YouTube Stars - Empowered or Exploited?

YouTube Blog Post

Do you believe that today's YouTube stars are being exploited or empowered? Write a short persuasive piece that shares your opinion.


In a world where virtual Facebook likes and Instagram followers make a a person rejoice and dictate "popularity", a world in which newspapers have become almost non existent -pushed aside by Facebook news feeds - and a world where 80% of the world's population has access to the internet : technology is key. A video sharing website called YouTube, has arisen to be one of the most popular choices for the youth of today where almost half a million YouTube videos are posted daily and 100 million people a day view a YouTube video. As like any industry in the world, there have been some people which have entertained the audience better than others - YouTube stars.


YouTube stars such as KSI, Pewdie Pie and Superwoman rake several million "subscribers" and each respectively have a net billion views to their names. Some would argue that due to the severely pessimistic society we live in today, the negative comments received by these YouTube stars, somehow exploit them and have a negative effect on them, but I am here to argue otherwise. YouTube stars are in fact empowered by the marvelous platform o and the video sharing website is a huge blessing for every single one of them. I say this because of three reasons : like minded fans,YouTube being an equalizer (may sound confusing now, but just hold on) and career possibilities.

Point numéro uno - like minded fans. For all my YouTube whiz's I'll just mention one name and I'll rest my case : "Tyler Oakley". (Stubborn YouTube haters continue reading) Tyler Oakley, is a homosexual gay individual who used to get bullied ten years back due to his sexuality, along comes YouTube and now you find the man has a fan following of 8 million subscribers and gets mobbed for autographs as soon as he walks into the mall! Magic? Nope, well sort off. At the mere age of 16 ( when Tyler was getting bullied) he decided to try out the mystical world of YouTube and started posting about his homosexuality and made humorous videos around it. Unlike his local high school, instead of receiving hate from the local goons , Tyler received massive support from like minded individuals which felt they had a real connection with him, often leaving positive comments. Thus, not only does YouTube provide viewers but it also provides people who can connect and support the Youtube stars.

Point numero dos - YouTube being an equalizer. In countries such as USA and India, with almost every second teen wanting to be the next Brad Pitt or Sharukh Khan, entry into overbanged entertainment industry is close to impossible. From personal stories and experience in India i can tell you that to even get an audition in India, you need to be the son/daughter of an actor/director or you need to know somebody that knows somebody and get in through personal/political influence. The average aspiring Indian has no place to showcase their talent and get a shot at the big leagues, however YouTube has a fix for that as well. YouTube, is accessible to the anybody and everybody meaning that every aspiring entertainer has a place to showcase their talent regardless of their wealth or status. (Hopefully the entertainer has access to Wifi). Thus, YouTube also serves to be an equaliser for your average income entertainer and creates a level playing ground, with no scope for any political or income influence being exercised since every YouTube account has the same prowess.

Point numéro très - Career possibilities. If, the average joe from the paragraph above, manages to make it big, his/her life may be on the verge of flipping 360 degrees. In order to give you an  example let introduce you to Jayjay Oblitumze aka KSI - to his 13 million YouTube subscribers. JJ's family started in a two bedroom shack in the suburbs of London, but after YouTube, JJ has bought a 6 bed mansion in London for himself and his family and even added a Lamborghini to his collection of cars. (His brother also a YouTube star recently purchased one). No, this isn't some fraud google ad, this is in fact the power of YouTube. After starting his channel,  Rule Em Sports decide to sign him as their brand ambassador, Redbull/Nike/FIFA and Xbox all hired him to promote their brands in his videos and most recently he walked the red carpet at the premiere of his new film. Oh and don't forget he makes money of YouTube every time you watch one of his videos. JJ managed to achieve his dream of being an entertainer and managed to switch his family's life around as well. However this is just the story of one actor, there are thousands of stories of sports stars, cooking whizzes and endless talented individuals who have been scouted through YouTube (Freestyle Brothers and even the "much loved" Justin Bieber). Thus not only does Youtube provide emotional empowerment it provide financial empowerment as well.


In conclusion, the several pros's of being a YouTube star such as the emotional and financial empowerment (who doesn't want a lambo) it provides certainly outweigh the cons. Couple this with the fact, it acts as an equalizer for your average Joe with big aspirations , the benefits of YouTube are tremendous for the people which make it big. Like everything else in life, there will always be anomalies like people who comment negatively on the stars videos but remember ...

