Italian American Sikh Female Taxi Driver
October 10, 2011 5:07 PM   Subscribe

Life as an Italian American Sikh Female Taxi Driver Maria Provenzano Singh is an ordinary Italian American woman who married a Sikh man and became a taxi driver.
posted by ichimunki (15 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
She seems like a good egg.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:27 PM on October 10, 2011


God bless America.
posted by koucha at 5:32 PM on October 10, 2011


Interesting that it says they're moving to Indiana to run a gas station. That's going to be quite a different experience. She seems so happy and at home in the video. I hope they are just as happy in Indiana.
posted by bleep at 5:41 PM on October 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


This seems entirely... normal. Almost a dog bites man level of everyday normality.

Which, on reflection, is pretty cool.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 5:43 PM on October 10, 2011


yet she speaks with an American-Italian Brooklyn accent.

Oh man, that accent is indestructible, I've met 3rd generation Korean photographers with the thickest deepest Brooklyn accent cause that's how great grandma talked.
posted by The Whelk at 5:53 PM on October 10, 2011 [2 favorites]


(although on re-listen, from a purely Hey Aren't American Accents Neat! bent, she doesn't have a really deep accent, more "Yes I Am From Brooklyn" but it's a BCC story so maybe it would stand out more for them. She sounds lovely, I'd love to catch her cab.)
posted by The Whelk at 5:59 PM on October 10, 2011


(and cause she sounds like all my Aunts)
posted by The Whelk at 6:00 PM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Very cool and she was driving around my neighborhood at the end there. I hope I get to ride in her cab sometime.

What's interesting is that she came to the U.S. at the age of three as an immigrant with her Italian parents and she was already adapting to a new culture, and that experience of adaptation, and that skill (because it is a skill, you can hear how she makes the different and foreign, sound familiar by cutting through to the vital aspects of family, food, the male-female dynamic, and handles it all with a good cheer and sure knowledge of who she is "in her heart": ie,: Maria Provenzano, Italian).
posted by Skygazer at 6:02 PM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Ooops....here's the rest:

And that skill helped her assimilate into her husband's culture.
posted by Skygazer at 6:04 PM on October 10, 2011


I'm sure it also helped her assimilating to be intelligent enough to recognize the inherent similarities.
posted by bleep at 6:56 PM on October 10, 2011


Adaptability is a huge sign of intelligence.
posted by Skygazer at 7:25 PM on October 10, 2011 [3 favorites]


Forget Indiana, she should move to India and run for political office.

(NOT SONIA-IST)
posted by the cydonian at 7:27 PM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


Reminds me of Melissa Plaut of New York Hack Remember her?
posted by TangerineGurl at 7:40 PM on October 10, 2011


(Was a bit flippant earlier, not having watched the video. Now having watched it, and being a part of a desi-non-desi couple myself, much much respect for the lady for what's she's been through.

The bit about "If they don't accept my husband, they dont accept me" in particular... luckily neither my wife nor I have had reason to say such a thing ever, but I know the feeling, auntie-ji, I know the feeling. Touching, nevertheless. )


Oh man, that accent is indestructible

Just as it is for, ahem, some New Yorkers out here in the blue who speak fluent Hindi (*waves to the guilty person*), it's lovely how her accent code-shifts subtly when she enunciates Punjabi words such as saag or gurudwara.
posted by the cydonian at 11:34 PM on October 10, 2011 [1 favorite]


I always felt like there are more similarities between all cultures than differences. She defines what being American is.
posted by Yellow at 8:02 AM on October 11, 2011


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