In a first for us at Diversity Australia Magazine, we brought together six creatives for a group photoshoot and interview. This idea had been on our minds for a while, and on just finding out it was currently South Asian Heritage Month – what better opportunity. A lot goes into planning and editing our articles in general – times that by six and you’re juggling a lot more. But alas, everything came out even better than planned (don’t you love those moments in life?) and the incredible group who came on board certainly had a lot to do with that.
Featuring in our shoot are; Actor/Dancer Kumkum Vats, Senior Legal Counsel Kriti, Hip Hop Artist SAIF, Miss Progress Australia 2023 – Sumaya, Model/Actor Tushar & Producer/Co-Host of Busy Mums Radio – Rosh.
Something that was spoken about on the day, was just how Diverse South Asia actually is and how that’s not always common knowledge in places like Australia. I’ve noticed South Asians also be left out of conversations and groups centring around Asian Representation. Growing up, anyone from South Asia was referred to as ‘Indian’ but in reality, South Asia encompasses many countries with differences in culture, traditions, language, food and people. And that’s what this month is all about, celebrated from August 17 to July 18, it’s an opportunity to learn more about South Asia and all the communities that encompass it.
DAM: Tell us about yourself and your cultural heritage?
Saif: I’m from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Kriti: I’m originally from Fiji where I was born and raised, and then I grew up in New Zealand, but my ethnicity is Gujarati.
Kumkum: I’m from Gujarat but I was born and brought up in Rajasthan, in India’s north-west. I’ve been in Australia thirty years – my eldest daughter was just seven months old when we came here and my younger daughter was born here.
Tushar: I’m from India, from the capital city of India which is New Delhi. I came to Australia in 2011, I wasn’t sure I would stay but now I live here. There was an ease of life here – my parents are here as well now, they really like this city [Sydney]. Currently I work as a business analyst and I’ve been doing Modelling and Acting part time for the past seven, eight years.
When I came to Australia I didn’t have any job so I was applying for all kinds of jobs, gardening, cleaning – whatever I could get my hands on. This [Modelling & Acting] was also one of the jobs I did and I started liking it, meeting people, networking – and I love it now.
Rosh: I’m Sri Lankan-Malay, Muslim from Indonesia. My ancestors migrated to Sri Lanka. My direct descendent is Sheik Yusuf Makassar, he was an Indonesia Muslim of noble descent, a renowned scholar in Islam.
His family was exiled to Sri Lanka by the Dutch. The dutch came to Indonesia to rule and the noble family of my descendent Sheik Yusuf stood up against them and for that reason, his family was exiled to Sri Lanka. So Sri Lankan-Malay is what we are, it’s a unique race originally from Indonesia.
Sumaya: I was born in Australia but my family is from Bangladesh. Majority of my family are here in Australia, my grandparents, a lot of my mum’s sisters are here with their family – dad has a bit of family here as well, I’ve got a lot of cousins here!
This year I am Miss Progress Australia, so I’ve been chosen to go to Puglia, Italy for the Miss Progress International Pageant to represent Australia – and try to win the International crown! It’s a great beauty pageant with great values, it’s a lot to do with human rights and world progress, and it’s something that I value myself and love to represent. Pageants one of my passions, I find it’s a great way to represent myself and give my ideas and values to the public. My mum got me into it when I was a kid she was like ‘I really want you to try this one day’, and I thought, ‘Yeah maybe not’ but as I grew up I started to see the value behind it.
DAM: What would you say is a favourite thing about your cultural heritage?
Kumkum: There are so many things – interesting things about Rajasthani culture! They welcome guests like God and they are rich in festivals. Rajasthan is a desert place, lots of sand dunes and things are there, but to compensate that – we have a lot of colours, music, dancing, beautiful festive food there. All the little elements combine to make a beautiful big picture.
“We have a lot of colours, music, dancing, beautiful festive food there. All the little elements combine to make a beautiful big picture.”
