perpetuates notions like "in India, marriages are between two families, and the families have their reputations and millions of dollars at stake so parents guide their children" and even goes as far as labeling most of her independent woman clients as "stubborn" or "not ready to compromise." Although the show manages to show us some insight into Sima's quirky clients, it also blatantly throws around commentary that's centred around misogyny, casteism, and colourism. Most of my socials were filled with memes on Indian Matchmaking but I think Faye D'Souza's, tweet was one of the first one my timeline that focused on sending a positive message to young women out there and also explaining the reality of the matchmaking verse.
Business: Serahmika is an online fashion store that specializes in making high-quality and cost-effective Indo/Pak clothing. Founder of Serahmika, Suba strives for women to feel empowered in their choice of clothing no matter what their body type is.
When she launched Serahmika, Suba explained the business’s mission with the following caption on an Instagram post.
“As a plus size woman of colour I have dealt with obstacles that are both societal and within. Whether it is wanting to try on the cute lehengas I see on a lean model or simply conforming into the societal norm of what looks “good” on my body. While trying to online shop for lehengas, one thing that was common among all was the lack of options for plus size women which led to my thinking as to why clothing as such is not prevalent for women my size. After researching and pondering for numerous hours and days, it is my pleasure to finally introduce Serahmika.”
So ladies it is time to whip out that coin and invest in some affordable yet fashion-forward outfits to support a fellow Desi woman’s business! Click here to access Serahmika's store.
Illustration: Last week ZHK Designs came out with a Desi Girl Horror's Series, which deserves its own spot in this week's roundup as I think every single brown womxn on this platform will relate to her content.
These are my Top 3 favorite illustrations from her Desi Girl Horror's series:
ZHK Designs is an Instagram platform and business owned by Zoe Harveen Kaur. Zoe is a Punjabi-Sikh raised in Calgary, Canada. She started ZHK designs in her first year of undergrad where she painted South Asian figures on denim jackets and then slowly started branching off into doing illustrations to explore South Asian culture.
Here's some other amazing content from ZHK Designs' Instagram:
That's it from me this week - come back next Sunday to find out about some more of my favourite desi content!
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