Body2Soul: Your comment on the CD release of 'Indian Invasion Comedy'. Is it any different?
Vidur : It is different in the sense that it does have some pretty diverse Indian comedians on it and not any one of us sounds like another. Its so easy to become a “Hacky” Indian comic and do very typical material that everyone would talk about. I think most of the comics on this CD have taken some risks and shared some unique perspectives.
Body2Soul: Tell us about being a gay in India and then later in America. Can you imagine an open life like you have now if you were never to be out of India?
Vidur : I love the way the question says “a gay” in India.. Because that is exactly how Indians talk...”He is a GAY”....like gays are an object! Are you “a gay”??? Okay back to the question...being gay in India was horrific for me. I only lived in India until the age of 17 but went through hell. I was a pretty flamboyant teenager and was teased intensely in school, threatened physically and emotionally, and was looked on as a disgrace to my family. I was a complete misfit, and really had no support system in India as a teen and attempted suicide several times. I then went to the UK to study with virtually no self esteem and decided to re-gain my families approval by doing really well in school. So I graduated from The London School of Economics and came to the US to do a Ph.D. In Economics at The University of Chicago. It was in Chicago that I just became so miserable in that Ph.D. Program that I finally started dealing with myself and came out. It was certainly much easier to come out as a foreign student in the US and I was far enough from my family where I didn’t have to feel the guilt on a daily basis. Once I came out and gained some self esteem and went to psychotherapy for years I was more able to hold my own and eventually found myself developing into who I am today. But yes once upon a time I was a miserable and petrified closeted Indian... I was “A Gay”Things are different in India now and I admire the courage of gays and lesbians who have stayon in India and who are out and proud and making a difference to opening people’s minds. If I went back to India now I could be open. Had stayed there and grown up there I really doubt that I would have survived. The issue that I address in my comedy is not only about being gay... Its about being different, whether you are a divorced woman, a homosexual, disabled, an artist. My message is about embracing that diversity and uniqueness because that is your gift to this world.
Shane Watson
Shane Watson
Shane Watson
Shane Watson
Shane Watson
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