Look you guys, I think my biggest beef with fashion designer Rachel Roy is that a search result for her lists her nationality as “American.” Don’t airbrush your proud Bengali roots, sis (especially after you accepted a Children’s Hope of India Spirit of Bengal award!) 🙁
vs.
Unless you’ve been stuck in the bunker from season 1 of Lost, you probably know by now that the world has stopped spinning because Beyoncé premiered Lemonade–a stunning body of work comprised of an hour-plus visual and its companion soundtrack. Basically: It’s all anybody will be talking about for the rest of time (or until Tuesday or so, when we all collectively move onto something else) so go listen to it here.
From Lemonade, the song “Sorry”–which New York describes as “a not-so-subtle castigation of Jay Z for his rumored infidelity”–ends with Beyoncé singing, “He better call Becky with the good hair.” Cut hours later to Instagram, when and where Roy posted this:
After a predictable barrage of misogynistic comments, she deleted the photo and locked her account down.
Probably not related to anything, but I’d be doing anyone who reads this a disservice without offering the compulsory art history lesson: The word “beki” in Bengali tradition refers to an style of border in kantha, a classic Bengali quilt-making art tradition that has its origins in Bangladesh. “Beki” refers to “the wavy or bent” style. Here is a picture of that particular flourish:
Make metahpors about how “Becky” and “beki” are related and how, yes, Beyoncé brushed up on her Beyngali to put Rachel on notice at your own discretion.
Rohin Guha is an Editor at The Aerogram. Follow him @ohrohin and The Aerogram @theaerogram on Twitter.
