Institutional shortfalls are often blamed for the worsening mental health crisis on college campuses, but the problem cannot be traced to one source only.
What the second season does, in a slow-burn, warm-glow kind-of-way, is show viewers that an Indian girl, just like any other girl, can learn to love and forgive herself and forgive others. That she can grow, make mistakes, and emerge better and stronger from the mess. That making mistakes and even becoming a bit unhinged are strengths in and of themselves.
In normal times, Harvard, like most elite and diverse institutions, harbors a host of inequalities on its campus. But on a campus with unprecedented social restrictions, the pandemic — as it has everywhere else — exacerbated already existing socioeconomic inequalities amongst its student body.
Lahiri’s characters are complacent, not confrontational. Abiding, not rebellious. And emotionally stable, never unhinged. These characteristics perpetuate the notion that Asian-Americans are meant to blend in, be the “model minority,” not cause trouble, be apologetic, and passive – to sit in both pain and silence.
We need to shift the way we tell, praise, and mass produce stories about Asian-Americans. We have to illuminate and give space for minor feelings—the feelings of abandonment and anger and confusion that result from internal and external worlds constantly in conflict.
