My Super (Simple) Sweet 16

Posted on by

For my 16th birthday, we had a sheet cake from Sam’s Club, and maybe a couple of balloons. It was small with just family, and a few of my school friends. It wasn’t elaborate, but in those days, we didn’t have MTV to show us how ‘the others’ celebrate their Sweet 16. Maybe that’s why I have a sick, sick obsession with watching MTV’s reality TV show Sweet 16, where in the span of a half an hour segment you see thousands and thousands of dollars being thrown down for a measly birthday. From the SM news tab, we’ve now learned desi teen girls haven’t missed the wrath of this reality TV show either.

…Dr. Srinivasa Rao Kothapalli, a prominent cardiologist in Beaumont, Tex., is more than willing to relinquish his checkbook. His daughter Priya turned 16 earlier this month, and she is in the throes of planning a joint birthday-graduation party with her elder sister, Divya, 18. “If you can afford to have a grand celebration, then why not,” said Dr. Kothapalli, who immigrated to the United States from India in the mid-1980’s. “It’s the American way. You work hard and you play hard.”

Their Bollywood-themed party for 500 guests will be held in the family’s backyard — all 4Å“ acres, behind the 10,000-square-foot house. The Format, their favorite band, will perform. And they will make their grand entrance on litters, during an elaborate procession led by elephants…”We both want to lose three pounds,” said Priya, who received a Mercedes convertible and an assortment of diamond jewelry for her birthday. Her sister’s graduation gift package included a Bentley, diamonds and two homes in India. [link]

<

p>Can you believe this ridiculous consumption? Elephants, diamonds, Bentleys and homes? If this is what they got for their Sweet 16/18, can you imagine the weddings? I can’t wait till the show airs, which unfortunately, has no links up yet on MTV-but I’m sure the mutineers will keep us posted. So let’s see, there were first those two desi girls that secretly partied, Kaavya gets half a million to write a ‘plagiarized’ book before turning 17, and now, we have these girls. Sigh. Such a contrast from the girls, girls, girls earlier this month.

Priya added, “It’s pathetic when people suck up.” Still, dealing with sycophantic classmates and a bit of teasing is a small price to pay for the spotlight. “We both love attention–that’s one of our main motives for having the party,” Divya said. “The more attention the better.” [link]

At least I have something in common with the girls from Sweet 16…I’m kidding. KIDDING.

This entry was posted in Humor, Musings, TV by Taz. Bookmark the permalink.

About Taz

Taz is an activist, organizer and writer based in California. She is the founder of South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), curates MutinousMindState.tumblr.com and blogs at TazzyStar.blogspot.com. Follow her at twitter.com/tazzystar

251 thoughts on “My Super (Simple) Sweet 16”

  1. one minor note also: capitalism is not necessarily an issue. i tend to lean toward the free markets and personal choice end myself, but capitalism does not necessarily imply materialism.

  2. razib:

    some of the commenters have pointed out what elicited my disgust. if i perceived that the conspicious consumption was driven by epicurean appreciation i would be less concerned. i do not begrudge someone who spends hundreds of dollars at the french laundry, that shit be good. even if there is suffering in the world at least the money is going toward genuine first order pleasure on on the part of the person dishing out the dollars. on the other hand, when people go to an expensive eatery to eat expensively, rather than to eat expensive (ergo, good) food, i think that’s unseemly.

    Mate, I have read this damned paragraph a million times (note: exaggeration) and from that wording I still understand that your main issue is the intent, i.e showing ppl that you eat expensively vs enjoying expensive food. I just think both cases are excesses, and it seems strange to be disgusted in one and not the other. For me, I don’t care either way as long as they don’t treat people with a bad attitude.

    Let’s just agree to disagree shall we?

    you are creating a hypothetical based on what you think saurav believes, but you really don’t know what his assumptions

    As much as you want it to be Razib, it’s not a strawman. Someone else stated: The point of Marie Antoinette analogies is generally to illustrate a situation in which someone is spending lavishly and without care while other people starve. As I already mentioned, an orphan in Bangladesh would probably think I was being lavish and not caring about his misfortunes. That is the assumption. If you think my example is wrong, say why it is wrong, instead of all this nonsense about repackaging.

