It’s been eight years since Keeping Up With The Kardashians changed reality television. Wanted: poriborton. Enter, The Keswanis: A Most Modern Family, a web series from People.com. At its heart is an Indian-American family in San Diego. There is nothing conventional about them and a bunch of three children give “family fun” a whole new twist. To keep up with the Keswanis, t2 introduces you to the ‘kast’ members of The Keswanis on People.com!

The real-life connect

Though most of us haven’t dealt with gender transition in the family or are Vine stars, there are some aspects of the show one can relate to — the overprotective father, Sarina’s struggle with body image or Devina’s way of dealing with bullies at school. Let’s hope People.com goes beyond the three episodes that we have seen. For a Bolly buff, it’s Sooraj Barjatya-meets-Karan Johar-meets-Mahesh Bhatt.
And sorry, but give us K for Kardashian over Keswani any day!

‘Doctor dad’ Anil

Twitter handle: @AnilKeswaniMD. His Twitter profile reads: “Corporate VP ambulatory care and population health @ScrippsHealth and president of Scripps Center Executive Health.”

Speak easy: “We celebrate our children and their uniqueness. If you support your children and their ways, and give them structure and support them, they will excel in many ways. I think that’s the biggest challenge,” he has told NBC News.

Away from the show: He tweets and retweets on issues like “miracle” meds, “digital doctor”, Apple Watch, contact lenses. He is no American Joe... thanks to the web series.

‘Momager’ Vaishali

Twitter handle: @VaishKeswani. She has kept her Twitter profile short: “Nik’s mom.”

Speak easy: “That is not your normal American family. It’s not necessarily how we envisioned our life to be, but it’s a life that’s so full and rich,” Vaishali, who has had her share of pageant crowns and has a medical degree (from New England College of Optometry, according to her LinkedIn profile), has told People.

Away from the show: Her life revolves around the family and helping people. “Highlight of my day yesterday was giving a complete stranger in need a basket full of clothes. His smile was priceless,” reads one of her tweets from late October. A more recent tweet reads: “Home is where the heart is. Great time in NYC but happiest when the five of us are all under one roof.” Her life on Facebook is more active. From giving away her ticket to see Taylor Swift in San Diego to reading articles on the relationship with one’s teenager… it seems she is a FB-happy person.

Nik (or BigNik)

Twitter handle: @RealBigNik. The 17-year-old is a Twitter addict and is constantly updating followers about life events. He ends up earning between $4,000 and $10,000 a month from his Vine postings, social media endorsements and other appearances.

Speak easy: “We’re all a little different and a little dysfunctional. But I think that’s the recipe for a happy family,” he said in a recent interview.

Away from the show: The eldest of the three children is a star on Vine (the six-second video sharing service) with 2.7million followers! He has a medical problem: a rare form of dwarfism for which he has had, according to People, several surgeries so far. “I realised that success does not occur by accident. My hardship and pain motivated me to pursue my dream. While my dwarfism makes me look small, when I’m acting, I feel like the big guy in front of the camera. Instead of avoiding obstacles, I become friends with them and succeed in spite of them,” he writes on his website www.bignikonvine.com.

Sarina

Twitter handle: @skdancer124. The 15-year-old middle child is an aspiring model and “an optimist”.

Speak easy: “I’m more of an introvert. My mom and my brother and Devina are more like confident, they are more out there, they have really big personalities,” said Sarina. But dad Anil is really proud of her: “The pageant has really taught Sarina a whole new level of confidence. She’s really learning how to be Sarina. That’s hard when you’re a middle child.”

A fun moment: In the second episode, watch her dad take Sarina to the beach for a bikini photo shoot. His reactions are quite hilarious as he doesn’t have a clue about what is going on.

Devina

Who is she: She is the “transgender princess” in the family. Yes, you read that right. Born Dev, the six-year-old’s parents say “the signs were there from the beginning”. “By age three, there were strong indicators that my little boy was different. He only played with girls, loved dolls and was fascinated with all things that glittered. This became stronger by age four. It’s a phase, I told myself. It wasn’t. Dev repeatedly in any way he could was trying to tell us he was a girl born in the wrong body. My world no longer made sense…. Dev was transgender, a word I had never even heard of until the diagnosis was made,” mom Vaishali writes on her website Inspiramom.com. Dev is in the process of “transitioning” to Devina.

Speak easy: “There’s a lot of people who are transgender. And I’m deciding to do a speech about it and tell my whole school about it,” Devina said in a video.

Away from the show: The Girl Scout has had a tough time with bullies in her school and has been pushed around for being transgender. But nobody can keep a good boy/girl down.

I am hooked to The Keswanis: A Most Modern Family because.... Tell t2@abp.in