Dossier

“Mirrors, Windows, & Sliding Doors” | Akhand Dugar | TEDxMountainViewHighSchool

The speaker argues that exposure to diverse literature is crucial for broadening worldview, using the metaphor of "mirrors" (reflection of self), "windows" (view of others), and "sliding doors" (transition to new realities). The speaker illustrates this by detailing their own shift from reading exclusively Eurocentric/Americentric books to discovering Indian literature, and later creating work that gave a new perspective on deafness.

## Speakers & Context
- Unnamed speaker; delivered talk while working on her writing career.
- Context involves the comparison between early reading habits in India versus the US, and the realization that literary exposure determines one's perception of the outside world.
- The speaker's mother is a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing.
- The speaker was a preschooler at the Weingarten Children's Center, a school for deaf and hard of hearing children.
- The speaker is currently friends with Arya, who is a senior at Saratoga High and is profoundly deaf.

## Theses & Positions
- Books function as "windows" (showing different worlds), "sliding glass doors" (allowing immersion), or "mirrors" (reflecting the self).
- A narrow reading diet leads to a limited, biased worldview, which the speaker describes as being "very Eurocentric and Ameri centric."
- True literary understanding requires diverse representation: recognizing that "not only one type of person can write books and not only one type of person deserves to have their story told."
- The experience of creating literature about marginalized identities (like deafness) can serve the dual function of a window (for others) and a mirror (for the subject).

## Concepts & Definitions
- **Window/Sliding Door:** Literary elements that allow readers to view or enter worlds different from their own.
- **Mirror:** Literature that allows the reader to recognize and identify with their own experience or culture.
- **Eurocentric/Ameri centric:** A perspective or literature heavily focused on European or American cultural norms, leading to a skewed understanding of the global world.
- **Cognitive dissonance:** The feeling experienced when seeing an Indian author's work after only being exposed to Western authors, signaling a conflict between expectation and reality.
- **Reverse mainstream program:** A preschool setting where the speaker attended, despite not being deaf, allowing her to interact with the deaf community.

## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Literary Diet Formation:** Early reading habits dictated by availability (peers reading *Percy Jackson*, mother reading classics like *Charlotte's Web*).
- **Writing Imitation:** Early writing was restricted by the cultural frame of the material read; characters were white, blue-eyed, and settings were English.
- **Cultural Replication:** The speaker's early writing resulted in "crude attempts to copy British culture and language" because books limited her conception of setting to England or America.
- **Perspective-Taking Writing:** The speaker was able to write from the perspective of a hearing boy (Sid) who was curious about his deaf friend's (Maya) cochlear implants because she held that lived experience.

## Timeline & Sequence
- Age **5** to **11**: Period when the speaker began reading for pleasure while in India, reading books by peers and her mother.
- Grade **5**: Participated in a school-wide writing competition where her story was set in the English countryside.
- Childhood: Early writing began around age **7**.
- Later period in India: Encountering *Malgudi Days* by R.K. Narayan, which served as the first literary "mirror."
- Time moving to the US: Finding mirrors and windows through books on the immigrant experience (e.g., *The Joy Luck Club*).
- Writing the book about Maya: Finished in **January of last year**.
- Over the past year: Reading the book at local schools.

## Named Entities
- **Weingarten Children's Center:** A school for children who are deaf and hard of hearing where the speaker attended as a preschooler.
- **Arya:** Friend, currently a senior at Saratoga High, who is profoundly deaf.
- **Maya:** Character in the speaker's book, a little girl who is deaf and has cochlear implants.
- **Saratoga High:** High school attended by Arya.
- **Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:** Nigerian author who discussed her own reading experiences.
- **R.K. Narayan:** Author whose book *Malgudi Days* was foundational for the speaker.

## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Cochlear implants:** Technology used by Arya and Maya to assist with hearing.
- **Pencil and crayon:** Tools used for the speaker's early creative writing.
- **Books:** The primary medium, ranging from *Percy Jackson* and *Harry Potter* to *Malgudi Days* and *The Joy Luck Club*.

## References Cited
- *Charlotte's Web*
- *Mary Poppins*
- *Roald Dahl*
- *Enid Blyton*
- *Percy Jackson*
- *Harry Potter*
- *The Hunger Games*
- *Diary of a Wimpy Kid*
- *Malgudi Days* by R.K. Narayan
- *The Shiva Trilogy*
- *ROM Chandra series*
- *The Joy Luck Club*
- *Americana*
- *The Spirit Catches You When You Fall Down*
- *The Namesake*
- *The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk*
- *A Long Way Gone*

## Numbers & Data
- Age when moving to India: **5**.
- Age when moving back to the US: **11**.
- Age early writing began: **7**.
- Year book about Maya was finished: **January of last year**.
- Degrees of deafness/hearing: Profoundly deaf (Arya); Deaf/hard of hearing (Maya).

## Examples & Cases
- **Peers' Books:** *Percy Jackson*, *Harry Potter*, *The Hunger Games*, *Diary of a Wimpy Kid* (read by peers in India).
- **Classic Books:** *Charlotte's Web*, *Mary Poppins* (introduced by speaker's mother).
- **Writing Competition Story:** Set in the English countryside, featuring British culture and language (e.g., using the phrase "cheerio" a dozen times).
- **Literary Identification:** The first exposure to R.K. Narayan's *Malgudi Days*, which allowed the speaker to "identify with the cultural references."
- **Book Readings Activity:** The book about Maya was presented to students who learned "something completely new" about people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

## Methodology
- **Self-Surveying:** Surveying peers in India to determine the current reading material.
- **Creative Writing:** Initially mimicking available cultural tropes (English countryside setting, white characters).
- **Empathetic Writing:** Writing a story about deafness from the perspective of a curious hearing child (*Sid*) to validate the experience of a deaf child (*Maya*).
- **Community Engagement:** Reading the finished book aloud in local schools.

## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The ultimate goal is for readers to "go out and seek new ones" authors and stories.
- The core message is to "find your mirrors your windows and your sliding doors."

## Verbatim Moments
- *"books are sometimes windows offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined familiar familiar or strange"*
- *"a window can also be a mirror"*
- *"my perception of the outside world and literature was very Eurocentric and Ameri centric"*
- *"I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading all my characters were white and blue-eyed they played in the snow they ate apples and they talked a lot about the weather"*
- *"this was precisely my experience"*
- *"this was the first time I'd ever been exposed to one [Indian author] and I devoured that book"*
- *"this book was my first mirror"*
- *"I can identify with the cultural references in the book and I could identify with merry and colorful characters"*
- *"I was able to write from the perspective of Sid because I was in his position once I was a hearing child who was very curious about his friend's cochlear implants"*
- *"find your mirrors your windows and your sliding doors"*