  3. I must be a glutton for punishment..

    one minor note also: capitalism is not necessarily an issue. i tend to lean toward the free markets and personal choice end myself, but capitalism does not necessarily imply materialism.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism#Self_interest

    The pursuit of self-interest is commonly regarded as playing an essential role in capitalism. Many writers, such as Adam Smith and Ayn Rand, point to what they believe to be the benefit of individuals trading for their self-interest rather than altruistically attempting to serve the “common good.”

  4. bengali,

    this is why i asked you if you spoke english as your first language self interest!=materialism!!!! christ. acting rationally in your own self-interest in the pursuit of assets and income does not entail a particular use of those assets and income. you have a really difficult time parsing separate issues.

  5. showing ppl that you eat expensively vs enjoying expensive food

    the point is that eating food that qualitatively tastes better, the qualia, is fundamentally different than eating in an expensive restaurant for the sake of show. qualia is not subjective in the sense that it is arbitrary (it is subjective in that we can’t really reduce it and extract it outside of personal experience), there are cross-cultural tendencies for children to prefer sweets to bitters. to use another example, if someone spends a lot of money on a hybrid car which is also very safe, that seems cool, the money is going into something substantial that the person experiences. on the other hand, if someone buys a sporty little car that is more for status, as opposed to performance or what not, than they aren’t buying something they can personally experience, what they are buying is the perception from other people. and this is where judgement comes in, because if other people say “that’s not cool,” then perhaps they won’t spend their money trying to purchase esteem and will attempt to do things that will earn esteem. the problem with saying “it’s their money” is that a lot of “status purchases” aren’t individual personal choices, but only intelligible in a social context. and since social context matters i think that the opinions of others do have an effect on how garish and crass people behave, because they don’t want to purchase the perception of being garish and crass.

    As I already mentioned, an orphan in Bangladesh would probably think I was being lavish and not caring about his misfortunes. That is the assumption. If you think my example is wrong, say why it is wrong, instead of all this nonsense about repackaging.

    as saurav stated, it is an issue of scope and magnitude. treating all acts within a category as if they are fundamentally and morally the same is the strawman. after all, many people in bangladesh have cell phones (last i visited bangladesh i 2004 all my cousins, even the madrassa types, asked me for my cell phone so we could exchange, but i didn’t have a cell # at the time).

  6. as soon as i hit post, I KNEW I should have pasted the entire section as you’d misinterpret self-interest == materialism – my bad:

    The pursuit of self-interest is commonly regarded as playing an essential role in capitalism. Many writers, such as Adam Smith and Ayn Rand, point to what they believe to be the benefit of individuals trading for their self-interest rather than altruistically attempting to serve the “common good.” Smith, widely considered to be the intellectual father of capitalism, says in Wealth of Nations:

    “By pursuing his own interest, [an individual] frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the [common] good.”

    Ayn Rand, probably the most outspoken advocate of the role of self-interest in capitalism, says in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal: “America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes.”Rand, though largely respectful of Smith’s economic theories, didn’t technically agree with his interpretation of the role of self-interest. She believed that self-interest was philosophically justified and did not accept Smith’s idea of, as she would describe it ‘people blindly pulled towards serving the common good.’

    Nobel-economist Milton Friedman also embraces the role of self-interest in capitalism. In his famous article The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits, as he asserts that business has no social responsibility other than to increase profits and refrain from engaging in “deception or fraud.” He maintains that when business seeks to maximize profits, while respecting the guidelines of a free market by not defrauding or deceiving, it almost always incidentally does what is good for society. Friedman does not argue that business should not help the community but that it may indeed be in the long-run self-interest of a business to “devote resources to providing amenities to [the] community…” in order to “generate goodwill” and thereby increase profits. Some, including some supporters of capitalism, dislike the focus on self-interest. For example, self-described “free market libertarian” founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey, claims in an article in Reason magazine that he is serving customers and society out of “love” rather than self-interest while he boasts the profitability of his company in that article. (Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business, Reason magazine October 2005).

