Mixed Feelings

He was raised in Canada, the son of an Indian-British father and English-Irish mother.

Avan Jogia is an artist whose work spans film, writing, and music.

To Cleopatra, I love you.

Acknowledgments.
I would like to say thank you to all of you who have contributed your stories to this book.

fist smite ’cause our might is long
King Kong
top of the tower
late is the hour
bang the goddamn gong

fight night ’cause our rights are gone

bare pawns
unable to see what’s going on
swan song
to the days that seem long gone

For underneath my fabled family tree
are buried roots strong and out of sight.

It seems when there is strife,
we concentrate on what makes us different
rather than what makes us whole.
What divides us
rather than what’s inside us.
We reduce ourselves to old rhetoric,
blame their blood for their inability to love
or their heritage, their religion, their race, or their parentage. Blame what they’re made of
rather than face the unfortunate truth
that all your love
and all their effort
just wasn’t enough.

My father would hate the stereotypical Brazilian carefree spirit, my mother would hate the supposed rigidity of Indian culture.