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

(or just disable comments on the video)

Advertisement Reflection

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

No, I don't think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people because it defies the whole purpose of its own existence. Advertising, is said to be a method of persuasion, usually with the end goal of convincing a person to buy a good or a service; it is supposed to help companies, events and etc., be known to the people and the sole purpose is to sell their product. In this day and age, sometimes by inculcating stereotypes, that is how the product gets sold. Stereotypes are just another type of appeal to the consumers! A moral duty occurs in the instance of differentiating the right choice from the wrong one, however in this case advertising is what puts the food on the plate for many individuals that partake in it, since that is how their product will get known. From their point of view, stereotyping may be the correct way to approach creating the advert because it will reach out the "majority" of the target audience, thus maximizing revenue and if a few "minorities" are offended, that is of no matter since their end goal is to sell as much of the product as possible. Stereotypes help in doing this because it helps the target audience with something they are familiar with, for example in India the ads may showcase women as the house-makers with the inherent responsibility of taking care of the cooking and cleaning. This may seem very wrong to a western culture such as U.S, but they don't realize that in India 80% of the bread earners of families are males, so the advertisers are just doing their duty to capture and relate to as large of a target audience as they can. In an American Society, 50% of the bread earners of the families are Women, and since this is the case adverts over there seem to be more "liberal" and "modern". Thus, stereotyping is just the reflection of the society the advertisers are in, and is bound to receive some negative flak from the minorities.

Moreover, nowadays anything shown on T.V has some sort of negative connotation and as hard as it is to accept it, us millennia generation humans somehow manage to find some racism or some minority being exploited in each advertisement. Thus, meaning that whatever the advertisers do to avoid negative connotations is fruitless. Like the saying goes "You can't please everyone". For example, recently in India Pakistani actors and actresses were banned from acting in India. This meant all the ads they featured in had to be taken down. Some people in India, said that this move was fantastic and it serves the Pakistani's right for the constant trouble they cause at the border, whereas other argued it was unrighteous to ban the actors on behalf of the wrongdoings of a country. Like everything in life, people will always have their opinions so it is better for advertisers to do what is in their benefit, because whatever they do will unduly receive some sort of criticism.

Moreover, stereotypes can also be positive . For example, the fact that Asians are always stereotyped as being smart could mean a positive thing, Black People are associated with eating chicken, Indians are associated with becoming Engineers/Doctors and British people are associated with being sophisticated and liking tea. This proves that not all stereotyping is "negative" and in most cases even harmless.

In conclusion, going all the way to say that advertisers have a "moral" duty, is highly appalling and unrealistic in this day and age. The argument against young children, being influenced by the stereotypical ads they see is valid, however as mentioned not all stereotypes are derogatory. The advertisers have no real "moral" duty as they are trying to capture the greatest target audience they can, and instead the better sense of the humans should influence their thoughts.  Instead of giving corporates a sense of morality, instead we should combat stereotyping by the values that we humans have ourselves, The education and values we receive should give us the better sense that not all

Asians like noodles and Indians speak in a funny accent.

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What does the ad reveal about the cultural/ social/ or historical context of its production?

According to the ad, what values or characteristics are the most important?

Who is empowered in this commercial? Who is ignored or marginalized? For what reason?

The Lucky Strike Cigarette advertisement that we analysed in class reveals significant amounts about the historical and social context of its production. Firstly, it is possible to deduce that the advertisement was published in the 1940-50's. Evidence, to suggest this is present on the bottom right of the advertisement, where the sign says "Buy Lucky Strike, Buy U.S Government Bonds!". Usually, the government encourages its citizens to buy bonds during the time of wars so that they can receive additional funding for it. This evidence, combined with the fact that the advertisement is an animated cartoon style, further prods towards the mid 1900's era because camera photo technology hadn't developed or become very popular in that era. The fact that the era is the 1950's, causes for several different social issues being addressed in the advert itself. For example, by the 1950's women had earned the right to vote and during the war the government had done several women empowerment advertising campaigns such as "Rosie the Riveter", aimed at encouraging women to break stereotypes and help out with the war.  Thus, it was at this time women had started partaking in jobs which were previously only "meant" for men. This is reflected in the advertisement when a young man is seen offering a lady a cigarette.  The fact that both the man and lady are smoking "Lucky Strike" cigarettes put them in a position of equality, thus empowering women. In addition to this, the ad takes place on the beach in which, the lady in the advertisement seems to be wearing quite skimpy clothes. This, could also portray that the American society back then was not very conservative and indeed quite liberal. The advertisement also reveals that marine guards at that time, were associated with smoking. Evidence to support this is seen, when a marine guard is seen pointing at the Lucky Strike symbol, with a cigarette in his mouth. Nowadays, it is seen as disgraceful when a marine decides to engage in such an activity as it shows he/she is unfocused and impulsive judgments on the Marine's "crude" personality are made. However, if this sort of behavior was viewed as the standard back at the time of this ad, the society must have been more liberal to such activities, when partaken by a military official

According to the ad, the value of smoking cigarettes is seen as almost a healthy hobby. Evidence of this is the text in the advert which says "Be Happy - Go Lucky". The ad, is portraying the act of smoking cigarettes is something which makes a person happy. This is highly typical of the mid 1900's, where scientific research hadn't yet been conducted to find the harmful effects of smoking on the human body. The values of society at this clearly seem to be centered around having a great time and being in a relaxed mood.

