"I didn't see a point in speaking Chinese. We live in Australia" -Amy Choi

Short Story Deconstruction

Exotic Rissole

Tanveer Ahmed is a Sydney-based psychiatrist, media commentator, speaker and journalist. Edited as part of the anthology “Growing Up Asian in Australia”, a short story is extracted from his memoir, “The Exotic Rissole”, highlighting his experiences as a Bangladeshi immigrant attempting to assimilate into the Australian culture through food and lifestyle. Ahmed’s short story recounts him as a twelve year old attempting to consolidate a friendship with an “Aussie” named Daryl. Admiring “everything about his best friend”, Daryl (or “Lynchy”) seems to admire everything about Tanveer and his family. He has never visited Daryl's house, and had always longed to taste the “true Australian Rissoles”. On the last day of primary school, Ahmed is invited over to Lynchy’s home in Toongabbie, where Bridget (Daryl’s mother) serves them “sodastream soft-drinks (and)... spice-free rissoles”. After this experience, Daryl and Tanveer see each other less frequently. Daryl moves to Sydney’s North coast and the two never see each other again. Although Tanveer’s mother attempts to re-create the dish adding chilli and turmeric paste, Tanveer appreciates the dish for what it is and what it represents in his invisonment of Australian culture.

Overview

Perceptions of Belonging and Identity

“ I admired his crew cut and was riveted by his rat’s tail, which he sported with great confidence. I wished I had a rat’s tail, but my parents were horrified, believing it would be my first step towards juvenile justice.”

“My chances of meeting a girl were zip while my father was channeling 1970s rural Bangladeshi fashion through me, Lynchy said.”

“Aussies were definitely different, I thought to myself.”

Symbolism

“He spoke of how all his family ate were rissoles, steak and baked potatoes. I looked at him with envy . . . After gentle urging on my part, my mother taught herself how to make rissoles although she would mix pieces of chilli and turmeric paste into them.”

Conveyance of Belonging through representations of:

Places

“Toongabbie it was called, home to the highest concentration of drug addicts, single mothers and ex-cons in all of Sydney”

“I had never visited Lynchy’s house. He always made an excuse about his annoying sister or explained that his parents didn't like having guests... I was embarrassed that my house always smelt like curry.”

Relationships

“Lynchy would visit my house everyday after school and we would ride our BMX bikes to the local creek. There we would play marbles, skim rocks across the water or play French cricket with a plastic bat.”

“I saw Daryl a few more times that year, but we became more distant as our

worlds grew apart.”

Theme and Quotations

(Aspects and Elements of Belonging)

Text Deconstruction (Techniques)

“At Lynchy's house, we sat at a breakfast table where we were served green cordial. His mother asked me to call her Bridget. She had weathered, reptilian skin like many other older Australians who had spent too much time in the sun. Her droopy eyes and furrowed forehead gave her a melancholy air. She patted me on the head like my mother did to Lynchy. I liked it. She told me I must have been really smart and wished me well at my new school. My parents never told me I was smart. I was thrilled.”

In the short story “Exotic Rissole” the author Tanveer Ahmed has utilized a variety of techniques to express a sense of acceptance and identity to Australian culture. In this excerpt the author, Ahmed mentions that ‘Lynchy’s Mother’ has “weathered, reptilian skin… droopy eyes and furrowed forehead” implements figurative language in order to symbolize the differences in the persona’s perception of Australian and Bangladeshi people. A simile is used when the author receives a pat on the head from Lynchy’s mother and realises that it is “like my mother did to Lynchy.” A simile is used to show the similarity between the Tanveer’s mother and Lynchy’s mother which creates a sense of belonging within the two families. Finally repetition is evident in “ I liked it...i was smart. I was thrilled.” as it makes evident that the author is trying to emphasise that he really enjoyed being with his Australian friends as they often complimented him about his intelligence, something his parents would never do. This further demonstrated that Ahmed can see a clear line of difference between Bangladeshi people and Australian people.

