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Aug112007
Interview with Adrianna Tan
“The attachment I have with India is something I cannot describe in words. It is like a past life thing”
You might find that a trifle hard to believe, coming from a young Singaporean blogger. It is impossible to miss Adrianna Tan’s disarming honesty when she speaks with rare insight from her unique experiences she has had in India. But then ‘Popagandhi‘ is much more than a tourist in India. Mutineers Woke, 2S and Angel caught up with Adrianna on her visit to Bangalore to ask her about experiences in blogging, travelling and her passion that is India.
Listen to the complete interview here:
powered by ODEOAngel: To begin with, why the name ‘Popagandhi’?
AT:There was this band whom I used to listen to called Popagandhi (Not too sure if thats what she said),nothing to do with India. It was a political punk band. Also there was this guy who I used to be a fan of, who had a website called ‘Popaganda’and I just put two and two together and came up with the name ‘Popagandhi’Angel: When did you start writing about India?
A.T:Almost like a year and a half.
I would say I was interested in India about a year before I started this website. It looked liked a good part of me and who I was.
Angel: Why?
A.T:I used watch Bollywood movies and as I child I used to wander in the back alleys of Singapore, talking to Tamilians, eat Bengali food.. I used to be fascinated by the whole culture and most of my friends were Indians. I don’t really know why - it is like a past life thing to me.
Woke: When you came here what is the first thing that struck about India?
A.T:The first time I came was to Kolkata for an year doing some work with an NGO and the first thing that struck me was how it felt like home. I never felt it was a foreign country and I settled in quite nicely and everything sort of made sense.
2s: Which city do you like most in India?
A.T:I like different cities for different reasons though I really like Bombay and Bangalore a lot.
Angel: Where all have you travelled in India?
A.T:Kolkata, Darjeeling, Shillong, Chirapunjee, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, ,Jodhpur, Udaipur..
Angel: Thats more than wat all three of us put together have visited!
AT: (smiles) …Bangalore, Goa, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai…
2S: And has it changed since you visited India first?
A.T:It has certainly become…much more..obviously prosperous, the economy. Even MG Rd in Bangalore has changed a lot since last year.. the Metro coming up, different developments happening..
Angel: Do you see blogging as a means of self-expression or reaching out to more people?
Woke(interrupts) : Why do you write a blog?
AT: Why do I write a blog? Let me think. Good question.
I started blogging 8 years back, even before I knew what a blog was and I started what has became a blog now. I was learning HTML. I was 15. I did not want to study and was doing lot of rubbish. Eventually I wanted to be writer and the blog seemed to be a good way to see what Im writing for, to get feedbacks and criticism..reaching out to a new a new audience. So what Popagandhi has become is that …it is both self-expression and reaching out.. because I get to write about things that are close to my heart. I write professionally now, but my blog writing is sort of different. I can write about India in the blog that I wouldn’t write for, say a publication and people seem to like it and I have reached out to a pretty good audience.
Woke: Would you still write a blog if you din’t have so much of an audience?
A.T : Yeah I will.
Woke: You have mentioned in your blog that 40-hour train journeys are “fun” - in double quotes. Why is that?
A.T: Most people don’t consider these things as fun,especially where I come from - Singapore, because everything is comfortable. The concept of travel there is to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and $100 and things like that. For me this is what I do for a living.
Woke: What do you like Singapore that you don’t find in India?
A.T: I love Indian food but there is thing about Singapore that I can find different available cuisines like Chinese.. I could eat a different cuisine for every meal and I wouldn’t be done. That is one thing I like about the country.
Woke: Which other countries have you been to?
A.T: Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, South Korea, Austria, Australia, Honk Kong, China..
Woke: How is India different from all these places?
A.T: Its kind of weird. I cannot really describe why but I feel very comfortable here.
Angel: Your blog is like an open book. There is lot about you on it..is it good or how does it affect you?
A.T:I live in a small country with around 4 million people .My blog is quite well read and there are about 3000 people from around the world who visit my blog every day. Sitting in a cafe or restaurant in Singapore, where people recognise me..I mean it doesn’t happen all the time, but often enough to freak me out. People seem to know so much about me, what I don’t like and what my mother said to me 2 years back…it is kind of wierd. You put yourself out there ..it is a bit scary.
Woke: Does it stop you from writing about yourself frankly..?
A.T: Certainly. I think if your readership becomes more than 10, you sort of have to protect yourself. There are things which I woudn’t write about in a blog…like I started blogging when I was in school, but I never wrote about school or take peoples name with so much detail that you could guess who that person was.
2S: What are you plans in life. Ambition?
A.T: I always wanted to be a photo journalist. I do some freelance photojournalism for various publications and I will see how it goes from here.
Woke: Your one unforgettable expererience in India. Good or bad.
A.T: It has to be Chirapunjee.Just being out there in a place like that. It is not like anywhere else in India. North east - it is so remote and completely different. I was in car and my driver was taking us down the hill and every 10 minutes he stops and talks to his friends in a different language everytime.
Yeah, Chirapunjee in the rain during monsoon.
Woke: It is there your blog that travelling changes you as a person. According to you what changed?