Pitch Reflection Blog Post

Kyuweon, Hassan and I were handed the role of making a pitch for New York University. The pitch, was delivered to the great CEO shark Mr.Micheal.

The audience for our advert was global teens aged 16-19 and the Parents of these teens. The purpose of our advert was to portray New York University in the best light possible, thus attracting lots of students to the university.

In order to best reflect over my pitch I will answer these questions :-

 

If you were to complete this presentation again, what would you do differently in terms of content and preparation?

1. What main appeals did you use in your pitch? Why did you decide they would be the most effective?

The main appeals, used in our pitch was the appeal to adventure, bandwagon appeal and humor appeal. We decided to use the adventure appeal, because we thought that a university is a place where people go to enjoy, while gathering information as well. A university serves to deliver more than education and is said to provide invaluable life experiences. Thus, would you want to go to a university where everything is based of bookish knowledge? I hope No, would be your answer! Thus, our group wants to portray NYU as the most exciting campus of all time. We wanted the learning at NYU to appear like a thrilling adventure, one which students would want to embark upon. Next, we used the bandwagon appeal, by deciding to cast Adam Sandler in our advert.  Adam Sandler is an alumni of NYU and a very well known actor, so we knew we couldn't let this opportunity slip and decided to cast him. This decision was made for two major reasons. Firstly, Adam Sandler is very successful - a delicate mix of Ethos and Pathos. There is Ethos, because Adam Sandler is a credible walking, living example of how great NYU is and there is a bit of Pathos, because people will associate NYU with being a machine which spurns successful celebrities and if they don't go to NYU, they won't be successful.  The Need for Attention is touched here, because the audience would all want to be the next Adam Sandler. The next reason, why Adam Sandler was chosen, is the humor appeal. Adam Sandler, is probably Hollywood's best known comedian, and he is associated with having a good laugh and a great time. Having him, give a tour around NYU in his jovial mood is ideal, because it portrays NYU as the "fun" place to be, whilst giving it a feel good touch.

What were some specific persuasive techniques you used (include examples) why did you believe these would be effective?

1. Humor - In the ad, we are keen on Adam Sandler narrating a few jokes and hopefully cracking a few laughs from the audience. Thus, the audience will associate the product (NYU), with fun and humorous, thus hopefully attracting them to the university.

2. Statistics - We have decided to Implement Statistics, to give the advert some aspects of Logos as well. NYU has some very attractive percentages such as after graduation employment, the average salary's for graduates, internships they offer and many more. Our team felt by using these stats, the audience would be impressed and it would provide a balance from the comedic nature of the ad, so that people don't take NYU to be a joke and understand it a serious university as well.

3. Rhetorical Questions - Our group decided to ask rhetorical questions in the advert, such as "Who doesn't want to be as cool as Adam Sandler? By asking rhetorical questions, not only is the audience engaged with the ad, they are also persuaded by the bias we are providing them.

4. Testimonial - Adam Sandler (NYU Alumni) will give a testimony in our advert about how great NYU is and since he is a credible source, we are heavily relying on this method of persuasion.

How did an awareness of audience and context influence your overall approach to this activity?

The awareness of audience and context influenced our overall approach to this activity significantly. Our audience was 16-19 year old's and Parents, thus the utilization of Statistics. Logos, had to be a key factor in our advert because sending a child to university is a huge investment for a parent, and for them to spend this money, there must be some rationality behind it, just like any other investment. Our context, was a global one thus we decided to use Adam Sandler because, he is not just an alumni of NYU, he is also very globally recognized and for a bandwagon appeal to take place, the audience must first know the celebrity himself and we felt with Adam, there is a very high chance of recognition on a global scale. Also, the modern context has led to us making a video because we felt it is the best way to reach out to the audience of today. A video can be shared on social media, T.V and several different media outlets, which is highly suitable for our target audience which is 16-19 year old and working parents, because they are constantly exposed to this type of media as compared to newspapers and radio ads which have now faded "out of fashion".

If you were to complete this presentation again, what would you do differently in terms of preparation?

If I was to complete this presentation again, I feel I would prepare more in terms of delivering the pitch itself. Our group had some very good points and appeals to bring to the table, however we ran fast our slides and didn't stop to explain each of them more. Especially, I feel our first two slides on the target audience and the script itself, should have been dwelled upon more. This might have been because, we had no clear idea of what our script for the advert was going to be thus, we couldn't articulate it clearly - certainly an area for improvement. Moreover, I felt we could have employed more persuasive techniques in the advert such as call to action, because this could make our advert better. Lastly, I felt that if we made chronological explanation of our advert this would be helpful. This was done by one of our competitors, where for each time frame (0-30 sec, 1 min to 1:30) they explained exactly what would be going on in the ad.

