The author Rupinder Gill discusses her new memoir, On the Outside Looking Indian: How My Second Childhood Changed My Life (McClelland & Stewart, 2011), with Joseph Planta.

On the Outside Looking Indian: How My Second Childhood Changed My Life by Rupinder Gill. (McClelland & Stewart, 2011) Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: On the Outside Looking Indian

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver at TheCommentary.ca.

There’s a hilarious new book out, one that’s difficult to put down, and one that’s quite thoughtful too. It also has a hell of a title, On the Outside Looking Indian. Rupinder Gill is its author, who joins me now from here in Vancouver as she promotes it. It’s been compared to the comedy of Russell Peters in some parts, but what it has are the ruminations of someone trying to come to terms with her Indian heritage and that of the North American culture she grew up in, in Ontario and that which she saw on television. See, good Indian girls stayed home, cleaned and took care of their siblings, and didn’t sleep over at friends houses, go to Disneyland, or take piano or dance lessons. So at 30, Ms. Gill decided to do the things she missed out on growing up, and the journey is at once reflective as it is funny. It’s a great book. On the Outside Looking Indian: How My Second Childhood Changed My Life is highly relatable whether you’re Indian, or like me the son of immigrants, or if you were babysat by reruns of television sitcoms and dramas. It is published by McClelland & Stewart. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Rupinder Gill; Good morning, Ms. Gill.

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