A.T: It is sort like an education…and you become aware of things that are bigger than your comfort zone. There was a time when I wouldn’t think about travelling in a train which is not air-conditioned. But I do that every couple of days now. Taking to so many different people from different all walks of life - just changes you.
2S: Is there a stereotype about Indians in Singapore.. like brown guys with pointed toe nails..?
A.T: (Laughs)
About 10% of the population is of Indian origin. So you always have this idea of ‘India’ and ‘Indians’. But unless you make an effort to find out about India, you would never know that there is so much of diversity out here. For them, they think of India as.. there are Tamils mostly and Indian food is like Idli,dosa..
Angel: What kind of Indian food do you like?
A.T: I like Bengali and Andhra food.
Woke: What is that one thing you would change about India if you could?
A.T: The Men!
I mean.. its not like I could do anything about it. But I wish it could be easier for women - not just foreign women..
(Just go through Popagandhi to see why she thinks so)
Angel: I agree! Thanks for talking to Mutiny and I am sure all your fans and readers will be happy to hear from you. Hopefully we will see you the next time you come here.
It must have been a engrossing interview. We never noticed that CCD still plays Bon Jovi’s ‘It’s my life’ until we played the recording.
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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Karan
001
12:57 am
Kudos to Mutiny team for such an initiative…..
Chacko
002
1:32 am
You guys should have asked about her lesbian identity and its reactions in India.
Mathai
003
2:09 am
Chacko, your comment only shows your perv state of mind. If you are really bothered about lesbian identity reactions in India - try looking for it yourself.
Chacko
004
2:15 am
Mathai, since when has only ‘prev state of mind’ people have the right to talk about sexuality? Is a healthy discussion about homosexuality impossible? Your reaction to my comment has shed some light on who the real ‘prev state of mind’ person in this conversation is.
Balaji
005
4:36 am
Found my way here from popagandhi’s blog - nice interview, but I think you skimmed the surface a little too much there (maybe you guys prefer larry king style interviews?
).
Interesting site - some of the articles resonate nicely with me (But then it should be obvious why
).
One last comment as a would-be photographer - would it have killed ya guys to have shot the photos with a better camera? I mean, even at the small size in the article, the grain in those snaps is making my eyes bleed! You could have cadged a shot from popagandhi’s camera at least
Chacko
006
5:41 am
Balaji, what exactly were you staring at in the picture to make your eyes bleed?
angel
007
6:21 am
Hey Balaji…Im tempted to call them special effects…but i think ill let you in on the secret…..we had the graphics team work on it to make me look slimmer ;-)…
Jokes apart…sorry for the pic quality…
My Bad!
Mathai
008
11:50 pm
Chacko dear chap, please read your 1st comment - no where in this interview or in her blog does she or the interviewers mention her lesbian identity. I am surprised you could even pull that from thin air. I dont mean to be defensive of popagandhi but I dont think its right to cast such aspersions on a anyone’s character. And try not to hide under the “right to talk about sexuality” you know well thats not the topic here but you asking the interviewers to ask popagandhi about her sexuality. I dont see the relevance. Right to discuss/practice one’s sexuality is permitted & I support that right and if homosexuality needs to be discussed, probably a topic/post opened & discussed. That would be a relevant forum.I read your posts & I expected better. And I am not going to respond to your last line.
Balaji
009
12:08 am
Chacko - it was more of a glance and then “argh! my eyes!! they bleed >.
Balaji
010
12:14 am
Damn comment form decided to treat an angle bracket as unescaped HTML grrr
S0 here we go again:
Chacko - it was more of a glance and then “argh! my eyes!! they bleed!!”
angel - no worries! I found the article a nice read. One suggestion - in shots such as these, “Noise Ninja” or “Neat Image Pro” are your best friends
chacko
011
1:15 am
@Mathai, before you make assumptions, it would be a good idea to check facts. First, you go here - http://www.popagandhi.com/about/ - and then you clcik here - Fridae (glbt profile) - (http://www.fridae.com/personals/profile.php?username=skinnylatte).
Now might be a good time to say sorry.
Mathai
012
2:01 am
Chacko, you are absolutely right. My apologies for assuming & I take back my earlier comments. Thank you.
Tom Bolling
013
11:41 am
Thanks so much for interviewing my wonderful friend Adri. I’m one of the people who visit her blog daily. I’m extremely fond of Adri… love her… so thank you again.
Daniel
014
8:01 am
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding o.us poetry, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong
angel
015
9:36 am
@Tom
Glad you liked the interview!Do keep visiting the mutiny as we will have many more interesting personalities being interviewed here…!!
chakky
016
1:35 pm
nice interview & kind of unique initiative. First time visit to this site too..looks interesting
Bling King
017
10:40 am
Guess a typical interview…rite…??? wot say…??? Think u cud do much better… now who in the pic r ya… ??? juz kiddin… LoL… kp it up….
shubho
018
9:19 am
this chacko is too funny… a bigot too. i suspect a troubled adolescence.
Cousin Judy
019
9:49 am
To Adriana Tann: Please email me to discuss Tann family history. I read a manuscript from a cousin which gives Bible history from the 1700’s of the origin of the Tann family. You will be pleasantly suprised.
Thank you