Auntie Zarna Takes the Mic

One often has to be reminded of their talent and told: "Hey, you have it in you." In the Indian-American comic Zarna Garg's case, that person was her daughter Zoya, who asked her mother to try her hand at stand-up comedy.

- SAURABH SHARMA

One often has to be reminded of their talent and told: "Hey, you have it in you." In the Indian-American comic Zarna Garg's case, that person was her daughter Zoya, who asked her mother to try her hand at stand-up comedy. It'd have been daunting for Garg to embark on this ambition, 18 "failed LLCs later." But Garg acted on her "special gift" and transformed herself into Auntie Zarna, her onstage persona and as her fans love to call her, bursting onto the standup comedy scene after being a "stay-at-home mom" for 16 years.

Garg's jokes have a near-universal appeal. She encapsulates in them the trials and tribulations of everyday life, enhancing relatability. The avatar of a no-nonsense, middle-class Indian mom further accentuates her screen presence. She's likeable, and the reels and videos she posts are unskippable. But lately, she has been in the news because of her book, This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir.

Comprising 21 chapters, one of which is written by Zoya, the book begins with a question Garg had asked her agent: "Do Tina Fey and Amy Poehler need an opener for their new tour?" The response to this question paid dividends, though Garg doubted whether these two famous figures were "ready for a foul-mouthed real-life Indian auntie who hated meditation". This anecdote in the introduction to this book intrigues the reader to learn about the "transformation of a loud-mouthed, backtalking Mumbai teen into a manic, deranged Manhattan housewife, and then back into her loudest, backtalkingest, most unshutable beast form: a New York City standup comedian".