Link to “The Namesake”

“The Namesake” composed by Jhumpa Lahiri and “The Exotic Rissole” by Tanveer Ahmed share great commonalities in concepts and elements of belonging, as well as the manner in which belonging is conveyed through the language forms and features. Both texts heavily emphasize upon the symbolism of food in order to highlight, portray and convey the persona’s understanding, perception and concept of belonging within their respective migrant/immigrant contexts. In “The Namesake”, Lahiri implements the motif of food in order to symbolise Ashima Ganguli’s relationship with American culture. In an attempt to replicate a “humble approximation” of an Indian snack, Ganguli initially perceives herself as exclusively ‘belonging’ to India. Through the progression of the novel, she is able to develop a strong relationship with America through food at various Bengali and American festivities, traditions and holidays.By understanding the importance of perceiving America as her home, Ashima comes to accept America as an aspect of her belonging, and therefore identify herself as such. Similarly, the implementation of the food as a symbol of belonging is employed in “The Exotic Rissole” in order to figuratively compare Ahmed’s perception of belonging to the Australian ‘norm’. Longing “the mouth-watering promise of (Daryl’s) family’s rissole” and the taste of the “delicate balance of mince, breadcrumbs and egg”, Ahmed “craves” a sense of belonging to the Australian culture, and somewhat achieves this through food. As the taste of the “spice-free rissole burst across (his) taste buds”, he experiences a great fondness and liking to the “Aussie” cuisine. However, as Daryl leaves to go to the North Coast with his mother, Ahmed is left with a mere “humble approximation” of what he had adored at his friend’s house. His mother’s interpretation of a rissole with “pieces of chilli and turmeric paste” highlights the persona’s cultural contextual influence and the manner in which the symbol of food moulds the how elements and concepts of belonging is conveyed through, and represented in, both texts.

Link to the Concept (Analytical Paragraph)

“Exotic Rissole” is a short story composed by Tanveer Ahmed that demonstrates a sense of belonging through the use of various techniques. A simile has been used in the story to show there is a sense of belonging as Lynchy’s mother patted the authors head which caused him to feel like he belonged because it had been what his mother would often do to Lynchy. This is show in “She patted me on the head like my mother did to Lynchy.” The use of figurative language expresses the separation and differences of Bangladeshi people and Australian people. This is evident when the author describes Lynchy’s mother’s skin as “weathered, reptilian skin”. The author is making clear contrast that even though Bangladeshi people spend a lot of their time in the sun, their skin does not look like the skin of an Australian person which is what sets them apart. The use of these techniques and many more have assisted in expressing the author’s perception of belonging in Australia.

Short Story Deconstruction

Sticks and Stones and Such-like

One’s identity and self-portrayal, may act as a major influence in whether an individual can belong, or not belong. In Alice Pung’s collation of short Stories named ‘Growing up Asian in Australia’, the idea of identity and self-portrayal is truly found in Sunil Badami’s short story, ‘Sticks and Stones and Such-Like”. Consistently, Badami portrays the innocents of himself as an Indian child, growing up in the racist culture of Australia. As a boy, Badami is racially abused, his culture and skin colour being ‘different’ to anyone else’s, however his name becomes the catalyst of his detachment to identity. In his story, children begin to call him “SUN-ill, SOON-ull, SAN-eel … ‘Sunil? Like senile?’…” constantly repeating mispronunciations, angering, and inflicting a sense of isolation in Badami’s life. In order to ‘fit-in’ Badami used an act of conformity, in which re-naming himself could find a new identity. This new identity came under ‘Neil’. No longer was Sunil “a nigger, a coon, a darkie” or any other colloquial term, he became Neil. At the cost of his belonging to family, Badami belonged to the people in society, something his mother could not accept. Badami is told of the origin of his name and begins to understand his identity. Proud to be Sunil Badami, he again belongs in his family, and perseveres as ‘Sunil’ to fit into society as himself.

Link to the Concept (Analytical Paragraph)

“Sticks and Stones and Such-like” exhibits similar conflicts to that of “The Namesake” and explores similar ideas of belonging. The main cause of cultural and social conflict in both stories is the protagonist’s unique names. Sunil and Gogol, both of Indian heritage, share similar qualities in that they are both at first ashamed of their distinctive names and embarrassed of their Indian culture. In both cases this problem arose from experiences from early childhood such as bullying. From “Sticks and Stones and Such-like”, Sunil was both verbally and physically abused to an extent for his name. Other kids found his name hard to pronounce therefore finding the motive to use this against Sunil for their amusement. Again similar to that of “The Namesake” in which Gogol was teased for his name. Badami’s short story also links to “The Namesake” in the way family helps Sunil discover and later accept his true identity. Both parents from both texts explain their names' true meaning and significance and this in cohesion with keeping their Indian culture intact, helps both Gogol and Sunil belong.

