Hasan Minaj is smart and funny and earnest – and very much an ABCD (American born confused desi) as per his own admission. One of the tropes in his comedy routines is that of the transplanted Indian; of being able to take the Indian out of India but not being able to take India out of the Indian. His lived experience is that of countless first-generation Americans of Indian extraction.
“One million followers dad! Hope you're proud.” He messaged his dad. His dad was clearly unimpressed as he texted back: “that's 17 million less than Shah Rukh Khan”.
Minaj’s reply was really funny! And savage.
This is the first thing that occurred to me when I read Minaj’s tweet – that was his dad having his ‘Sharmaji ka ladka’ moment.
The hard-working Asian parent with unreasonably high expectations from their kid is something of a cliché – but like all clichés, it’s true as well.
Why compare! This twitter user clearly has a lot of angst for parents who compare their own kids unfavourably with those of others. “How Asian is your dad,” quipped another tweet.
It doesn’t matter if they are here in India or living abroad. They will still have high expectations and low approval.
Indian dads don’t seem to care a whole lot about boosting their kids’ self-esteem.
They keep us humble and grounded – so that we don’t get too big for our boots even if we achieve fame and success.
Many wondered whether SRK had seen the tweet and whether perhaps SRK was amused.
Perhaps one day dad will be happy and satisfied?
As this Twitter user explains, maybe this is just Hasan Minaj’s dad telling him to keep striving to do better? Families sometimes act strangely, but no one can doubt their love – or the fact that they mean well.
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