Entertainment
The burden of being brown — and a woman (Book Review)
By Himani Kothari
Title: Trust No Aunty; Author: Maria Qamar; Publisher: Touchstone: Pages: 178; Price: Rs 599
If you’re a brown woman — of any age group, living in any part of the world — you have my sympathies. Because we are burdened with a lot of contradictory expectations. Like being pretty but not sexy, to excel at work but be home on time, be friendly to everybody but not over-friendly. And our biological clock is ticking but sex is taboo.
And unlike our counterparts around the world, who have to face all this from society at large, we, the brown women, see these enforced by a specific breed of people — the Aunties.
“Aunty is a cross-cultural phenomenon that isn’t limited to a family member; she could be a neighbour, a family friend, or just some lady on the bus who wants to throw some casual black magic your way,” writes Pakistani-Canadian pop artist Maria Qamar in the prelude to her debut book “Trust No Aunty”.
Filled with colourful illustrations, the book is flush with information and insights on how to deal with everything that comes with being desi in a foreign land but, most importantly, how to survive the onslaught of Aunties — who are everywhere.
And unlike most stories about the diaspora that have a grim undertone, “Trust No Aunty” addresses these issues in a hilarious way.
Though it basically talks about issues a brown woman faces in the West, everyone can relate to it.
The book traces different kinds of aunties through the life of the writer, who calls herself an aunty-survivor, and has tips on how to outsmart them.
But not all of Qamar’s Aunties are bad. Some are harmless and, wait for it, even cool.
Qamar, known as Hatecopy on Instagram where she is famous for her art that pokes fun at South Asian culture, shares laugh-out-loud anecdotes from her life — like that time she hid a boy in her closet and lived to tell the tale — and how to deal with such situations.
She throws up scenarios all of us are at some point meant to encounter and then adds a rookie move — which you are not supposed to take — and a boss move — the one you should.
From picking up restaurants to go on a date with your white boyfriend where you won’t be caught by any of your Aunties, to recipes for cheap food that’s not noodles, to tricks on how to dodge a chappal, the book is full of tounge-in-cheek advice that will make your life much easier and free of drama.
On the outside, it’s just a book of funny illustrations with funnier advice and sometimes even gets stereotypical but deep down, it’s important.
The book is essentially a survival guide, which tells you how not to lose the plot even though everybody tells you otherwise. It addresses racism, colourism, shadism, classism, patriarchy and everything wrong with society.
And Qamar’s target is not just the desis — she also hits out at whites for cultural appropriation. Like how wearing a bindi for Halloween is not cool.
It’s not a life-changing or live-saving book, but it’s a fun book to pick up on a bad day at work — or life generally — and just laugh at the stupidity of it all.
(Himani Kothari can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
him/vm/sac
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
Content provided by Adverloom
Foodman Vishal Singh Honored for Hunger Free World Mission in Bangkok
Dr. Abhishek Verma Dedicates a Shelter in Memory of His Mother, Veena Verma, at KGMU; Inaugurated by Daughter Nicolle Verma
Cheers and Cheers: Barzilla’s Joyful Ode to Inclusivity and Celebration
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
Meghalaya Reserves Legalized Gambling and Sports Betting for Tourists
IPL 20202 UPDATE: KXIP vs MI IPL Dream11 Team Prediction for Today Match, Update Point Table of all Team.
In a Live debate AAP leader Syed Asad Abbas hurls abuses to BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
‘India’s Most Wanted’ trailer out Arjun Kapoor on hunt of Osama-Bin-Laden
Time to move on: Sonakshi on Shatrughan’s joining Congress
