In a video shared on the official YouTube page of Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act, Minhaj speaks to a bunch of desi American kids about growing up in the US. The kids were extremely confident and spoke candidly about their experiences.
Hasan started by asking them about people mispronouncing their names, which has also been a touchy issue for him and he’s spoken about it on the The Ellen Show. One of the girls, Suhani Madan, spoke about how she’d be asked what her middle name was because that was the expectation. She laughed and said that she would fake ‘biryani’ as her middle name! Another girl called Teji said that her teachers would always call her ‘Tevi’.
Watch the video here:
Hasan effortlessly glides through the questions with his casual demeanor, even when talking about something like dating. One of the girls said that her mother would be okay with her dating, but shouldn’t get serious. Hasan immediately responds by saying that that’s the most ‘Indian thing’ ever and everyone erupts into laughter.
Hasan replied to him saying, “Hating Muslims is timeless, it’s a classic.”
Most of the children’s parents had a similar expectation when it came to academics, which is to pursue something like medicine. Hasan agreed and said that he too was about to do the same, till he realised he “sucked” at it.
They also spoke about times when they’ve felt conscious of being Indian. Sahir, a 15 year old boy on the show, said that he went to a school that was predominantly Indian, but sometimes felt a certain discrimination because he was Muslim. Hasan replied to him saying, “Hating Muslims is timeless, it’s a classic.”
Abeer, the youngest kid on the show, said that he would often lie to his friends that he was going to Paris during his vacations, but was actually always going to India. Hasan asked him how did he then describe the place to his friends. Abeer said candidly, “A sight to see!”All the kids burst into laughter at that response.
They ended the video by discussing how they’re often called ‘ABCD - American Born Confused Desi’, to which Abeer said, “But now we’ll say American Born Confident Desi.” Cheers to him!
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