    The pursuit and realization of profit as a method of self-interest is therefore an essential characteristic of capitalism. Profit is derived by selling a product for more than the cost required to produce or acquire it. Some consider the pursuit of profit to be the essence of capitalism. Sociologist and economist, Max Weber, says that “capitalism is identical with the pursuit of profit, and forever renewed profit, by means of conscious, rational, capitalistic enterprise.” However, it is not a unique characteristic for capitalism, some hunter-gatherers practiced profitable barter and monetary profit has been known since antiquity. In capitalism, profit is necessary for economic growth, with the growth being a function of the amount of profit reinvested rather than consumed.

    i.e economic growth in capitalism requires consumer confidence (materialism). We need to buy a lot of shit (most of which we really don’t need) to ensure businesses stay in business and reinvest, do R & D etc.

  7. again, that passage doesn’t read to me the way it does to you. just because you don’t think corporations should exhibit social responsibility does not imply that people who receive dividends or profits from corporations should not exhibit social responsibility! bill gates is a case in point, he is a total capitalist predator, but he is also giving most of his wealth away.

    but past semantics. my issue with judgement is this: some people spend a lot of money trying to buy popularity (parties, cars, clothes, etc.) unlike good food, the best medical care or the most durable car, popularity doesn’t have to be expensive. as people like mother theresa suggest we can reward those who do good, rather than spend money, if we so choose. i think one can make a strong moral case that it is better to give money to the poor in the third world than go to the grammercy park tavern and blow $300 for two people. that being said, there is a reason that a grammercy park tavern meal costs $300, there is an instrinsic expense here. though we may judge the choice, we really can’t do that much about the cost of the meal. on the other hand, we can do things about popularity. if someone spends $100,000 on their birthday party we could say, “what a trashy person.” all of a sudden that $100,000 goes to waste, and perhaps it would deter those in the future who want to buy adulation.

  8. on the other hand, if someone buys a sporty little car that is more for status, as opposed to performance or what not, than they aren’t buying something they can personally experience, what they are buying is the perception from other people

    You make a fair point, but HOW do you know that they are buying it for the performance as opposed to buying it for status? I just don’t think it is that easy to perceive exactly why someone does something. An anecdoatal example, I know a guy who isn’t happy with his married life, I won’t get into the full details but he entered into an arranged marriage on the rebound. On the surface you might think he is a shallow, materialistic & trashy guy, but in reality it is his way of trying to fill some void in his life. But he isn’t a bad person at all, it’s just his way of dealing with life’s mistakes.

  9. just because you don’t think corporations should exhibit social responsibility does not imply that people who receive dividends or profits from corporations should not exhibit social responsibility!

    I thought we were talking about materialism being a facet of capitalism, not social responsibility 🙂

  10. but HOW do you know that they are buying it for the performance as opposed to buying it for status

    i don’t. a lot of time people who do things that are ostentatiously utilitarian or environmental just want to be more righteous than other people. that being said, there is at least uncertainty in these cases, or at least mixed motives. on the other hand someone who flashes bling-bling in your face all the time is pretty obviously trying to show how cool they are and they really don’t care that much about the aesthetic of the bling-bling (at least decoupled from other people seeing the bling-bling).

    you can’t buy class. at least as long as other people don’t allow you to.

  11. I thought we were talking about materialism being a facet of capitalism, not social responsibility 🙂

    your quote didn’t have the word ‘materialism’ in it once. it did have stuff about self-interest and altruism. if you want me to quote you precisely you should actually include material that explicitly and definitively refers to the issue at hand (instead of having to have you connect the dots at the end with your own interpretation of the issue).

  12. on the other hand someone who flashes bling-bling in your face all the time is pretty obviously trying to show how cool they are and they really

    True. But the best way to deal with these people is to ignore them. Since they generally thrive on (whatever) kind of attention, they’d just take your ‘disgust’ as being ‘envy’ (I’m not saying that it is, but I’ve seen numerous misinterpretations like this).

  13. True. But the best way to deal with these people is to ignore them. Since they generally thrive on (whatever) kind of attention, they’d just take your ‘disgust’ as being ‘envy’ (I’m not saying that it is, but I’ve seen numerous misinterpretations like this).

    depends on the person. but yes, ignoring works too (little difference between it and ostracism).

  14. This was a sad chain. Why would you crabs even want to pass judgement on these girls? The poor things. They want attention. Daddy’s willing to shell out the green. They did you no harm.

    Just because they’ve got the means to have elephant parades and some decent cars doesn’t give you the right to rip them off.