Link to “The Namesake”

“SUN-ill, SUN-ull, SAN-eel, I’ve heard ’em all. ‘Sunil? Like senile?’ Or that old playground favourite: ‘Sunil? Like banana peel?’ If I had a dollar for every time, how many rupees would that make? Naturally, growing up, I didn’t want to be a nigger, a coon, a darkie. I didn’t feel ‘black’ anything. I just wanted to fit in. ‘Why dontcha wash the black off, ya dirty black bastard?’ playground wits would yell. And sometimes their parents too, although with an affectionate chuckle. ‘Perhaps if you wash hard enough it’ll come orf?” And I did once too scrubbing my arm with the floor brush till tiny spots of blood started weeping into the sink.”

An individual prone to a new system of ideals and culture, may be susceptible to a challenge of identity. In Alice Pung’s collation of short Stories named ‘Growing up Asian in Australia’, the idea of identity is truly found in Sunil Badami’s short story, ‘Sticks and Stones and Such-Like”. Early in the story the product of his detachment to his identity is revealed in his name, and his skin colour. It appears initially, that his name ‘Sunil’ is a nuisance to him as he repeats “…‘Sunil? Like senile?’…‘Sunil? Like banana peel?’ If I had a dollar for every time, how many rupees would that make?” showing that the name has become a burden and a detachment to the society, or the ‘playground’. To replicate a childhood sense, a colloquial tone, “I didn’t want to be a nigger, a coon, a darkie”, is used to emphasise the naivety of the Australian culture. The imagery of trying to "wash of the black”, is intensely used to highlight the desperation to fit in, emphasising the challenge of being an individual, surrounded by a new culture. In ‘Sunil’s’ case, the idea of self perception and identity is truly challenged, as upon being raised in a different culture he is detached, and finds out that the only way to ‘belong’ is to conform into society.

Text Deconstruction (Techniques)

“Sticks and Stones and Such-like” incorporates a similar field of themes to that of the “Namesake”, both having positive and negative effects on Sunil. At first, Sunil has to endure the dissatisfaction of having an Indian name which is hard to pronounce and prone to teasing. Other kids during school would bully Sunil for this reason and call him things like “curry muncher”, “towel-head”, “darkie” and “nig-nog.” This lead to Sunil questioning his identity and to show signs of embarrassment towards his Indian culture. He decides to change his name to Neil as he considers it to be more “normal” and feels as if he will be accepted in society. Sunil states, “I could feel their approval at the effort I was making to fit in.” The theme of identity is reoccurring in this short story and Sunil’s perception of his belonging fluctuates throughout. The significance of his family places a certain reassurance that he does belong and that he should be proud of his origins. Sunil’s mother has a strong influence on his decisions after his cover name (Neil) comes out of the closet. She gives him a long lecture on the meaning of his name and the importance of remaining intact with his Indian culture. “Sunil – Beautiful name…And Sunil is breeze that blows at sunset on Shiva’s birthday once every thousand years…” Here Sunil’s mother is explaining the significance of his name and swaying his choice in name change. It is clearly evident that family plays a significant role in Sunil’s life and the choices he makes. Sunil smiles and says “It’s a good name, I guess.” Sunil learns to accept his true identity and express his pride for his name.

Theme and Quotations

(Aspects and Elements of Belonging)

Sunil Badami, a Sydney-sider born and bred, and as proud of his Indian heritage as his 'Westie' origins, is a writer who is prolific in the composition of texts based on his experiences and influences. Sunil’s written for publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and The Australian Literary Review. Badami is the composer of “Sticks and Stones and Such-like”, a short story apart of the ‘Stories from Growing up Asian in Australia’. “Sticks and Stones and Such-like” is a short story that explains how an innocent Indian boy doesn’t fit into society because of his name, Sunil. For majority of the story Sunil is ashamed of his name, however under his mother’s influence eventually finds his belonging. Sunil begins his story with names he would be called just because of his race, for instance curry muncher and darkie. It would then be followed up with a “Chinese burn or a dead-leg.” Sunil had everything going against him, he was Indian and he had a name which people would bag him about because they couldn’t pronounce it. This shows us that the group of people at that time were extremely racist and that it would have been very hard for Sunil to fit in, which led him to change his name to Neil. Sunil found false sense of belonging in his name change and states, “I could feel their approval at the effort I was making to fit in.” After his cover name is blown, his mother gives a long lecture as to what his name really meant. Sunil learns to take pride in his name and lives courageously under his mother’s influence.