However, in conclusion this activity was enjoyed thoroughly by all group members! GO NYU!

Footlocker Ad Analysis

The Advert, I decided to analyse was in fact the Footlocker Ad, made in 2015 starring Kyrie Irving and young 10 year old boy. 

Here is the link to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcvC7f1_DOE

The audience and purpose of this ad, is very specific. 

In terms of the audience, since both Kyrie Irving (Renowned Point Guard for Cleveland Cavaliers) and the young boy are of a black race it would seem the target audience, would also be of a black ethnicity. Moreover, Kyrie plays basketball and "stereo typically", populations of black people are interested in basketball, thus the audience may also be basketball lovers. In terms of Age, it is very clear that the ad is targeted towards younger audiences between 9-14 years old. This is because, firstly the ad says "Kids Footlocker" and in addition to this, a 10 year old boy himself is used in the advert. I think the gender of the ad would overall be unisex, however I personally feel it leans more towards the male target audience, due to the fact there is no female representative in the ad.

In terms of purpose, the ad is very clever. The ad depicts Kyrie Irving going up to a child and taking a selfie with him because he looks like a "pro", with the new footlocker gear. However, when using Snapchat's face swap feature, their faces get permanently swapped. Thus, the purpose of the ad is clearly to show that if you wear "Footlocker gear", then you will literally end up "looking like a pro".

Ethos, Pathos and Logos Analysis 

Ethos - The use of ethos in this advert, is probably the most prominent. This is because, of the use of Kyrie Irving himself. Kyrie, is a 3 Time MVP, First Pick in the Drafts and current superstar point guard for the time that just won the NBA. By getting Kyrie Irving in their ad, they are going for the credibility factor and affiliating his amazing performance, with Footlocker gear. 

Pathos - The use of Pathos in this advert is quite slight. Pathos is used in the advert by striking the audience with the fear that if they do not use Footlocker gear, they will not look like a pro. The use of Pathos can be best seen when Kyrie Irving himself asks the kid to take a selfie with him. But why? Because the kid stood out to him due to his Footlocker gear and looked like a pro. 

Logos - In this advert, the use of logos is minimal because of the fact the target audience is Kids, so they won't have to logically reason with kids, but instead use the bandwagon appeal, as it is more effective. 

A Letter To The Editor - Why Texting isn't such a disaster

Wuz up Laura Clark, is my Eng. afectin u m8? Well it shdnt be k, becuz textin iz actualy a blsng n disgz. LOL

That's right, I said it (que the what's and how dare you's for later). The article "Twtr? It's majorly bad" written by Laura Clark was a pile of baloney, with no end to providing fake and misleading information. Mrs. Clark, are you related to Donald Trump by any chance? Your facts are all wrong. 

Point numero uno, Text Speak (as you like to call it) was incarnated by the fact that our bully cellular companies charged our texts on how many characters we used in the text. Thus, abbreviations such as u, gtg and brb were invented. Mrs. Clark I don't know about you, but from what I see in this world, we are always in a rush and live in a very fast moving society. However, due to texting we can communicate easily with others at any given time. Do you think that the society in which 40% of people get lesser than 5 hours of sleep has the time to write perfectly worded "standard" English in their texts? The whole point of texting, Mrs. Clark was actually to save time, not to "brutally murder" it as you have suggested.

This transitions onto my next point, which challenges the validity of your observations in students. You say that your students use slang such as "innit", "phat" and "majorly bad" in their work. Really? To counter this, I would first ask you to go check their EXAM papers (something which kids actually care about) and then give a few detentions to the cheeky few lads and lasses which have pulled the teacher's leg by including the slang in their work. Evidence, to suggest that your claim isn't true is provided by Mr.David Crystal, a linguist at London College. He visited several schools, asking students whether they use the slang lingo in their work; the poor man received weird stares given to those of a madman and rounds of laughter for asking such a stupid question. If that isn't enough for you and you are so scared that modern day abbreviations "wreck" English, look at the research conducted by Stanford, which shows that students in 2006 had papers six times as long as those of students in 1916. Why? Because of the constant exposure modern day students have to texting, which creates a greater comfort with the language they are learning.

 I've got to say Laura that was some majorly bad research you did. (LOL)

My final point is the useful nature of texting and how you should apply some simple logic. A good friend of mine, Mr. John McWorter (Recently on TED) actually said something which you should hear ; "Texting is a very useful tool for new English students, because of the fact they are constantly looking at English texts, reading them and then sending them out again". You heard right, Texting means invaluable constant exposure to the Language. Add this to the fact they are reading, writing and enjoying all at the same time, ensures its a win-win situation.

