In the Ice Candy Man, written in the backdrop of 1947’s Partition, Bapsi Sidhwa wrote: “And the gramophones and speakers mounted on tongas and lorries scratchily, endlessly pouring out the melody of Noor Jehan’s popular film song that is now so strangely apt,” Mere bachpan ke sathi mujhe bhool na jana, dekho, dekho hanse na zamana, hanse na zamana. When director Deepa Mehta made the novel into the movie Earth, she chose the same voice from the same 1946 hit Anmol ghari, but a different song: Jawan hai mohabbat, haseen …

Would you like a Slurpee with that?” says the brown skinned, turban clad Sikh man behind the 7-11 counter. And this introduction serves as the basis for most Americans’ perception of the South Asian experience.
We supposedly work 27 hours a day at gas stations, Patel-owned motels, quick shop marts, Subway stores, computer firms, or emergency wards — and that’s it. On television, our entire culture is represented by television icon Apu Nahasapeemapetalan, the Indian immigrant owner of “Kwik-e- Mart” on The Simpsons. A visually one-dimensional cartoon character with more animation …