By Piyali Bhattacharya
This week, I had the immense pleasure of interviewing pop sensation Jay Sean (http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/01/21/jay-sean-makes-a-name-for-himself/) for my day job as a blogger for the Wall Street Journal. Also this week, I was having a conversation with a friend about the new MTV show “The Buried Life,” (a show about a group of kids who are on a mission to accomplish the 100 things they want to do before they die). The two might seem incongruous, but coupled together, the incidents led me to a series of thoughts about the concept of celebrity. My friend, in response to the MTV show, had started to list the 100 things that he would like to do before he died, and eventually, the conversation made its way to the celebrities we’d like to meet. Well, I guess I can check Jay Sean off my list! But in all seriousness, as I listened to him list people he’d like to spend an hour getting to know, I became more and more incredulous at his enormous list of men. Granted, they were incredible men. Among the list were Barack Obama, Manmohan Singh, Nelson Mandela, even younger movie stars like Johnny Depp. But there were absolutely no women! And when I pointed this out to my friend, a guy my age who I really admire and like, he seemed to be rather shocked at himself. These, I told him, are the insidious ways in which I believe patriarchy manifests itself.

So it got me thinking: who are some Desi female celebrities I might want to spend an hour getting to know? And thus was born this column, in which I list the five women I might most like to meet and get to know from the South Asian and diasporic communities. Here, I have used the term “celebrity” loosely, wanting to incorporate as many different women doing cool and feminist things that I can. Maybe they will all read this column and get in touch with me!

1. Mythili Prakash – For those of you who don’t know who this is, I’m going to take a moment to explain why she’s at the very top of my list. Mythili Prakash is a young Bharata Natyam dancer. By young, I mean she’s not even thirty, and by dancer, I mean she’s changing and shaping the face of one of the world’s oldest and most popular dance styles today. Having grown up in L.A. and learned Bharata Natyam from her mother, the famous teacher Viji Prakash, Mythili went on to complete her undergraduate degree at U.C. Berkeley and then moved to Chennai to get serious about dance. This girl has some real guts, not to mention endless style and grace. As an avid Bharata Natyam dancer myself, I am in awe of her precision and her innovative choreography, and the ways in which she is bringing the dance form into this new millennium. But don’t take my word for it, check out her portfolio at www.mythiliprakash.com

2. Medha Patkar – Medha didi or Medha tai, as Ms. Patkar is known around the Narmada Valley, is one of India’s most indomitable political activists. She is the founder of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, which began as a quest for information about the Narmada Valley Development Projects and morphed into a fight for just rehabilitation for the hundreds of thousands of people who were to be ousted by the Sardar Sarovar Dam and other large dams along the Narmada river. Medha didi has fought long and hard for these people, and though it has earned her many awards and accolades, it’s obvious that that’s hardly why she does the work. If I could spend just a few moments with Medha Patkar, I think I’d ask her where she gets the will to keep doing work that is so difficult and often requires being away from India’s urban centers for months and years at a time. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in India, but I’d be lying if I said I spent a lot of time outside of Delhi and Calcutta. Ms. Patkar, what gives you the kind of incredible determination you have?!

3. Susheela Raman – Ok, time for a confession. I have actually met and spent an evening with Susheela Raman (to be precise: hung out with her and her band after attending a concert of hers in London), but she’s just so cool that I’d want to meet her again! Check out www.susheelaraman.com immediately if you’ve never heard her music. She has one of the most powerful voices of our generation, and she uses it to blend Hindustani, Carnatic and Western styles of music into one smooth, vocal jazz. Each of her songs is deeply steeped in her strong sense of feminism and her capacity to create music and to love, and these are all emotions that wash over you as you listen to her. I fell in love with her first album Salt Rain in 2004, and since then have had to get my hands on the rest as soon as they’ve been released. Favorite tracks? These are the ones I play on repeat: Salt Rain (album: Salt Rain); The Same Song (album: Music for Crocodiles, also featured on the soundtrack of the film The Namesake); Sharavana (album: Music for Crocodiles); Ganapati (album: Salt Rain); Half Shiva Half Shakti (album: Love Trap); Trust in Me (album: Salt Rain, and yeah, it’s the adaptation of that song from the animated film The Jungle Book!)

4. Ginu Kamani – You may never have heard of her, but Ginu Kamani is an ultra feminist writer-in-residence at Mills College and the author of an astonishing book of short stories called Junglee Girl. Criticized for being “overtly sexual,” Junglee Girl was shunned by many because of Kamani’s deep reverence for and fascination with female genitalia. But, as is often the case, the stories were metaphors for the types of sexualities that exist in South Asia, and the ways in which Kamani thinks these sexualities play out as power games. Talk about tacking tough issues head on. If I had a moment with Ginu Kamani, I think I’d ask her where she gets the guts to be such a badass!

5. Rachel Roy – Rachel Roy is a half Bengali, half Dutch fashion designer who has been making quite a name for herself in Hollywood lately. Up there with names like Naeem Khan and Vera Wang, Roy has been dressing the hottest stars. While she shot to fame for being the love interest of hip hop mogul Damon Dash, Roy soon proved that she was able not only to stand on her own feet, but also break into the tough-as-nails industry of fashion. If your interest is piqued, visit www.rachelroy.com where you can see Rachel modeling many of her own fashions. Why is Rachel Roy on my list? Well, Indians may be used to winning Miss World competitions, but how many of our designers dress both Bollywood AND Hollywood stars?

About the author:
Piyali Bhattacharya is an American-born Desi writer who contributes pieces about South Asian American Feminisms to EGO every fortnight. Please send comments to her at EGOfemme@egothemag.com or to EGO at info@egothemag.com

Susheela Raman Image Courtesy of www.susheelaraman.com

Mythili Prakash Image Courtesy of www.pentacle.org