Read the full article by Marie-Elena Schembri at Sacramento News & Review
Farrah Dalal’s story is rooted in a “transformative experience” she had at 5 years old. Having grown up within the South Asian diaspora, Dalal describes her experience of being bullied because of her family’s place within the Indian caste system in her story “In The Red.”
“It was at this moment I knew something was not right, and it would take several more years of harassment and abuse to understand that I belonged to a cultural system of oppression,” Dalal wrote.
Dalal’s story is one of dozens from the South Asian diaspora that is being brought to light through Meghna Bhat’s project, “Gulabi Stories.” With what she calls a “healing initiative,” Bhat, a Sacramento resident, is not just looking at ways to share narratives that are missing from mainstream culture, but she’s also hoping to inspire community healing around topics that are often considered taboo within South Asian communities.
The project offers South-Asian women, including trans women, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals, a digital platform to share personal narratives around experiences with topics like sexuality, identity, domestic abuse, mental health, motherhood, infertility, racial or class stereotyping, and acculturation.