While the Indian subcontinent’s colonial past demands a historic revision, its cultural identity in the Western imagination has undergone significant changes in the last century.
From Rudyard Kipling to E M Forster, Euro-centric narratives of the East have largely been veiled by mysticism that obfuscates an indigenous legacy of secularism and science. With time, certain myths of sadhus and snake-charmers were broken whereas others prevailed; but general tendencies to exoticise the unknown continued as a tipping of the hat to anachronisms, every now and then.
Since the late 80s, economic fluctuations have been prompting immigrants from the Global South to relocate to different parts of the world. Many migrated to the West and adopted it as their home. Globalisation leading to hybridisation caused multilateral exchanges even on the cultural front.
Although South Asian immigrants are still identified as the curry-eating, bindi-wearing community inundating America, the popularisation of several desi totems amongst the white population bears interesting connotations for the ethnic minority.
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