In conclusion Mrs Clark, I think you shud jus chillax, and let things flow. In all reality, like my friend John puts it; texting is just "Fingered Speech", its just a way for people to write the way they speak. Texting is an organic item, which hate it or love it, is here to stay. With the invention of Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and etc. best of luck trying to keep your students away from their phones. However, not to fear because texting isn't half as dangerous as you claim!

GTG, Ttyl?

An Interview With The Game

(In this Interview, Hot Radio 93.6's Jockey Prabhav Arora is Interviewing the rapper "The Game")

Prabhav - Allrigght! Welcome back to Hot 93.6 radio, you know it the best radio on the scene. And today we got my brother The Game with us

The Game : Holla! Holla! What's good New York, I hope y'all be grindin' good, stacking that cheddar ain't a cake walk.

Prabhav: Alright homie, we heard your latest track "All Eyez", there were some dope bars in that.

The Game: You know it brotha, the song is just a reflection of my life.

Prabhav : That sh** was dope though! Anyways, that song talked about your more playful side of life but what about your song "My Life" with Weezy (Lil Wayne), that song had you catching feelings no?

The Game: Homie, that's what I'm about. I live good, but I gotta help my Compton brothers out too. That song just reminisces the hard moments in the hood and how the violence needs to stop brotha.

Prabhav: True dat homie, True dat! So how do you think you music influences your community?

The Game: Man, you be asking emotional a** questions yo! But that's aight, I got the answer for you. Basically man, my music talks about staying strong, and standing up fo' what's right and respecting the grind. What that means is brotha' that them white cops gonna try and holla at you for not doing nothing but being black. My music tells my brothers and sisters is to stay strong 24 x 7.

Prabhav : That's cool dog, but in your song "My Life", you be talkin' about how you had to sell drugs to make a livin', fight the police and etc.

The Game: Homie, that was my circumstances back then, I even done time fo' that. If you listen closely, I'm telling the listeners to stay clean of drugs and live within they means.

Prabhav: I can respeck that. Your song also talks about the shootings that go on in yo' hood, you wanna talk about that?

The Game : You damn right I wanna talk about that. Man, that sh** is tragic, there's homies dying left right and center, thinking they part of some crips or bloods, man that's some bulls***. Especially, in Compton Homie I see kids like 8 years ol' holding up 44's and taking shots! Get outta here!

Prabhav: Do you feel your music has addressed this or inflenced this topic in any manner?

The Game: Fo' sure homie, haven' you heard my song "California Vacation" with good ol' Snoopie?

Prabhav: No brother, what it be about?

The Game: It talks about how the Bloods and Crips needs to get they sh** together and how me and Snoop roll with both of them. The point of the song is to show us homies need to unify, so we give no reason for the po-po to take shots at us.

Prabhav: Preach it Brotha! On that note we're playin' "California Vacation". Thanks for joining us at the 93.6 crib Game!

The Game : Don't sweat it homie! Stay fresh and safe New York.

An Interview With The Game

(In this Interview, Hot Radio 93.6's Jockey Prabhav Arora is Interviewing the rapper "The Game")

Prabhav - Allrigght! Welcome back to Hot 93.6 radio, you know it the best radio on the scene. And today we got my brother The Game with us

The Game : Holla! Holla! What's good New York, I hope y'all be grindin' good, stacking that cheddar ain't a cake walk.

Prabhav: Alright homie, we heard your latest track "All Eyez", there were some dope bars in that.

The Game: You know it brotha, the song is just a reflection of my life.

Prabhav : That sh** was dope though! Anyways, that song talked about your more playful side of life but what about your song "My Life" with Weezy (Lil Wayne), that song had you catching feelings no?

The Game: Homie, that's what I'm about. I live good, but I gotta help my Compton brothers out too. That song just reminisces the hard moments in the hood and how the violence needs to stop brotha.

Prabhav: True dat homie, True dat! So how do you think you music influences your community?

The Game: Man, you be asking emotional a** questions yo! But that;s aight, I got the answer for you. Basically man, my music talks about staying strong, and standing up fo' what's right and respecting the grind. What that means is brotha' that them white cops gonna try and holla at you for not doing nothing but being black. My music tells my brothers and sisters is to stay strong 24 x 7.

Prabhav : That's cool dog, but in your song "My Life", you be talkin' about how you had to sell drugs to make a livin', fight the police and etc.

The Game: Homie, that was my circumstances back then, I even done time fo' that. If you listen closely, I'm telling the listeners to stay clean of drugs and live within they means.

Prabhav: I can respeck that. Your song also talks about the shootings that go on in yo' hood, you wanna talk about that?

