Ravista Mehra: "Broken Englizh"
The initiative by Ravista Mehra that transforms into a blog and book, Broken Englizh, celebrates stories of raw cultural identities, told in non-standard forms of Englizh, as spoken by international residents of the world.
Broken Englizh is an attempt to demystify decolonization through the power of first person narrative. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says in her Ted talk ‘The Danger of a Single Story’, that ‘the single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story’. This collection of published stories was an effort to get stories from people whose story may never have been told before, either because they didn’t think it was important to tell or because others didn’t think it important to listen or read. It is the smaller, personal, seemingly insignificant stories that have the power to humanize, empower and repair the broken dignity of a larger people or place.
What Ravista asked from the participants of this initiative was to look back at their life through the lenses of ethnicity, race, disability, heterosexist rhetoric, or perceived representations, and try to explain to themselves and to the reader, where it is that they fit in the world, or don’t. Expression comes to us best in our mother tongue and so she encouraged people to write in their language of choice. Mehra collected 26 stories in 5 different languages. She helped with translations as it is crucial these stories be read in the West, as they are a part of the target audience.
The phrase ‘Broken Englizh’ according to Mehra is ‘the expectation that there is a ‘correct’ form of English for the non-native to express themselves in’. It is usually used in a derogatory sense. However, her blog and book celebrates the breaking of such tyrannical ideas and the stuck-up English grammar. The participants were not only from a lineage of the colonised, but also the coloniser. This gave the stories power to be a conversation rather than just a ‘one sided recount’ - a quality that has endeared narratives of the West for far too long.
Working alongside another RISD Alumni, illustrator Paridhi Mundra, Mehra created the Broken Plates that go with each story. There is no one narrative that deserves to be the token story for any place or people. Each story deserves its own plate, & each misunderstood assumption deserves to be shattered. The colonial West has an interesting fascination with memorabilia, an object that reminds them of the good old times. Mehra took that concept & flipped it. She broke the pretty souvenir plate. She refuse to accept that one story can represent a time period, place or people. Instead of having the plates showcase a naive narrative of a far away country, Mehra chose to depict the stereotypes that exist of that place or people. And more importantly to break them, literally & visually. These are not precious momentos. These are hurtful lingering thoughts of a culture, place or people and they need to be checked & changed.
This project was recently recognised by British Vogue, in their partnership with Fashion Crossover London, who highlighted 26 upcoming artists and designers for their work. This article featuring Broken Englizh and Ravista Mehra were part of the December issue of British Vogue 2021.
The printed book that has 11 stories published out of 26, by Sold Out Publishing was recognized by Elephant Magazine as the most exciting and innovative book at the Hypertext Book Virtual Festival!
