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Thursday, August 6, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR
A satiric preview for Netflix’s ‘Indian Matchmaking’
Heard the ruckus for the new
Netflix reality TV show “Indian
Matchmaking,” but not sure if you
want to watch it? Don’t fret the
details, I won’t spoil anything, but
I’ll help you navigate whether or
not this is a show for you.
If you come from a Desi family
like me, you grew up hearing about
how the numerous relationships
in your family were based upon
an arranged marriage. While it is
not as commonly practiced today,
arranged marriages are super
common within Southeast Asian
households, as well as most Central
Asian countries and the Middle
East. That’s why when I saw the
commotion around Netflix having
a show focused on the South Asian
community, I couldn’t wait to see
this rishta aunty work her magic
in what I understood as a nuanced
IZZA AHMED-GHANI
MiC Staff Writer
Lebanon: where suffering meets resilience
Read more at michigandaily.com
Netflix
Yesterday, the world finally saw
Lebanon through the eyes of its
people: in pain and struggling. In
the past year alone, Lebanon has
experienced social/political upris-
ings, an economic crisis, extreme
poverty and the repercussions of
decades of political corruption. It
took a colossal explosion of ammo-
nium nitrate at Lebanon’s main
port in Beirut for the media to
cover Lebanon’s struggles and for
the world to acknowledge decades
MAYA KADOUH
MiC Staff Writer
of wars, corruption and outside
interference the Lebanese people
have endured. So far, 135 people
have died, 5,000 people are injured,
at least 300,000 people have been
displaced from their homes, many
are still searching for missing fam-
ily members and four hospitals in
Beirut are too damaged to admit
patients, leaving the Lebanese and
its diaspora broken by yet another
tragedy. The most devastating part
of the explosion is that Lebanon is
yet to bear the brunt of it.
Prior to the explosion, Lebanon
could be characterized as a coun-
Photo provided by Maya Kadouh
modern take. While the show is
based between both India and the
United States, the relationships are
inherently driven by regressive ide-
als of colorism, classism and gender
stereotypes.
Sima Aunty, the rishta queen of
Mumbai, pulls biodata to form the
most compatible pairs, in which
contains information about the sin-
gle men and women seeking to get
paired based on age, height, edu-
cation, career and more. Needless
to say, the show is extremely toxic
but insightful on a harsh reality for
many within Desi culture.
A fun game Sima Aunty sub-
consciously plays is find-the-back-
handed-compliment. If the man or
woman does not fit the idealistic
norm of being rich, fair, petite or
beautiful enough, don’t worry! This
rishta aunty might say their per-
sonality makes up for what’s lack-
ing. And if the lad or laddie has the
“better rated” for looks, education
and stability, they’ll get the upper
hand in Sima Aunty finding them
more suitable matches. If you’re
the bottom end of the pair — and to
make her job easier — she’ll recom-
mend how you’ll have to compro-
mise on personal desires in a future
spouse in order to make the mar-
riage work.
Depending on the focus, be it
the man or woman, the narrative
changes but the superficiality is
maintained. For all the girl bosses
— independent and running their
lives — Aunty suggests it will be
harder to match them because they
have a mind of their own and the
financial mobility to do so, inconve-
niencing Sima’s search. Similarly, if
a client was previously divorced or
is not the ideal body weight, you’ve
gotta give Sima more time because
you’re burdening her with unders-
ible characteristics.
Meanwhile, the men on the show
are in an entirely other ballgame.
Read more at michigandaily.com
While you get the occasional sweet
laddu padhus who will charm the
audience with their wholesome
charisma, Sima prefers they have
stable careers and six-figure jobs.
The best part about being a male on
her show is the richer you are the
more choices you get. These men
get hundreds of biodatas to choose
from because objectifying women
is so much fun! And who’s to blame
them? They, or rather the parents,
have to make sure their son’s wife
is beautiful and fair enough...
try with several massive crises
unfolding at once, with near-zero
public trust in government entities
to come to the rescue. For years,
the fate of the Lebanese people has
been at the hands of the corrupt
sectarian government officials who
prioritized their own greed over
the people of Lebanon, leaving the
country without a stable economy,
stable electricity, waste manage-
ment services and food security.
In October 2019, a demonstra-
tion of protests erupted, demanding
much needed political and social
reform. The toppling of Lebanon’s
broken economic system contin-
ues to fuel the Lebanese “thawra”
(revolution). The Lebanese curren-
cy crashing, making it practically
worth nothing, and skyrocketing
prices of basic necessities, coupled
with the effects of COVID-19 has
left over 45 percent of Lebanon’s
population living below the pov-
erty line and 49 percent food inse-
cure. Lebanon’s economy relies
heavily on imports and now, during
Lebanon’s worst economic crisis, a
crater bigger than a football field
now sits on what was Lebanon’s
largest port.
Without electricity, the Leba-
nese people were faced with the
daunting task of searching for their
loved ones during the dark of night
with only voices and flashlights to
guide them. Medical professionals
were forced to use phone flash-
lights when treating patients and
hospitals pleaded to turn the lights
on. The pandemic has worsened
due to the destruction of medical
Photo provided by Maya Kadouh
infrastructure; the Lebanese hos-
pitals were on their last leg and the
explosion has left them on their
knees.