    Now I want to comfort the poor dear(the 18 year old pliss), stroke her hair etc…

    Taz: You wanna know what their wedding/s will be like. Here’s the general idea – http://www.karma-lab.com/forum/showthread.php?s=f7200c04356a6383c49ca28ef8a7b075&postid=35920#post35920

  15. Dakhni ~ She’s blinged out and all but I’m looking forward to a wedding more elaborate than this. And I hope I’m invited =)

  16. On another note about indulgence. My sister went out to have tea, which is very 17th century by the way, at the Peninsula hotel here in Chicago with her best friend. Her friend probaly makes over a hundred grand a year, but spends about 80 grand a year on wine and cheese, which makes perfect sense. This woman cant live a happy life without letting other people know what kind of food she eats and how much it costs. The bottom line is that the tea and cucumber sandwiches she ate cost her about 60 dollars for her alone. What kind of douchebag thinks cucumber sandwiches are delicious? A person in Somalia would shake his head and say no thanks to a cucumber sandwich. If I am ever put into a position where cucumber sandwiches are involved then I am afraid I might metamorph into super douchebag.

    I just remembered that many of you are vegetarians and note that I am only referring to meat eaters who eat these things for a feeling of being apart of the elite society.

    Now if you excuse me I must go prepare my fois gras for lunch.

  17. o! Hello!!!
    i loved post #216 with the feint and the weave and cant but help applaud
    bypassed the logic and went for the deeper parts of brain that hit the sense of smell and taste. a multi-sensory experience. extremely rare, and very enjoyable.

  18. late, but worth mentioning:

    Huh!? Why aren’t men’s legs ever the topic of discussion or worthy of bestowing compliments upon?

    because we’d rather discuss your asses, duh!

  19. Don’t go dissin’ me, ya hear? I’m the smoothest, tastiest damn mofo ‘wich you posers are gonna ever damn eat!

  20. Don’t go dissin’ me, ya hear? I’m the smoothest, tastiest damn mofo ‘wich you posers are gonna ever damn eat!

    Yeah, once we slice your crust off!

  21. because we’d rather discuss your asses, duh!

    Why is that, DD? I never really understood why both a lot of my lgbt male friends and straightish women were so enamoured of them.

  22. I never really understood why both a lot of my lgbt male friends and straightish women were so enamoured of them.

    you are obviously another straight guy. some things we just can’t understand, that’s all :).

  23. you are obviously another straight guy. some things we just can’t understand, that’s all :).

    Actually, I’m not. That’s what makes it all the more perverse 🙂

    Oh well. At least I like showtunes.

    But wait…straight desi guys like Bollywood…

    I’m so Confused.

    🙂

  24. Actually, I’m not. That’s what makes it all the more perverse 🙂

    woops. sorry abt that.

  25. for the love of all that is good, does ANYONE know when divya-priya episode is airing? i just finished watching tonight’s (rather tacky) episode with meleny from long island, and i saw a preview for next week, but its some random white chick…looks like MTV is holding out on us for a while…or maybe they’re saving it for their season finale cuz its just that gooood? hmm…

  28. i dont think itll air for a while … but i love the show and those girls sound cute

  29. hey i was at that awesome party…just cause ur jealous doesnt mean u gotta write shit bout them…u can post about how extreamly lucky they are, or how extreamly NOT lucky yoou are

    nOwAAy!!! tHaT MuST haVE bEEn like tOTally kEWL. ur rite! wE jUst JEALOUS. NoNe oF US are extreamly lucky. Sniff.

  31. Ok so as everybody goes on and on about how pathetic and insecure these girls are…doesn’t it seem pretty pathetic and insecure about all these people hating two girls just cause they’re rich and can afford things that not everybody can?

  32. i, unfortunatley, go to school with these girls. anyway, i heard their episode is on july 12th. the party was may 13th. it was the most showy, boring, and pointless party i have even attended. it was not at all “awesome”, though MTV will make it look that way on TV. Divya and Priya are exactly how they sound in that article. Except i haven’t seen anyone sucking up to them, unless it was sarcastic sucking up. Div isnt the brightest bulb in the box, so she often doesnt notice sarcasm.

