A year back a Hindu festival made its prime-time debut on the American airwaves as a major theme in the ‘Diwali’ episode of The Office. Last Thursday, October 25, India witnessed what had signalled a positive shift in the landscape of American television and became a reason for celebration for the Indian community there.

The popular show on STAR World features Mindy Kaling in the role of Kelly Kapoor, a stunningly ordinary character who is upbeat, chatty, girl next door, minus the exaggerated accent and the super math abilities, which had become the gauge for Indian representation in America for first-generation immigrants.

In this episode, Kelly invites the gang at Scranton to a Diwali celebration by the Hindu community in Pennsylvania, followed by a hilarious introduction to Hindu culture by the hysterical boss, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) to a not-so-interested odd group of employees until interrupted by Toby (Paul Lieberstein). “My Indian cultural seminar was going great until Toby decided that he was too immature to deal with culturally explicit images. It’s just sex, people. Everybody does it,” says Steve. Convinced that Diwali is a Hindu counterpart of Halloween, Michael and girlfriend Carol (Nancy Walls) go dressed as a two-headed monster and a cheerleader, respectively, which triggers a series of astounding sighs from the dadis and nanis. Some great moments apart, the song by Michael at the end of the episode remains a comical high point. A “tribute to one of the greats, Adam Sandler”, he begins, taking off on the Hanukkah song that goes: It’s time to celebrate Diwali/ Everybody looks so jolly/ But it’s not Christmas, it’s Diwali/ The goddess of destruction, Kali/ Stopped by to celebrate Diwali/ Don’t invite any zombies/ To our celebration of Diwali/ Along came Polly/ To have some fun on Diwali/ If you’re Indian and you love to party/ Have a happy happy Diwali!

The episode was inspired by a Diwali fete hosted by the writing staff of I Am Earl the year before. Though it did poke fun at a few Indian stereotypes, it marked an important step in the representation of South Asians on mainstream American TV.

Opashona Ghosh