This past Saturday bright red walls and loud oil paintings of nude, cream-colored female bodies encircled the tiny stage located at the heart of the small space at the Two Moons Café in Park Slope. A sea of wooden chairs lined up close to the platform. There was hardly any room to walk.
As the spectators chattered, a woman stood up in the crowd. She walked through a predominantly South Asian audience toward the stage for the first time. Shubha Bala, a second generation Indian with roots in Toronto, stood firmly with her right hand gripped around the microphone.
She had a story to tell– Spoken word style.
Spoken word is a form of poetry or storytelling recited in first person, usually from the poet’s point of view. In Mark Eleveld’s book titled the Spoken Word Revolution, spoken word artist Saul Williams described his poetry as “incantations, spells or prayers to be recited in the darkest caves and the highest mountain top.”
Subcontinental Drift, the host of the event in Park Slope, is the only South Asian spoken word series organization in New York City. The idea for the organization was conceived by a group of South Asians in Washington D.C. in 2007. The goal was to create a community space for South Asians, who call each other desis. In Sanskrit the word means “one from our country.” The term is used to refer to people from Pakistani, India, and Bangladesh. Sri Ram Gopal, one of the organizers said the motto of the group was to showcase the basement talents of the districts desis.
On Saturday, the basement, of course, happened to be in Brooklyn as Bala’s words rang through the room. She read “Chatter Chatter,” a poem reflecting on her experiences at the Gujarat riots of 2002, one of the worst communal uprisings in in the region between Hindus and Muslims according to Human Rights Watch.
The room fell into silence as exposed first-hand accounts of the violent episode. “They raped them, and cut up their vaginas in front of their mothers.” Bala said. Her voice trembled as she read that line.
“It was an emotional moment for me, she said. “I would not have done ‘Chatter Chatter’ to a different group than ‘Subcontinental Drift.’ It was incredibly important for me to share my soul to a group of people that would understand what I was saying.”
One of the members of the audience, Sini Stephan, a 23-year-old student was in awe from Bala’s poem. “Every word she was saying captivated me. Each word formed images in my mind,” she said.
The first open-mic series for Subcontinental Drift was held at the Science Club in Washington D.C. five years ago on March 14th, 2007. “The place was packed,” Gopal said. About 75 people attended. “What made it amazing for me was the revelation that there were so many artistic desis in D.C.,” Gopal said.
The series spread through word of mouth to Chicago in 2010 then to New York City in February 2011. Karthik Raman, one of the co-founders for the New York division, said the South Asian American community lacks a space for cultivating artistic backgrounds. “We use art as a tool to get you into college. It’s like a thing you put on your resume,” he said. “You become pressured into being a professional, so you don’t make the time to play the guitar or whatever awesome thing you were doing before.”
Sruthi Sadhujan a 24-year-old private brand developer for Macy’s merchandising division has been performing with the Subcontinental Drifters group for a year and three months. She didn’t discover spoken word poetry until she attended college at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “My parents were incredibly strict,” she said. By performing spoken word Sadhujan has been inspired to investigate her struggles as both a South Indian and American. “It helped me explore myself pretty thoroughly,” she said.
The organization in D.C. plans to start a theatrical event featuring South Asian playwright and actors later this year.
Corrections:
When this story was originally published 3/23, we incorrectly stated that:
-Sri Ram Gopal conceived the idea of Subcontinental Drifters. It should have read that it was started by a group of South Asians in the Washington D.C area.
-Sri Ram Gopal was a project manger. It should have read that he was a policy analyst.
-The organization plans to start theatrical event featuring South Asian playwright and actors later this year. It should have read that it was the group in D.C.
We regret the error.
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