Off we go then

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GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY.

phew There we go, I just had to get that out of my system.

Oh hang on. Gay Pakistani male! Gay Pakistani male!

Right, I think weÂ’re done on that front.

And on this particular front as well. My time at Sepia Mutiny has—at long last—come to an end, and I can say without a single doubt that I’m glad I got to close out 2006 on such a bright note. It has been an experience, tumultuous and otherwise, and at the risk of loading up on the frommage, I think I’d be the poorer without it.

It gives me hope, sometimes. This community—because that’s what it is, a community, not just a place to write about brown-people-stuff—isn’t just dynamic and interesting and occasionally thought-provoking; it’s all of those things AND the whole damn’ bag of chips. It thrives on everything (clusterfucks be damned!—and secretly enjoyed!), and it makes me glad that I was incredibly, incredibly wrong when I thought to myself at its inception, wow, I wonder how long it’ll take for that site to tank, it’s a good idea, but I just don’t think enough people will be interested.

In case you were wondering, itÂ’s taking me a while to write this post because IÂ’m single-finger-typing while trying to get my ankle out past my molars with the other hand.

It was one of the things I felt most keenly while at university in the US. A lot of us homeland desis tend to automatically assume that just because we were born in South Asia, weÂ’re somehow better-informed and more capable of analysing/providing information about the region than people of desi origin who werenÂ’t necessarily raised there. And I canÂ’t speak for everyone, but some of us also felt very marginalised in the sense that we didnÂ’t think or feel that we had enough of a presence to be a viable social group beyond the simple stereotypes (OK well, I like men and make no bones about that so I definitely stood out, but you see where IÂ’m going with this) that everyoneÂ’s so well-aware of.

And once again, I was wonderfully, gloriously, terrifically wrong. The mould has been broken, the restrictions shattered and a bhangra danced all over them while Amitabh comes out of retirement once more to chew the scenery and Nusrat’s voice soars.

ItÂ’s utterly delightful, it really is.

25 thoughts on “Off we go then”

  3. Ah a little Sin will do all of us good, I will be checking in for my usual dose of Sin on your home turf. It’s been a pleasure. But why do you want to be the gay? 😉

  4. Farewell Sin. I think I recall you saying you’re going into finance. Best of luck. Hope you make a lot of money and buy a log cabin. I wanted to comment here because I failed to comment on any of your previous posts. I usually poke my head in during the political debates, and you don’t seem to have any interest in Bush. 😉

  5. Damn, that seemed quick. I never commented on any of your posts but not for lack of thought provoking material. Sometimes I just can’t seem put my thoughts together in a coherent way or more likely, everybody else said what I felt/thought, only better.

  7. I immensly enjoyed your writings; your words got that whip to cut across continents, cultures and stereotypes. I learnt a lot about other side of desh and its been very refreshing to read your perspective. Good luck with your future endeavors.

  10. Farewell.

    Thanks for saying this, sin.

    It was one of the things I felt most keenly while at university in the US. A lot of us homeland desis tend to automatically assume that just because we were born in South Asia, weÂ’re somehow better-informed and more capable of analysing/providing information about the region than people of desi origin who werenÂ’t necessarily raised there.

    Glad I didn’t have to say it. I couldn’t have done it so smoothly, i.e., without quarreling with someone.

  11. May be you can tell us why the post you made (with the animated and Indianized version of 12 days of Christmas song) disappeared with in few minutes of posting?

  12. May be you can tell us why the post you made (with the animated and Indianized version of 12 days of Christmas song) disappeared with in few minutes of posting?

    See here.

  15. Sin,

    I’ll miss you, please don’t go.

    SM,

    Are you guys kicking Sin out because it seems like you are :D. BTW after him who is going to represent Pakistanis?

  17. May be you can tell us why the post you made (with the animated and Indianized version of 12 days of Christmas song) disappeared with in few minutes of posting?

    Beyond what the intern pointed out…sometimes it’s helpful to do a search of the archives before assuming the worst.

    .

    You will be missed; I loved having you here.

  19. What?! It’s only been a week since you started! Well, I’ll be reading your regular blog. Best wishes.

  20. Anyone care to inform those of us not in the know the location of Sin’s “regular blog”? (sorry if the answer to that is obvious and I’m just too dumb to see it)

  22. ItÂ’s utterly delightful, it really is.

    YOU are utterly delightful, you really are. You’ll be missed!

  24. Sin, thank you for your brilliantly written, insightful, and frequently highly entertaining posts. No doubt the sexually-confused monkeys in the basement were also grateful to have someone to cuddle for once 😉

  25. So long, Sin. I’ve become a newly recruited fan of your regular blog. 🙂 Happy new year