The Game : You damn right I wanna talk about that. Man, that sh** is tragic, there's homies dying left right and center, thinking they part of some crips or bloods, man that's some bulls***. Especially, in Compton Homie I see kids like 8 years ol' holding up 44's and taking shots! Get outta here!

Prabhav: Do you feel your music has addressed this or influenced this topic in any manner?

The Game: Fo' sure homie, haven' you heard my song "California Vacation" with good ol' Snoopie?

Prabhav: No brother, what it be about?

The Game: It talks about how the Bloods and Crips needs to get they sh** together and how me and Snoop roll with both of them. The point of the song is to show us homies need to unify, so we give no reason for the po-po to take shots at us.

Prabhav: Preach it Brotha! On that note we're playin' "California Vacation". Thanks for joining us at the 93.6 crib Game!

The Game : Don't sweat it homie! Stay fresh and safe New York.

The New Indian Kid

“Do you eat curry every day?”, “What is the button on an Indian woman’s head?”, “Do you play cricket?” and my favorite “Can you fix my computer?”. These, are just a few examples of the “friendly” and “banterful” jabs, I received at my first International school. Now you must be thinking; well your friends must have been racist or uneducated, but unfortunately they were none of the above, begging the question - what were they then? Well, let me tell you.

My chronicle, if you will, began on my first day of school in the British School of Bahrain. Just like the other new students, I was asked to line up at the front of the class and introduce myself. So, as Mrs. Payne (aka The Executioner) gives us the fatal stare to hurry up and bring our necks down to the pen, awkward silence fills the room. This silence is then followed by the new students looking at each other, pleading with every inch of our retinas, for some brave soul to start the proceedings. As you just predicted, brave souls like that don’t exist in reality. Noticing this, Mrs. Payne decides to take the lead -

“Prabhav Arora, why don’t you start us off? Your name is first on the roll anyway.”

Like a bullet, the reality hits me as I picture Mrs. Payne standing there, tipping her hat whilst blowing the smoke off her gun, creating a still even John Wayne would be envious of. Immediately, I start cursing every ancestor I know for inheriting the name Arora. Why couldn’t I be called Prabhav Zorro or something like that? Whilst going through a few curses I begin to speak;

“H-hhh-elllo, Mmm-mm-yy name i-ii-s Prabhav”.

Now, you must be thinking that I am one shy kid. Incorrect. I am in fact a kid which has just spent the first 9 years of his life studying in a Hindi medium school, having one class of English every week.

“I  li-ii-i-ke to pla-a-y foo-tb-all and m-aa-ke go-al-s. I c-aa-me India 2 we-ee-k-s ba-cck.

That’s right, I was just fresh of the boat and my parents had the stupendous idea of putting me in an International School. You must be thinking this was bad enough. Nope, the final movement is incoming.

“I a-aam e-lle-w-u-nn y-yy-ear-ss ol-dd”.

With that fantastic pronunciation of eleven I successfully managed to pull out the “stereo typical” Indian accent and fill the room with laughing gas. Now don’t get me wrong, I am probably one of the most patriotic Indians ever and am tremendously proud of my accent and identity, however sadly for me my classmates appeared to not share the same opinion. Fortunately, Mrs. Payne came to my rescue by yelling at class for silence and asking for respect. I then proceeded to bend my head to the floor feeling sorry for my “English”, hoping for the next in line and my countryman Arjun Arunat to take some of the heat. Just as I was beginning to get my hopes up, this chap decides to go on and blow the whole class away.

“Good morning class, my name is Arjun Arunat and I am eleven years old.”, giving me a cheeky smile after saying eleven he proceeds,  “I really enjoy playing football and basketball, in addition to playing the guitar.  I hope to make some new friends and enjoy life. I support Chelsea in football and the Warriors in Basketball. I’m originally from India but I’ve lived in England my whole life. ”

With that outburst of flawless English, even the Queen would be proud of, the class was taken aback. They tried to matching the face with the voice, scratching their heads on how an “Indian” could speak such English. Usually, I would be proud that a fellow countryman was restoring the pride of the nation; however Mr.Arunat just managed to outshine me like a Ford Fiesta racing a Ferrari.

Soon, the introductions were done and Mrs.Payne asked for us to return to our seats. As I was taking my seat, I heard a snicker;

“Hey Prabhav do you play Wolleyball”?.

Much to my surprise, Ben Harris had decided to break the ice in a kind manner, complementing Indians on their pronunciation of the letter v. The first of many I thought to myself. Subsequently, my friend Arjun, decides to take a seat next to Ben, yet he receives a fist pump and a pretty self explanatory invitation to the “cool kids” group.

Jokes aside, this event caused me to ponder on how judgmental society is, with my peers looking down on me because of the fact I couldn’t speak “proper” English. They hadn’t judged my personality, talked to me or even said Hi, but they had drawn immediate conclusions. I couldn’t even bring up the racist factor because my friend Ranbir had been accepted with open arms, or should I say fists?

