February 5, 2025

Why I Am Making a Movie (Revenge On a Priest)

Firstly: thank you if you came to SF Sketchfest and Wait Wait Don’t Tell me in Chicago!

I’m going to tell you the story that inspired the movie I’m making (more on that later!):

I’m a bad, Americanized Hindu. So take it with a grain of salt when I say I do NOT like my family’s Hindu Priest.

Concessions for Team Priest: Making a living as a Hindu Priest in the U.S. seems hard! You gotta do it all: Shaivite and Vishnuite ceremonies, speaking several languages, living near a temple or being able to make one in your house (a real type of temple I have been to)… This is all tough!

Now concessions for Team Rekha: our Priest sucks.

Why? When we lost Thatha and had to do the 13-day Hindu death ceremony, this Priest was the only Tamil-speaking one who could do it in the area. He had a list of pooja items we needed, but then kept adding vessels and statuettes and gold coins and very specific things that he never mentioned before, making my dad go back and forth everyday to get them. And when we couldn’t, he said we could replace those items with cash (which he keeps). He left his phone on during the ceremonies and it rang a LOT. We lost someone else years later, and at that ceremony he asked the deceased’s child when they were getting married and if he could arrange it (at their parent’s funeral???!!!). And he was our only option. I couldn’t help but think what Thatha would say about him, and I believe it’d be, “He’s a derelict.”

I cried all 13 days. Which, as this Priest informed me, was bad, because crying would tie my grandfather’s soul back to the mortal realm. (Cool!!!!!!!!)

But here lies the kicker: I wasn’t just mad at the Priest. I was also mad at myself. I didn’t understand anything. Literally, because the ceremonies were in Sanskrit or Tamil. But also in other ways: I didn’t know why certain things had ten different names, or why I couldn’t find a clear step-by-step guide on how the 13 days were supposed to go. I kept wanting talk, but everyone else kept their feelings close to the chest. I couldn’t tell if I just hated the Priest or was also struggling with my relationship to the religion.

So I had to find my own way. I journaled, joined a grief group, cried in therapy, baked, and wrote a bunch. And it helped a LITTLE, and a LITTLE was simply better than nothing. And over time, I developed a more personal relationship with Hinduism, and know what I want to take and what I don’t. And that has been a LOT helpful. And now I'm turning that journey with grief into a sci-fi movie... which you're gonna be able to help with! WHAT? Yes!!!!!! I will have many more pieces of movie news to tell you very very soon!! 

Do you have a thing you’ve had to invent your own tradition/path for in your family?

STAY TUNED/this Priest still sucks -

Rekha

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Wanna see me perform LIVE?

Wed 2/12 @ 7:00p - Art Begets Show at UCB Franklin (LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE) - hosted by ME AND SANDEEP PARIKH!! Special guest Mike Cheslik (director of Hundreds of Beavers)

Thurs 2/13 @ 7:30p - Gossip Night at UCB Franklin (w/ Jordan Myrick, Lily Du, Rachel Pegram, Jessica Ross, Grant O’Brien, Mike Castle, and Alex Fernie!)

Also: did you see my ode to the Philadelphia Eagles and Indian snacks yet?

And if you didn’t see the live Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me show, here’s the podcast episode here!