Bend It Like Aiken: Sanjaya MalakarJody Rosen makes a good point in his Slate blog about American Idol:

Seventeen-year-old Sanjaya Malakar is doubtless the most ethnically exotic [Idol contender], at least by Middle American standards. In fact, a decent case could be made that by reaching the Idol knockout stage, Malakar instantly and automatically becomes the most well-known South Asian in the United States. (Who else is there? Gandhi? Salman Rushdie? The girl from Bend It Like Beckham?)

There's also Padma Lakshmi, Kal Penn, and Naveen Andrews. But the point remains: teeny, adorable Malakar might just be the country’s most famous South Asian next to Salman Rushdie.

Which reveals an interesting contradiction in the flow of fame. On the one hand, being a writer isn’t usually the most straightforward way to become a household name. On the other hand, there are more well-known South Asian authors in America than there are movie stars, musicians, politicians or, um, sports figures. (Those who pay attention to the demographics of Jewish celebrity might find this statistic familiar.)

There are two explanations for this, one micro and one macro. In the nineties, the publishing industry fell in love with Indian and Indian-American authors, leading to a small boomlet of novels by people like Jhumpa Lahiri (whose first book is about to become a movie starring the aforementioned Penn.) But it’s also just much easier for ethnic minorities to break into fiction than any other field of entertainment. Why is that? Commenters, I’m looking at you.