The Importance of Hindi (To me)

You can be Chinese, Palestinian, Greek, French or Japanese ; but what really makes you part of that community?

Do you feel you fit in with those of your motherland?

What makes you, you?

These questions can have a pallet of answers to a pallet of people, but let me tell you about my personal opinion and how I side with Tan on the importance of my mother tongue. (Hindi) 

Firstly, I have never formally learnt Hindi in school, thus my father made it his duty to teach me the language on the weekends. My impromptu, informal classes stopped at age 12, consequent to me being able to read, write and speak proficiently. The fact that he did this, demonstrates how important us Indians consider learning our language, even if we don't require its use in English speaking countries.

Hindi has been of importance to me for three main reasons. The first and most paramount reason would be for conversing with my own. This means when I go back to India, I can talk to street vendors, relatives and even the local kids over there. Whether its playing street cricket, haggling, or asking the rickshaw driver for directions, knowing my mother tongue, (literally) helps me get around. More importantly, I can talk to my Grandparents, who don't speak English. Imagine, not being able to converse with those of your own blood and their treasure of wisdom due to the barrier of language, horrific eh? Moreover, if I was to speak English in India, I would appear to be a foreigner resulting in a different treatment and not being in harmony/unison with the local culture there. In fact, Colombians call them "gringos" , Indians call them "Gora's" meaning a "misfit" or a derogatory term for a white person. Thus, my somewhat "controversial" argument is that any human can live in any place in the world and call it their house, but there will only be one place which they can call home, which is their motherland .

Now think of this if you wanted to walk into your home but you didn't have the keys would you be able to get in? 

Absolutely Not! (No smart answers like the window are allowed). Similar to this, your mother tongue is almost a key for you to blend and mingle with those of your own ethnicity. That was point numero uno. 

Point number 2 is the fact that your mother tongue gives you something which you can call your own ; something which creates an intimacy between you and the speaker. One example, would be talking Hindi to my parents and sister on an abroad trip. Be it making fun of the lady adjacent to us's hairstyle, my mother telling my father that the item is to expensive or simply getting a discount at an Indian store because we both speak the same language, the sensation gives me an immense satisfaction and a sense of coziness when I use it. 

Okay, I think coziness took it too far.

Ultimo punto (the last point),  is the fact there are vista's of works to explore I have unlocked by knowing my mother tongue. This means that I can understand Hindi Poems, Hindi Movies, Hindi Songs and tons of other works of art that subtitles or Google Translate don't do justice to. If I was only equipped with English I would not be able to explore these fantastic works of art that my own rich culture has to offer with the same depth.  

In conclusion, Hindi has been a huge equalizer for me as it helps me fit perfectly into the Indian society even with the barrier of being an NRI (Non- Resident Indian).  Moreover, my mother tongue, gives me a sense of identity and belonging whilst providing cascades of different arts for me to explore.

Until Next Time, 

मेरे दोस्त (Google Translated - My Friend)

What's in a Name?

Hey Prabdab, Prabhaf, Praby, Prabhu and even Rabbit. These are exhibits of the butchery of my beautiful name Prabhav. The name Prabhav is derived from the ancient language of Sanskrit and is quite a rare name in India. The Sanskrit meaning of my name is the "Place of Origination of the Universe". I'm pretty important eh? In addition to this meaning Prabhav is one of the thousand names for the Hindu Lord Vishnu (Creator of the Universe). In reference to the locations of Prabhav's, we are quite well spread out in India, covering almost every city in India. Thus, as you can see my name is brimming with cultural and historical richness, however it doesn't stop there  because my surname carries a lot of weight as well!

A surname is a huge part of any Indians identity because 9 out of 10 times we can tell exactly where they are from in India, just by observing their name. However, as with anything else in India, surnames have some politics behind them as well. As soon as you tell an Indian the surname, they will immeaditely start judging you on your caste and city of origin. Let me tell you about the cities, because I'm not really proud of the Indian caste system. For example, my name - Prabhav Arora. The surname Arora is extremely common amongst the Punjabi society (North Indians) in India and guess what? I'm Punjabi. A name such as Rohit Chandani, would usually signify we are dealing with a Sindhi (Person who belongs to Rajasthan) due to the fact his surname has - "ani" at the end of it. There are many tricks to the trade and as you become a more "experienced" Indian you learn that your culture and your surname are a buy one get one free package. Moreover, my surname is vital to me because it gives a blatantly obvious hint on my religion. Prabhav Arora sounds like a Hindu name, Salman Khan sounds Muslim and John Abraham sounds Christian. 

So that's the cultural context of my surname but what about its history?