Kumkum
Sumaya: That’s a hard one there’s so much about it! I guess it would have to be the people, they’re very welcoming – you can pretty much go up to them and they’ll help you for anything.
Tushar: My culture, my heritage, being Indian – I definitely cherish. Even when you go back to India you see all these happy people, people helping each other, the old buildings and heritage, the food, street food, the unity and diversity. There’s so many states and they all speak different languages and how they gel together – that’s the best part about India.
“There’s so many states and they all speak different languages and how they gel together – that’s the best part about India.”
tushar
Kriti: I just love the connection. Everyone is Diverse but they also have such similarities and I just love how – if I meet another Gujarati on the street, we just have an understanding of each other and each other’s values, I just love that.
Rosh: The most important part would be the dress and the food! [laughs] And our unique look – we confuse people because we look different and people cannot pinpoint exactly who we are. But when they find out and realise they didn’t know that there was a race like this in Sri Lanka, and in Australia we’re a small group, it’s exciting to me because we are unique!
“But when they find out and realise they didn’t know that there was a race like this in Sri Lanka, and in Australia we’re a small group, it’s exciting to me because we are unique!”
rosh
Saif: I think the way that we fought for our Independence back in 1971 and the way we’ve gone upward since then, I’m really proud of that.
DAM: Would you say there’s any misconceptions about your cultural heritage?
Kriti: I’d say, not all Indians are the same. It’s so vast and so different and there’s just so much passion and energy in India and everyone is just so different.
Sumaya: I still feel like we’re not really out there in Australia, not many people know about us. We are given a bit of a stereotype like the guys are taxi drivers and all that, but we’re all very well educated.
“We are given a bit of a stereotype like the guys are taxi drivers and all that, but we’re all very well educated.”
sumaya
Saif: I’d say that we’re definitely a creative people, we’ve got a lot of music, a lot of tradition, art, that isn’t really known about. But we come from a very deep culture full of talented people.
DAM: Why would you say Representation like this is so important in Australia?
Sumaya: Representation is important so we don’t get discriminated against or given a false identity.
Saif: If you’re not aware of what your heritage is or how deep it is, it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know where your roots are from. So yeah, seeing that representation is important.
“It’s easy to get lost if you don’t know where your roots are from.”
saif
Kriti: I think it’s incredibly important, especially now when you’ve got movies and shows that are now showing so much Diversity. It’s good to get everyone’s mindsets and views and so forth. And I think it’s so important that people growing up here who are younger and only sometimes see blondes on TV – that they can see someone who looks like them, and then feel like they can achieve the same things.
“It’s so important that people growing up here – can see someone who looks like them, and then feel like they can achieve the same things.”
kriti
Things are slowly progressing here in Australia when it comes to Representation and meeting these individuals just proved how many of us are out there doing incredible things. We believe these stories deserve to be spotlighted, not hidden in the shadows, to further provide unity, serve as confidence and inspiration for the next generations and showcase the incredibly diverse people that call Australia home.
There will be certainly more shoots like this to come,
Thanks for reading,
– Sangeetha, Editor/Co-Founder DAM
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Find more on these individuals here:
Sumaya: https://www.instagram.com/sumaya.oz/?hl=en // Vote for Sumaya for Miss Progress International: https://pageantvote.co/pageants/89/contestants/882
SAIF: https://www.instagram.com/saif.musiq/?hl=en
Tushar: https://www.instagram.com/tushar_my_official/?hl=en
Rosh: https://www.instagram.com/roshvee/?hl=en // Busy Mum’s Radio: https://www.instagram.com/busymumsradio/?hl=en
Kriti: https://www.instagram.com/katrina_1313/?hl=en
Kumkum: https://www.starnow.com/u/kumkum/
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~ Shot & Published by Sangeetha Gowda & Marshall-Weishuai Yuan
~ Photography by NOAH Creative
Diversity Australia Magazine 