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ABC Lifes Bhakthi Puvanenthirantalked to South Asian Australiansabout their experiences with arranged marriages and navigating issues of caste.
How has it been for you since the show premiered?I dont know.
Now I literally cant avoid my name.
Its an interesting phenomenon.
Its something I could have never anticipated.
Its been a roller coaster since.
A friend of a friend posted, Are you South Asian?
Are you looking for your significant other?
And I thought,Well, yes and yes.
She said, Apply to this show, my sisters on the casting team, or whatever its called.
I applied while literally standing in line, boarded the plane, didnt think anything of it.
A week later or two weeks later I dont recall somebody called me about my software.
I thought it was spam.
They wanted to Skype, and then the process kicked off with the casting team.
I thought nothing else has worked.
Wouldnt it be the craziest story if I had to go through all of a TV show?
I thought it would actually be the cutest story, if it could work.
And I was pretty sure it would work.
Are you still seeing any of the people you matched with?Well, I dont see anyone.
Im sitting in my house all day.
But, no, am I seeing them in a romantic way?
Definitely not.L.A.Timesopened that up right away.
Do I talk to them?
Hes been a big support, and weve remained really close friends.
I text Jay and Dilip, from my dates, pretty much every day, too.
Ive become really close to Ankita in Delhi.
I speak to Manisha and Nadia here on the Stateside.
Rashis reached out a couple of times, from the Vyasar episode.
Whats interesting about the show is that we were all filming in a vacuum.
Like, other cast members on reality shows, when theyre filming, [they] are filming together.
We were floating along in our own bubbles.
I didnt even know that these people really existed.
So thats been a special part.
I relate a lot to Ankita.
Shes very modern and progressive, and thats the way I actually always saw women in India my age.
Those are the kinds of women I met when I traveled to Bombay to visit family.
It can go either way.
I think the show is triggering for a lot of people, as it turns out.
That was a surprise.
I was honestly shocked.
I took the show at face value: as entertainment.
I assume the normal viewer would as well.
Sima seemed like a force.
Quite quickly I realized there was something lost in translation.
My eagerness to share that with her was not being understood by her.
But maybe she knows something I dont know.
This is her job, this is her profession, and shes the expert.
You think youre signing up for a matchmaker to gain control of the situation.
But that is actually not the reality of it at all.
But then if you just said, I want a good person, what does that really mean?
Our conversations, off-camera, had a lot more context behind them the broader things that I wanted.
I mean, the Bolivian salt flats are not so important, right?
Somebody sent me a graph last night that I put up on my Instagram story.
I was literally crying.
I was laughing so hard.
All of India is Googling the Bolivian salt flats.
Im like,What is this?Thats television.
Im taking it better than on day one.
These are choices that you have.
Sometimes theyre not always in my control.
I guess I knew people did that, but Im a little shocked that people do that.
Thats not my world.
Seven days ago, I didnt even really watch TV.
Its interesting that people feel this way about any show, not just this show.
But Ive been more focused on the conversations Im having whether theyre positive or negative.
I built my career.
It was not an expectation.
They say, Im married.
I should be more vocal.
So its not just a woman whos my age or younger or older looking for a partner.
Its women across the board.
Ive heard from 12- and 13-year-olds.
Ive heard from 70-year-olds.
Its an across-the-board female experience, and its been amazing to hear.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
