With midterm season slowing down, I finally found myself an opportunity to watch a couple Ted Talks. In particular, there was one speaker that stood out exceptionally well in terms of a hilarious personality and rather eye changing presentation, Nav Bhatia. Most notably recognized as one of Canada’s top car salesman and official “Superfan” of the city’s basketball team, Toronto Raptors, Nav Bhatia is also an iconic symbol for the country’s Canadian-Indo culture.
One of Nav Bhatia’s greatest emphasis was to believe in self-confidence and expression. Living in Canada, Nav also prides himself as both a Canadian and Sikh at heart. It is the freedom of Canada that he cherishes so well. Relating it to the recent topics of ASTU 100, we’ve looked at subject matters regarding that of culture and identity. Through this, I believe Nav Bhatia has broken the barrier of immigrant stereotypes. By outperforming at his car dealership, Nav Bhatia proved that not all Indians/Sikhs just drive taxis. Furthermore, Nav Bhatia holds celebrity status throughout North America with his ongoing participation in the Toronto National Basketball Association.
If more individuals were as open to expression such as Nav Bhatia, nations across the world could see a culture change. Canada is already home to that of hundreds of culture varieties, French, Chinese, Indian, Korean, Japanese and many more. Not to say it’s happening already, Canadian can be defined by many as a culture of diversity. With this ongoing trend, Canada has seen an exponential growth in the last decade in accepting various ethnic backgrounds. Nav Bhatia is a key role model in culture identity in our nation. Who knows who might the next culture changing hero will be.
“Integrate with society, out of the zone where you are not welcomed.” -Nav Bhatia
/Vinson Tam
References
Changing Perceptions — From Sikh To Superfan. Toronto: TedxToronto, 2014. DVD.
Video Link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtNZd4hiSmY)
Hi Vinson! I really enjoyed reading your blog. It took me back to the first joint lecture we had With our Politics, Sociology and Astu profs and how they emphasized on global citizenship. They touched upon the idea of the ‘global passport’. It’s funny because Dr. Erickson stressed on the fact that such things don’t exist “there is no such thing as a Global Passport” yet when I read things like your blog it makes me crave such a ‘thing’. I guess you could say I feel this way because of my background, but I really do believe that if we had something that brought the world together, and almost forced us to look out for each other, the world would be a much more accepting and progressive place. I think that examples like Nav Bhatia need to be brought to light more because cultural differences and appearances are one of the main reasons racism occurs in todays world. When people comment on my appearance and say “Well, you don’t look Canadian” I take a step back and think ‘what does it actually mean to look canadian? What does a Canadian look like?’. Its upsetting to hear stories of discrimination within Canada even today, and I feel like you did a great job bringing the point about Nav Bhatia defeating the stereotype into light. Thank you!