Comedian Zarna Garg opens up about her Mumbai roots, new memoir, and more

If the hit web series The Marvelous Mrs Maisel was about an Indian woman it might look a little like Zarna Gargrsquos life But only on the surface Therersquos the same trajectory of a stayathome wife hitting a real low point in life a major identity crisis until she finally finds her true calling with an impromptu standup performance at an open mic night in a basement in New York City And then goes on to become a worldfamous comedianLike Mrs Maisel Garg grew up in an affluent but orthodox family that didnrsquot quite know what to make of her outspoken nature or at times brash humour Except Garg grew up not in NYC but right here in Mumbai as the youngest child of an export merchant In the US her motormouth and fiercely independent streak would have been celebrated as ldquoAmerican teen spiritrdquo here it became the reason why she was kicked out of her home at just 14Zarna GargTherersquos nothing funny about a 14yearold being disowned by her father because she refuses to be traded off in an arranged marriage weeks after her motherrsquos death Or how she went from a comfortable SoBo life in a 5000squarefoot Nepean Sea Road apartment to being homeless for close to two years until she moved to the US Itrsquos not the most obvious material for comedy And yet as we read her new memoir This American Woman Gargrsquos matteroffact comedic voice forces chuckles out of us even as we sob over her many misfortunes emotional and financial abuse by her father suffering through the often dehumanising arranged marriage market losing all of her familyrsquos savings during the pandemicldquoWe really tried to write it in an entertaining and hopefully funny way Even though itrsquos a real story with ups and downs I hope the book makes people smile and laughrdquo she tells us over a video call from her NYC home How does she make comedic gold out of all the lemons life has thrown at her ldquoA lot of comedy comes from dark placesrdquo she says ldquoStandup comedy as an art form was developed in concentration camps when people had nothing If you think of what comics do these jokes are developed in the middle of the night by people who have literally nothing and are hanging on to their last hoperdquoWith her husband Shalabh Garg who has been her greatest champion Pic courtesyThis American WomanGarg takes gentle and yet incisive potshots at the patriarchal culture she grew up fighting from not being allowed to read the newspaper to refusing to give up her right to choose her own life path and partner ldquoI remember running to read the newspapers mdash including midday mdash and folding it back perfectly so my father wouldnrsquot find out I was obsessed with learning Even today if my flight is delayed Irsquoll look up how to fly a planerdquo quips Garg who didnrsquot even consider marriage until she had earned her law degree at 22 mdash a spinster by traditional Gujarati standards at the timeWhen she was ready for marriage she took matters into her own hands publishing a hilarious ad ldquosomething along the lines of lsquoIrsquom short and Irsquom fat and Irsquom bossyrsquordquo and then asking interested suitors to send her their tax returns and medical records Unlikely as it seems thatrsquos how she met her husband and biggest champion mdash Shalabh Garg Despite her ambition marriage and motherhood eventually took over Gargrsquos life She tried her hand at many businesses disposable toothbrushes vegetarian chilli stew and even a matchmaking service but they all failedldquoWhen my third kid started school fulltime I was feeling lost thinking what do I want to do with my life this canrsquot be itrdquo says the comedian ldquoMy daughter Zoya was the one who said lsquoMom people love hearing your stories you should try standuprsquo And thatrsquos how I ended up going on stage the first time at 44 just to shut my kids uprdquoItrsquos hard to believe there was no one doing Indian motherinlaw jokes until Garg arrived on the scene ldquoTherersquos a universal audience for thatrdquo chuckles the comedian from New York City best known for her ldquofunny brown momauntyrdquo personaFrom calling her motherinlaw the Cword to quipping that the way to make American great again is to get black and brown folks out of prison and put all the mothersinlaw there her humour is on the very edge of relatable and provocative There are plenty of people yelling their displeasure in the comments section on her Instagram particularly when she cracks jokes about family During one show she had joked that her husband canrsquot wait for her to be on TV because he finally gets to put her on mute ldquoPeople said lsquoOh my God thatrsquos so meanrsquo Itrsquos a joke Every married man has had a moment where theyrsquove thought lsquoI wish shersquod be quietrsquordquoNever one to hold back she recently revealed on her podcast The Zarna Garg Family Podcast that shersquod used weight loss medication She got hundreds of DMs some lauding her for her openness others trolling her ldquoThe fact that it made headlines in India was hilarious mdash I have to write a joke about thatrdquo she says ldquoIf there is medication out there that can help me live a healthier life I would be stupid not to take it There are guys out there taking Viagra all day long I donrsquot ask them why they take itrdquoAt her shows ldquoIndian uncles come with such hostile energy You just know that their wives or daughters or somebody dragged them inrdquo she says ldquoBut after five minutes even they canrsquot help laughing and relaxing I think itrsquos a matter of keeping an open mindrdquoIndia mdash eager fans and grudging uncles alike mdash will get to see a whole lot more of Garg in the coming weeks On July 18 her new special Practical People Win will start streaming on JioHotstar while on July 25 shersquoll be here in the city taping her podcast live Shersquos also looking forward to the Indian premiere of a new movie shersquos starred in A Nice Indian Boy ldquoTherersquos a lot more comingrdquo says the prolific entertainer whorsquos already moved on to her next project with Mindy KalingIndian heart American dreamOn the creative concept behind her bookrsquos cover Garg says ldquoI will die an Indian woman thatrsquos who I am But therersquos something very American about my life this could only have happened in the US I kind of fell into America I wasnrsquot the immigrant who was looking to leave India And I wanted to honour both these truths of my liferdquoOn the ldquobrown auntierdquo lookWhen it came to picking her signature look Zarna Garg didnrsquot have to look too far ldquoI just decided to embrace who I really am mdash a simple grounded Indian mother who is obsessed with her kidsrsquo education and focused on living a very boring liferdquo she quips ldquoI love kurtas and have always worn bindis Although Photoshop filters sometimes read my bindi as a mole and automatically erase itrdquo