With Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month now upon us, the columnist reincarnated as “Herb Caen Tagore” and infiltrated a wealth of events.
Taking his nom de plume from the legendary San Francisco Chronicle master of three-dot journalism, Herb Caen, but also Rabindranath Tagore, the writer, poet, philosopher and playwright, the columnist tried to attend everything Asian-adjacent he could manage in a small number of days.
Tagore was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize of any sort and also the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. “India has two aspects,” Tagore wrote. “In one she is the householder, in the other a wandering ascetic. The former refuses to budge from the cozy nook, the latter has no home at all.”
Like Tagore, I find both of these within me as I write. I want to roam and see the world, yet I also yearn for a sheltered little neighborhood, like a bird with its tiny nest and the vast sky for flight.
Herb Caen, on the other hand, never won a Nobel Prize, but a fusion of him and Tagore allowed this columnist to meet some talented and inspiring people.
First up was an amazing SJSU theatrical production of Tagore’s Kingdom of Cards. After teaching a fall semester class on Tagore, associate professor of theatre arts Sukanya Chakrabarti translated and directed the play, while also adapting and shaping the story with Matthew Spangler, who made two trips to India as part of his research. Numerous SJSU students starred in the production.
Written by Tagore in 1933, Kingdom of Cards was a dark poetic satire in response to the rise of fascism in Germany, and a well-crafted attack on the absurdities of nationalism, rigid social hierarchies and empire. This new version successfully recast the story for the current administration in the United States, but through the lens of magical realism. The adaptation was a whimsical ridicule of authoritarianism, bigotry, the belligerent corruption of religion for right-wing business purposes and the intentional dehumanization of non-white immigrants at the heart of MAGA policies. The production was refreshing. Thirty years ago at SJSU, there was no South Asian theater of any sort.
Herb Caen Tagore did not stop there, of course. A couple days later, Contemporary Asian Theatre Scene (CATS), founded in San Jose over 30 years ago, commissioned another table reading in Japantown, this time for Aftermath Liturgy, an original experimental work by musical theater writer Min Kahng. Imagine an Asian dude who bailed from the homophobia of his own evangelical faith to produce a Fellini-esque mock liturgy of the whole scenario, replete with audience participation, all to celebrate the power of art. The performance was in a Methodist church, making the night even more brilliant.
As if that wasn’t enough, Herb Caen Tagore then barged into County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga’s lunch at the Mountain View Community Center, where various heroes received awards for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The honorees included the legendary Connie Young Yu, whose books and expertise dramatically improved the Heinlenville history project in San Jose’s Japantown. John Kim, director of the film Reunion, which took home the Audience Favorite prize at Cinequest this year, also received an award.
But wait! There’s even more, in case you missed everything.
This weekend in San Francisco, you can catch the 44th CAAMFest, the film festival by the Center for Asian American Media, in particular, “Breaking the Code,” a documentary about legendary San Jose entrepreneur and TiE cofounder, Kanwal Singh Rekhi, the first Indian American CEO to take a venture-backed company public on NASDAQ way back in 1987.
In the story, Rekhi’s son Ben retraces his father’s journey from pre-Partition Punjab to Indian immigrant to Silicon Valley tech pioneer. What began as a profile of his father’s successes eventually became a deeply intimate portrayal of the obstacles their biracial family overcame in the process. To understand himself better, Ben had to first understand the challenges his father never previously revealed, all while trying to complete the film. A remarkable project.
Nests and skies are not just for the birds. They are for columnists too. That is how we roll. Herb Caen Tagore will reincarnate again at a later date.
‘Breaking the Code’: May 9, 5pm, AMC Kabuki San Francisco. $15
