“Aunties are older Indian women who have no blood relationship to you, but are allowed to have opinions about your life and all your shortcomings and you have to be nice to them because you’re Indian.”
— John McEnroe aka the narrator explaining the concept of The Aunty to those who have the fortune of not knowing.
When I first watched the trailer for Never Have I Ever, I may or may not have let out an involuntary squeal of excitement to see a brown-skinned girl (played by Canadian Tamil actress, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) as the protagonist. Her name is Devi Vishwakumar. *Grins in fellow 4-syllable, “complicated” Dravidian surname*. I did side-eye the fact that the show was written by Mindy Kaling and therefore bound to be somewhat problematic. Devi was also seemingly heterosexual and middle class so I doubted we’d have much in common. With that in mind, my expectations were reasonable as I sat down to watch it as part of a Netflix Party with two other friends.
The pilot starts off with our 15 year old protagonist praying to the Gods to help her get invited to cool parties, have thinner arm hair and of course land her a hot boyfriend. Not completely unrealistic for a typical teenage girl, right? However, we find out that Devi’s life is not as straightforward as is seems.
Less than a year before this, her extremely hot dad Mohan, unfortunately passed away. This is shown within the first 3 minutes but he does come back in flashbacks throughout this season so fans of Sendhil Ramamurthy (another 4-syllable Dravidian surname) need not fret. Yes. The ridiculously beautiful Sendhil Ramamurthy. I could write a whole article on those cheekbones. That curly black hair. That skin. That SMILE. His whole onscreen presence is a gift to the show. I digress.
The series shows a snapshot of Devi’s journey through grief, loss and attempting to get laid by high school hottie, Paxton Hall-Yoshida, who is half Japanese FYI (if it has to be mentioned many times for you to know, then well…). She also has to deal with her constantly disapproving mother Nalini and her (rather weak) efforts to be there for her two best friends, who are also working through their own problems. Fabiola is struggling with coming to terms with her sexuality and coming out to her family. My gaydar must be on point because I knew she was gay before Fabiola even knew she was gay. Eleanor has a mess of a mother to deal with. The whole thing, bar one episode, is narrated by John McEnroe. It’ll make sense as you watch it, I promise.
The show is not perfect. There is mild casteism in the way that Hinduism is portrayed and I certainly could not connect to that aspect. From the beginning scene when Devi prays to the mainly Vaishnava Gods in her cabinet (what is a Tamil Hindu god cabinet without a statue of Lord Murugan?), to the Ganesh Puja with the Sanskrit Om on the banner (wtf) to the vegetarian parents (which is rare for Tamil people unless you’re of course Brahmin). At one point in the show, the character of Ben clears up the misconception that most people have of Indians being vegetarian which is helpful.
The character of Dr Ryan, Devi’s black female therapist also did not sit right with me. This is probably why.
When it comes to representation, it can be subjective. I am Tamil and Hindu, like Devi but my parents are from Sri Lanka and are blue collar workers. I was born and raised in London. I therefore did not expect her experiences to mirror mine, especially given the politics of my motherland and how civil war has shaped the culture of our diaspora.
However, my heart was warmed by the little cultural likenesses I could find. The mentions of dosa and idli. Devi’s mum getting freaked out by a textbook touching the floor. The smatterings of Tamil spoken in the series. Random conversations that reminded me of my parents. I clung to these similarities as I watched the show. I became attached to Devi. I felt a maternal knot in my stomach every time she behaved so naively with Paxton. Was I feeling protective over her or over my younger self?
Maybe Devi Vishwakumar is the teen heroine my 15 year old self needed to see, growing up. Problematic, angry, striving to make her mother proud, never feeling like enough so acting up to be too much, loathing half sarees. To see that and know that I was not alone would have made all the difference. That’s why I’m #TeamDevi before I am #TeamPaxton, #TeamBen or even #TeamNaliniAndMohan.
If you’ve seen the show, I’d love to know your thoughts. I end this with a quote from someone who knows Devi better than anyone else.
