Ontology of Diasporic Emotions in If You See Me, Don't Say Hi by Neel Patel

In If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi (2018), the Indian American author and screenwriter Neel Patel charts the tensions and conflicts of Indian American citizens, mainly from a queer perspective. Patel’s eleven short stories explore human relationships and emotions, with a special focus on such themes as love, friendship, family ties, sexuality and betrayal. The protagonists of the stories are diasporic subjects who recall the myth of the model minority as they struggle to piece their lives together, while striving to achieve professional success by assimilating into mainstream American culture. Starting from these premises, this essay looks at Patel’s stories as narratives where anger, dissatisfaction, melancholia, disorientation, and grief prevail. First, it shows how emotions, understood as “structures of feeling,” shape the South Asian diasporic imaginary. Then, it explores the ways diasporic subjects are immersed in a condition of racial melancholia that characterises the narrative of the model minority. Finally, it discusses how queer grief intensifies this sense of loss, thus laying emphasis on the pedagogic function of negative emotions.