From The Peopling of New York City

Interview with Librarian from Great Neck Library

Cashmira is a middle aged Indian woman who lives in New Hyde Park with her husband, brother and his family. She works at the Great Neck Library and immigrated to the United States from Bombay in 1991. I found out from the interview that she loves Indian films, particularly the older ones although a few of the newer films have merit as well. She says that Indian films describe the Indian culture very accurately and gave me around 10 Indian films to watch. We discussed her opinion on what makes an Indian film good and how films have evolved over time. Halfway through we were joined by her sister-in-law who also partook in the interview.

K: What is your name?

C: Cashmira

K: Did you immigrate here from India?

C: Yes

K: What part of india?

C: Bombay

K: How long have you been living in America?

C: I came here in 1991 so…about 17 years already.

K: Wow, did you come by yourself?

C: Oh no, whole family. My husband my children and myself.

K: Did you have any previous relatives living here?

C: Yes, my brother was living here. He was the one who sponsored us.

K: So have you always been working at this library?

C: Yes. For 17 years.

K: Do you live in Great Neck or you live…

C: Before I lived in Great Neck and now I’m living in New Hyde Park.

K: Do you go to Jackson Heights at all?

C: Yes! In the beginning I used to but now it’s like too much crowded and then there are too many people and parking is crazy. It’s crazy crazy. Cops on every corner, it’s not like, good.

K: Lets move into movies. How often do you watch Indian films?

C: Oh I just watch it whenever I get a chance, yes, there are a few movies that I want to see again and again and again.

K: Like which ones?

C: Mhm Like, I told you Baghban. And then I like the songs from the old movies, so I get the CD of the songs. Because you know, sometimes you’re not in the mood to watch the movie, you can listen to the song.

K: Do you go to the movie theatres often?

C: Only once.

K: It was bad?

C: Oh no, it wasn’t bad. It’s just hard when you’re working full time, because my husband works too…and you have to drive there…

K: Was it for an Indian film?

C: Yes Indian film. OH yea, I watch a few English films like James Bond movies I go to the movie theatres for.

(Cashmira’s sister in law comes in)

K: Hi my name is Karen.

C: She’s asking about Hindi movies.

K: So you’re Cashmira’s sister in law?

C: Yes my husband’s her brother.

K: Thanks for joining us. I’m just asking about Indian films. So in your opinion, what makes an Indian film good? What does it have to have?

C: Oh. Let me tell you what is good. Like family…like musicals, like family stories.

S : Colorful

C: yea, colorful, but the main thing is family.

S : Anything family oriented.

K: Like family honor?

C: yea like family honor, you know, like all live together. Like I’m sure asian movies too have their thing. We have dancing

K: We have kung fu.

C: haha yes.

K: So do you feel that Indian movies accurately reflect the Indian view of family culture?

S : Yea,

C: Yea I think it does. I think now it’s like a little bit different, but I think it’s pretty good. Like the close family type things.

S :Only some bad things

C: Like the Slumdog Millionaire, I don’t know if you saw that

K: I did

C: It’s all over the world! It’s like they take like

S : It’s all over the place. It’s like they show exaggeration, like it’s not that good

C: Like in India, there is poverty, but it’s not like that.

K: So it wasn’t very accurate?

C: No not at all

K: Well it was made by a British director…

C: haha yes. I mean, maybe some of the things we don’t know but it’s all over the world I’m saying, not just India.

K: There’s poverty everywhere you mean.

C: Yea! And like the small kids, everywhere, the whole world has poverty. I mean they misuse it. But but, family think I think is right, they would be actually happening like the movies.

K: So, arranged marriages and…

C: uhhm.

K: Because the one that I watched…that I can’t pronounce.

C: Dil chahta hai

K: Yea, because the girl, she wants to marry out of love rather than by arrangement.

C: right.

K: Does that happen?

C: Yea still now…

K: Do you believe in arranged marriages or marrying for love?

C: Both of them…

K: A little bit of both?

C: Let me tell you about like in the beginning in India, because we have caste and stuff, the families know each other so well, so well, it’s like when our parents tell us, look, this is the boy, you talk to him and maybe if you like him then it’s good. Then marriage, it’s also a choice. It’s not like force.. But the caste, if you marry like out of your caste or something, then parents will say no. They have every right to say no. Like they’re not going to be happy then.

S : Yea they pick by age, by experience… it’s like what you call a blind date.

C: yea, yeah.

S : Parents will say meet this boy he’s coming from a nice family…

C: and we know them from the title, it’s not like he’s totally unknown.

K: Yes because I know the girl from the movie, she grew up with the boy and her adopted mother wanted her to marry him because the boy was her son.

C: Yes that’s right, She was like, like she felt bad because for her she had to choose between family and and the other boy… It’s so hard for her because she had to choose…

K: So family comes first?

C: But it depends on the people, but when she told them they were like nice, it wasn’t like he said no. But like when you think, you think about family, not on your side, you think about other people.

S : Yes, other people comes first.

K: So moving on to more current movies, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Dehli 6.

C: Yes, I heard of that, but I haven’t watched it.

S : Didn’t your friend tell you about it?

C: yea yea.

K: Yea because it’s about an Indian boy who was born in America but returns to India. So do you feel that more current movies are focusing on this immigrant population to America? This theme?

C: Like, like American theme? Yea there’s a few like that?

K: Do you feel it’s becoming a more popular genre?

C: Yes

S : Yes, like Swades was a very good movie. It’s about a boy who worked with NASA in America and goes back to India and his story.

C: Yes I will give it to you later. You must watch it. But most boys like that who are born here like to marry Indian girls because they know what they went through, it’s more similar. But those types of movies are becoming very popular still. Like Outsource I don’t know if you’ve seen that one…

K: You have children right?

C: One boy.

K: And about how old is he?

C: Like thirty.

K: Wow, I thought he would be younger.

C: No haha.

K: So I guess he watches these Indian films

C: Oh yes, he watches. He likes them.

K: Haha. I was just wondering if you know anything about, like my generation. Would they still watch Indian films?

C: They love it.

S: Only if they are with subtitles or they wouldn’t understand it.

K: But do you think they could relate with the whole idea of family?

S: Oh yes, we teach them when they are watching the movies.

C: They like it, they like it.

K: Haha, good family values.

C: Yes, well that’s how they’re going to learn about our culture. There’s one called Namesake. It’s Indian also, watch that one too.

S: It’s very nice.

C: It explains the culture very well, it’s from the old days also. I will give it to you if it’s here.

K: Well that’s pretty much it, thank you for your time!