Comic 19: Open, As In Closed

Like many of my 2nd generation friends, my father went to Stanford in the 70s, back when free love was part of the curriculum. His experience growing up in Uganda was so different from hippy San Francisco, that beyond growing a Jesus Christ beard, he was mostly lost.

So, he went back to India and married my mom, who raised my sister and me in a 1973 still-photo, freeze-frame version of a proper Indian upbringing. The short skirts and “friends with benefits” culture in modern Delhi and Bombay left her behind too.

Though their son was born here, he often feels just as lost when it comes to this kind of thing, which can cause him to refer to himself in the third person.

He apologizes.

- Sandeep