Malayali beauty now wants to act in films
At the end of a long lineup of beautiful women stood a Malayali girl with long, dark tresses, a pair of large brown eyes and wearing a red dress, waiting. Angela Goraphy was not quite in her elements that day, as she had an allergic reaction and her vision was blurred. But on that Seattle stage, she demonstrated a fusion Bharatanatyam dance, she walked the ramp and answered questions. Finally, it was the moment of reckoning. It was time for the announcement of Miss India Washington 2014. Angela didn’t expect to win she was pushed into the pageant by Menaka Soni, who ran a market place in Seattle, and sometimes put together fashion shows. So when she heard the name Angela, she turned around to look at the girl behind her with a similar name. She remembers someone pushing her to the front and accepting her crown.
“I was hesitant at first because of time constraints,” says Angela on a Skype call from Seattle. “But I had the support of my friends and family, especially my mom. My dad was tense.” Her dad Suresh hails from Kottayam, and her mom Latha from Kumarakom. Angela’s Malayalam is a perfect mix of both, no Americanness in her words. She has a younger brother Allen. Angela had last come to Kerala in the summer of 2009 and gone back a confused desi. “My parents had moved to Seattle 21 years ago, when my mom was eight months pregnant with me. I often asked her, ‘Why couldn’t you have waited for a couple more months?’” She grew up wondering how she would fit in, delighted whenever she saw another Indian in class. Her parents were also new in America, so Angela didn’t know whom to talk to. She had to teach herself a lot of things.
“When I performed Bharatanatyam in school as a third grader, I was surprised by the appreciation I got. I didn’t think they would like an art form they didn’t know about.” Angela’s love for Indian dance began at the North West Folk Life festival she went to as a kid. “I saw this Indian lady performing Bharatanatyam in pyjamas, looking so happy with her dance. I wanted to be that girl.”Back home, her dad played Oru Murai from Manichithrathazhu and Angela loved Shobana. She learnt Bharatanatyam for four years and then taught herself contemporary dance and
acrobatics.Growing up, she set up a dance school where Indian students came to learn.
She had also became active with the Kerala Association of Washington, where she started as a six-year-old, became the youngest representative at the age of 10, a youth leader at 16 and the youngest joint secretary at 20. Three years ago, she began modelling and also became the youngest choreographer with Pratidhwani, a non-profit organisation in Seattle, while pursuing her studies. She is about to finish her Bachelors in health care administration. She would love to act too. But putting herself out there was not always easy. Her conservative background came in the way, but everybody began accepting her ways, her outspokenness and her curious cultural mix. But after that summer trip to India five years ago, Angela was in a dilemma whether to return to India and join school in Kerala, where she found life simple, people friendly. It is only then she realised she might be considered an outsider in Kerala. “I got to know both my American and Indian sides and combine it to make life simple. I am no longer an ABCD (American-born confused desi), I am an ABD!”
( Source : dc corerespondent )
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