#sorry i meant shikunzli

[allbrows04]

I forced my Hindu/Desi mom to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender- A Saga

I think this is one of the funniest things that have ever happened to me and I have to record this experience somewhere bc I got a real kick out of it

first of all, I need to explain how I got her to watch in the first place:

so I was sitting in my room, and planning a Zuko animatic and doodling him in my sketchbook (I wanted to make an animation based on The Love Club by Lorde) and I realized that, unfortunately, I was going to have to draw Book one Zuko as well. So I’m sitting there, with my ipad propped up on the wall, with a HUGE image of this bald kid covering the entire screen for everyone to see. Right then my mom walked in the room and just,,,, she just froze. I swear she spent an entire minute looking from me to the screen. The first thing she manages when she regains the ability to speak was “what is t h a t?”

me: um- I was drawing him

my mom: you were DRAWING that?

then she just walks out in stunned silence. Whenever she passed by my in the house the next few days, she would just scrunch up the side of her face in mockery of his scar and I absolutely lost it every time. Eventually I mentioned that he happened to be from a really good show but obviously she didn’t want to watch anything that involved a boy who in her opinion, looked like an alien. I now present to you this meme I made at the time when I was telling my friend about the situation:

So eventually, I catch her when she’s SUPER bored and finally convince her to watch the first episode with me. Needless to say, we both cackled like madwomen when Zuko first came onscreen.

a few days later, we ended up staying pretty late watching. When we were about to go to sleep, she turns to me and goes: “so that boy Shikunzli(she pronounces it “shy-koon-zlee”) ... he’s a ... fire bender, right?

me: who?

my mom: you know who! Shikunzli! *scrunches up her face* that one

me: the angry bald one?

my mom: yes the weird one

So after five minutes of me absolutely losing my shit at like one am because my mom called my comfort character “Shikunzli“ I tell her that no, that is in fact not his name, and i try and get her to guess what he was actually called. I can’t really remember her guesses, but some honorable mentions are “Zuzu” and “Li”

so that’s how book one basically went.

Here’s how my mom referred to the characters throughout the show bc she can’t be bothered to remember names:

Katara: “the sister”

Sokka: “the brother”

Aang: “Avatar” but in the desi accent so it’s pronounced “Uhvathar” like how it’s supposed to be

Toph: “Thothulu” which translates roughly to “baby voice” I’m actually not sure if its an actual word or just something we made up. With my family it’s hard to tell

Zuko: “Shikunzli“ because I still don’t think she remembers his actual name

some memorable quotes from when we were watching the show(most of this wasn’t said in English so unfortunately a lot of snarky humor has been lost in translation):

--

my mom when King Bumi was introduced: *excited gasp while pointing at the TV screen* LIKE BHOOMI!!! BECAUSE ITS EARTH!!!

--

so “Appa” also means “father” in telugu so whenever he comes on screen we call my actual appa into the room and go “look!!!! its you!!!!”  he was very confused

--

Sokka, during the North Pole arc: Yue has an ARRANGED MARRIAGE??😨😱

my mom, who is literally married to my dad through an arranged marriage: oH nO hOw hOrRibLe

my mom, later on: oh so she’s going to run away from her arranged marriage. Like a wimp.

--

- she straight up started laughing in the middle of the episode where we learn where Zuko got his scar

- like I know he’s ugly but,,, have you no emotion?

--

iroh: Zuko, I have always loved you like a son

me, tearing up bc I’m a sucker for found family:

my mom: 😑😐

--

*during the blind bandit*

me: ok so this is my favorite one in the show

my mom: oh really? Why is that?

me: idk

--

Toph’s father: She’s just a little baby girl!

my mom, nodding: that’s exactly how i feel about you

my mom sitting there while Toph’s parents are portrayed as overbearing and restrictive: 👁👄👁

- but seriously I just like toph bc shes adorable and badass and I want to adopt her as my little sister even though she could beat the shit out of me

--

Iroh: You must not give in to despair. hope is something you give yourself-

my mom: *nodding sagely* in life, you-

me: do we have to do this right now

--

- both of us witnessed our boy Shikunzli yelling at the sky

- my mom called him dramatic and then we proceeded to sit there in absolute shock

- I literally started wheezing it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen

- we still make fun of that scene of his to this day

--

*Zuko passes out after making a good decision*

my mom: woah is he ok???

me: oh you thought he was dramatic before??? Just you wait

my mom: *offended gasp* don’t say that! He’s sick!

*several Zuko cutscenes later*

my mom: isnt this stupid guy‘s fever OVER YET???

--

*after Zuko wakes up in the morning and starts being nice to Iroh*

my mom: see why can’t you be more like that?

me, remembering how he’s going to betray everyone in a couple of episodes: you’ll see why

--

me, watching Toph beating the living shit out of some guards: she’s beating them with her tiny little hands 🥺

my mom: tiny little round hands 🥺💗

--

- my mom hated the ember island episode so much that she got up and started putting up our wallpaper while it was playing

- I don’t blame her I bet no adult can sit through an entire episode of melodramatic teenage angsting

--

my mom while watching Iroh give his nephew the silent treatment: ouch 😬

--

my mom seeing sparky sparky boom boom man: ITS S H I V A N

me: I know

my mom: why are they?? Taking our things???

--

My mom at some point during Zuko’s redemption arc: oh he’s just like a typical Hindi movie protagonist

--

- I started tearing up during the scene where he apologizes to Iroh while she just sits there and goes “pshhh i expected that”

--

- while Azula was cutting her hair during her mental breakdown she runs a hand through her diy quarantine haircut and goes “yeah that’s exactly what i did to my hair”

--

*during the very last scene*

my mom: *obnoxious fake kissing noises* close your eyes

me: aren’t I a little too old for that?

my mom:

*Katara and Aang continue smooching as I look away*

my mom: aren’t they done yet?

my mom:

my mom: why- why is it so intense?