After doing some shocking research I found out that my surname Arora actually has a lot of historical valour to back it up. The Arora's, were a well respected Indian tribe living in old day Amritsar (Punjab) and current day Lahore (Pakistan) dating back to almost the 1800's. From there, we fought many wars against the Pakistani's and eventually moved back to India after the Indo-Pak partition. Since then, we have prospered as a business community, known to be intelligent, eccentric and loving. (Right on the money)

Take Care! 

Cultural Marker Misconceptions

Namaste!

Consequent to the previous blog post, I hope we are now familiar with each other, and you have some background knowledge on who I am. Whoosh! You didn't even see it, however, I just answered the I.B question "Who Am I?". Personally, I feel this question has two components embedded in the answer. The first would be personal choices such as Sports, Music and Hobbies; the other would be the culture you are born into and how it has shaped you. In my first blog post I articulated a lot on the first component however, in this post I would like to tend to the other one. So let's begin my story! 

I was born in Mumbai, India and stayed their for the first 5 years of my life. Since then I've shifted from Dubai to Bahrain to Dubai again to Singapore and finally landed at my current stop which is Abu Dhabi. Even though, I have shifted 10 schools and relocate every 1 or 2 years, my Dad made it his mission to teach me Hindi every weekend. Thus, I am very fluent in my mother-tongue, posse sing the ability to read, write and speak. Since Mumbai, I have been overseas for 11 years and have been very fortunate to be placed in an international school at each stint. These international schools have permitted the grasp of several different cultures and invaluable experiences. Naturally, if you haven't met someone of a different culture to yours, the first meeting will have its inevitable awkward moments. Let me narrate one that Indians face a lot. This is a typical conversation that occurs when I join a new school (Pretend Mark is Romanian and has never met an Indian before) 

Mark : Hey Prabhav, welcome to Raha  

Prabhav: Thanks Mark, it was hard shifting from India

Mark : Ohh! Do you speak Indian?

Prabhav: Nope.

Mark : Oh sorry I meant do you speak Hindu.

Triggered. 

India is home to 22 official "recognized" languages, 150 languages with a population of over 1 million speaking them and there are 1652 "unrecognized" languages. But, Mark wants to stereotype every language into one country or even a religion? 

Not fair Mark. 

I think that this cultural marker is very important to grasp because this what makes the people in India different and gives them an identity. For example, I am North Indian and speak Hindi, however someone in the South probably speaks Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam but I can't stereotype them or guess what they are speaking based on the majority. I would be crushing a culture in an instant. As a North Indian I shouldn't feel too bad because Hindu and Hindi are quite alike, however imagine someone mistaking your religion with a language. Long live the Millennials? I think this cultural marker is very important to all the minority Indians because they want people to recognize us for who they are, and not the majority. This, even leads to a larger problem because most people overseas don't know any other parts of India except Delhi, Mumbai or Goa. What happened to the other 29 states? I think I can sympathize with those which call it Indian or Hindu. For those which call Hindi, Indian I understand Russia speaks Russian, France speaks French and so on but languages don't work on the rule of thumb, good luck speaking American. For those which call it Hindu, I understand it sounds like Hindi but please don't confuse a religion with a language. I think by understanding this misconception and avoiding it in conversation would display respect for the vast Indian culture and a sense of pride for the Indian on the other side of the conversation that his language/culture has been recognized or questioned. Here's an example of the conversation which would have occurred if Mark acknowledged this cultural marker :

Mark : Hey Prabhav, welcome to Raha

Prabhav : Thanks Mark, it was hard shifting from India

Mark: Oh so what language do you speak, I hear India has a lot of them

Prabhav : Yes we do Mark, I speak Hindi

Mark: Great!

Be like Mark!

Until then,  

                       Alvida ! (In Hindi)

About The Author

Ola! Welcome to my blog! My name is Prabhav Arora and I study in Raha International School Abu Dhabi. I have recently made the jump to the horror story of DP. Hopefully, this one has a happy ending. According to my task on Managebac I have to let you know a bit about myself so here we go. First things first, I love the Stock Market. I've already started investing in it and even made some money. The Wolf on Khalifa Street, is another name I am also known as. In terms of Sports, I love football, basketball, water polo and cricket. Its almost a ritual for me to shift my interest in Sport each year because I love trying new things. Personally, I love travelling (excluding long flights) and listening to Music. My dreams for this year would be getting 45 out of 45 in the DP (Dreaming is free.) Coming to the English aspect of things, languages have always been very crucial in my life. Due to my Dad's amazing job I get to shift countries almost every 1 or 2 years. This means exploring new cultures and languages, and communicating is a huge priority for survival. Hindi is my mother tongue, however I have always had to use English because of my stints overseas. Anyways, I've got to go now because the Chelsea match is on!

Ciao.