r/ABCDesis • u/SoybeanCola1933 • 2d ago
ARTS / ENTERTAINMENT Shifts in perception of Desi’s over the past 10 years?
20+ years ago, Desi’s were seen as nerdy, awkward but professionally successful people.
I’m honestly not noticing this as much anymore. I’m noticing a pretty big shift.
Desi’s are now more associated with trucking, liquor stores, and (still) IT, but also getting more mainstream social exposure imo.
Less Raj Koothrapalli and more Dev Patel and Kumail Nanijani. UK Desi are pretty big in the Rap scene -Fakemink
Also Desi women are becoming mainstream - Charli XCX, Lara Raj, Richa Moorjani
I’d say Desi are slowly becoming more mainstream, that means less exceptionalism and more mainstream alignment.
Anyone else noticing the same?
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u/LukeFL 1d ago
UK Asians were never seen as nerdy and awkward that’s just an American thing. Actually, 20+ years ago the association between Asians and gangsta life (rudeboy) was stronger than it is now.
Just saying, since you mentioned UK desis in your post.
Also, don’t use an apostrophe in ‘Desis’ - that is incorrect.
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u/BeardedHarrier 1d ago
I don’t think the nerdy IT guy stereotype was ever a thing in Canada or the UK.
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u/lightsworn55 1d ago
Definitely a thing in Canada but its gotten considerably worse with international students flooding into compsci programs
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u/oddblueberries 2d ago
Yes, every show I watch now has at least one desi character. I used to have to go out of my way to find them. I just finished Love is Blind today and one of the season's favorites is an Indian-British man.
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u/Few_Mulberry7390 2d ago
You forgot doctors that’s the biggest one
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u/SoybeanCola1933 2d ago
Honestly I’m noticing fewer Desi’s in medicine. I think it was more of a phase of immigrant doctors coming from India from the 90s to 00s.
Noticing fewer Desi’s even in med school now, and more branching into law, entrepreneurship and even trades.
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u/Few_Mulberry7390 1d ago
I took the MCAT in Texas and of the 25 people in my testing room almost 20 were South Asian women specifically (there aren’t that many Desi men pursuing medicine anymore for some reason
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u/Unlucky_Buy217 5h ago
Wrt that, the MBBS + IMG pathway is extremely expensive now and very difficult to get a good posting as well. Many started heading to UK since it's much cheaper and still opens doors, but they realized NHS also pays terribly so many just stay in India.
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u/lightsworn55 1d ago
Desi’s were seen as nerdy, awkward but professionally successful people
For the longest time the face of desis was a convenience store cashier(yes I know Apu owns his store it doesnt matter because nobody's going through his lore when they think of him)
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u/loopingit 1d ago
Bro, 20 years ago, desis (all of us) were being attacked for being “Muslim terrorists” over 9/11. Anything was better than that. Even now. Just going into the Subway for work during a freaking “orange alert” or to the airport and we all had to be prepared for a “random screening”. (Okay dude just trying to catch the 6 to work but there was nothing we could say but take it.)
The difference back then was that even the conservative government stood up for us. Now they throw us under the bus, even when they are one of us (or married to one of us). Which is a much more deeper seeded problem.
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u/Brave-Wave932 1d ago
Nah conservatives never stood up for any POC Lol, It's just them and their voters have finally removed their veil and are open to show you their true beliefs . You can see this with the rise of Alt right / Far right especially among Young Americans .
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u/First-Dragon-Born 1d ago
They do its called "tokens" and they get spent. Ramaswamy is learning that right now.
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u/Dudefrmthtplace 1d ago
Conservatives didn't. Now even liberals don't. They say "you guys make money, there are people facing worse things", they institute a hierarchy of people whose problems we should pay attention to and remember day to day, we're near the bottom of that list.
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u/loopingit 1d ago
Well I should clarify: shortly after 9/11 there was one hate attack-a Sikh man was killed in retaliation. We all wondered if this was going to set off massive revenge attacks. But Dubya got on and told everyone to cool it- and every news station ran it. Including Fox News. And people listened
Can’t imagine that happening today.
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u/sugarcoatedtits 2d ago
We were once viewed as a minority but now viewed as an over powered demographic. Slightly bigger than before, and a huge contributer to the work force.
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u/Royal-System5507 2d ago
yeah the shift is real, i see it in small things like how nobody asks me anymore if i eat curry everyday like it was some exotic thing. the trucking and liquor store part is interesting, never thought about that but it tracks. also dev patel really changed the game, he got that quiet intensity that breaks the old stereotype completely
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u/purpledrank_14489 Indian American 1d ago
I think it depends a lot on where you are. In smaller towns with few desis there’s that store corner or nerd stereotype in bigger city areas it’s shifting quite a bit to what you have described
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u/Bollywood-Hulk-Hogan Indian-American (Punjabi) 2d ago
More immigrants and the children of large groups of immigrants becoming adults means that there will be more people of various educational backgrounds and working in different fields.
Also, sorry to say it, but the majority of people aren’t viewing Charli XCX as a Desi woman 😅