  37. Calling someone else a “fag” just because you don’t like them guarantees you a special place in hell, in my opinion.

    If this thread receives any more comments which contain epithets or information about whether or not Divya is actually popular (we don’t give two shits) and how everyone is like, just soooo jealous of her (we still don’t), I will CLOSE IT. I’ve already deleted three examples of wasted space and I’m very much in the mood to crack that whip. Got that? Good.

  38. stupid mtv on June 28, 2006 11:38 AM · Direct link by the way, the episode will be on next tuesday at 10:30

    I don’t know if it actually aired last tuesday, like the quoted post mentions, but according to this, it’s airing for the first time tomorrow, 7/11. Is that just a coincidence or is somebody in MTV programming trying to be a wiseass?

  40. Shame on Dr. Kothapalli for allowing his daughters to act that way. Did he not stop to think that his patients may see the show and realize that their Dr. seems to be acting “a nugget short of a Happy Meal”? Such a gross display of unprofessionalism, and I don’t care HOW much money he has. It was a total embarrassment. And way to go on botching that Indian culture he’s so proud of. His daughters are a disgrace. Trust me when I say, I won’t be the only one laughing behind his back when I pass him in the halls..

    PS: Dear Dr. K….your daughter needs a nose job. Should have forgotten the Bentley and splurged on that instead. No one thinks they are pretty, beautiful, or hot. They are extremely unattractive…and their attitude makes it even worse.

  42. doesn’t anyone have anything to say about their mother.?!? “Aye girls don’t fight!”

  43. I finally got to see this tonight. WOW are those girls spoiled. I keep thinking with all of these celebrants that someday they are going to deeeeeeply regret the money that was blown
    on the parties. Someday,hopefully,when they
    have joined the real world and understand the
    value of a buck. The sisters BOTH need the name of a good plastic surgeon. Beaks from hell,why didn’t Dad spring for some rhinoplasty instead of cars that they don’t know how to drive?

  44. ok, first of all, no one is jealous of them spending money. money is great if you have it, spend it…..what we are annoyed by is attitude of two girls thinking they are hilton sisters…when they are the cockroach sisters….you know. that show is graet, and if a girl is having a fun sweet 16 and its all good. but they were obnoxious and certainly had a hightened view of themselves….i guess being sheltered in east texas is what does it… but dont they watch tv and know that they are pretty damn ugly…

  45. I hate reality tv and never watch it but was shocked to hear that indians were actually on tv…haha. these ones are such a joke. I would like to know how these indian girls grew up without any sense of who they are and where they are from. i love their faux indian theme party which is how indian culture has been reduced in the west. i’m glad to see that they think india is a place of vacation homes. i wonder if they ever spent 5 minutes in a poor village or inner city and seen actual suffering. they should be ashamed. they make me feel ashamed and tired, actually. I don’t understand how their lives will continue to be fulfilling. One day they will have to accept the truth- they’re from a country with more people in the entire world. I’m sick of rich indian people living in the uS that think the point of life is accruing more. They pass that tradition onto their children well. I hope for their sake that they wake up.

  46. God…Priya and Divya are both the ugliest dogs I have ever seen in my life. Add to that the fact they are spoiled as shit and have nothing going on for them but a future filled with major depression because they just past the pinnacle of their lives. Unfortunately a lot of Indian girls think like them. Fortunately..most don’t have the bankroll to disgust everyone else beyond belief like that they managed to do. I can’t wait till they are nasty overweight menopausal indian Aunties with loser husbands and they wonder where their life went wrong.

  48. Who else is sick of this thread? Show of hands comments…

    ANNA the Vampirical Thread Slayer, please please PLEASE put the thread us out of its our misery by slaying it, pronto….

  50. Its ridiculouse how these girls think they own the world just cuz their daddy is rich. OMG. and nothing is worse than that girl Divya, omg, she whines like she is 10 but yet, she’s around 18 or so. OMG, grow up. Second, just cuz they have money, shouldnt give them the right to think they are better than everyone or that they own them. The things they say and the way they behave is just bad. Their saying people are just jelouse of them everytime someone tries to stand up to them, what they dont understand is that people are not jelouse. People dont like you because they wish they had your money, people dont like you because ya’ll are selfish, whiney, arrogent, only think about yourselves, little bitches. People with money can be nice and respected if they also give respect, and be nice…thats all i have to say