Uncool To Be “Cool”

I was lucky enough to be invited to back-to-back events that promised to thrill. On Friday evening “British Asian Culture: Doomed to be Uncool” and Atul Kochhar on Saturday afternoon to present his “Curries of the World” new recipe book.

Why are British Asians analysing whether we are “cool” and why are we always saying “cool” in inverted comas as if to make the point that we’re not cool? Isn’t it now uncool to describe anything as cool? Like how a Fun Dad describes David Bowie.
The panel were fabulous and discussed the theme with great gusto, charm and passion but, here’s the but again, deep down I couldn’t help thinking that there are plenty cool Asians all over Britain but none that would be spending a Friday night analysing the ins and outs of coolness! As far as I could see, all the panel were delightfully cool, the Cook in Boots lady even more so with her catwalk rock chick model beauty – wow, how have I missed her?

In a nutshell, it was NOT cool being Asian in the 80s but now we are cooler than everyone else – hurrah!

My definition of “cool” includes people who don’t give monkey’s about what anyone thinks of them. This list includes people like my friend who wears clothes from H&M Kids because she doesn’t have to pay VAT on kids clothes. So she will sit in a pub holding a pint in a High School Musical T-shirt.

Bunty

Tags: Asia House, Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, books, British Asians, Cook in Boots, cool, cool asians, debate, discussion, Festival of Asian Literature, Ravinder Bhogal, The Fonz, uncool