Meet Aparna Mulberry: An American-Chilean Woman Who Identifies Herself As Malayali

A person’s identity is well-rooted in one’s mind rather than what the world classifies them to be.

Aparna Mulberry is an example of this very fact. She is a half-American, half-Chilean woman who was raised in Kerala for 12 years and has carried the culture within her across several continents in due course of her life.

‘Inverted Coconut’ is her Instagram handle which she has chosen deliberately to identify herself. She has been using the platform to stay connected with Kerala and Keralites from every nook and corner of the world.

Within a span of 11 months, precisely starting with the outbreak of the pandemic, Inverted Coconut has crossed 97k followers and has served as a bridge between Aparna and her beloved Kerala. She celebrates Onam, Diwali, and all things Keralites would do to shower her love to God’s own country.

“It was in February 2020 that I started the page. One day, I just randomly woke at four in the morning. The pandemic was just starting. During that time, I was also planning a trip to Kerala but it did not happen. And the page just happened and little did I expect it to grow the way it did,” she adds.

She has become a darling of social media and everyone is very inquisitive to know more about her. LifeBeyondNumbers got in touch with this amazing woman to learn about her unique journey.

Aparna’s parents met in India, fell in love, got married, and headed back to the US where she was born. When she was just three years old, her parents moved to spiritual leader Amritanandamayi’s ashram in Kollam. Aparna’s mother continues to reside there, along with her daughter-in-law’s mother, and is Aparna visits her regularly. Only this year she failed to visit due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

“My parents were searching for a bigger purpose, not a 9-5 job. They wanted their lives to be purposeful. And both of them, separately, found their way to India where they met for the first time,” Aparna Mulberry says.

Her name too comes from the very Ashram where she was nurtured.

“Amma (Amritanandamayi) gave me the name. I was named ‘Saiisha’ by my parents but at the age of six or seven, I went up to Amma and asked her for a name. At the time, she told me to go and come back later, but I was persistent and I kept going behind her. Finally, she gave me this name; it has a very deep spiritual meaning,” Aparna reveals.

Aparna has received her primary and higher secondary schooling from Amrita Vidyalayam which is a part of the Ashram. It is there that she learned both Malayalam and Sanskrit although it was an English Medium School. She believes that it is her knowledge of the language that has been able to break all barriers between what she is seen as and what she actually is.

“Although it was an English medium school, all my friends spoke in Malayalam. I was called a ‘madama’. They may not have understood the consequences but the term pains me. Until they highlight it I’ve never felt any difference between a Malayali and myself. Now, however, I speak up if I’m called such names. But they taught me the language. I took up Sanskrit so I give full credit to my friends for my efficiency in spoken Malayalam,” she says.

But then her life changed suddenly when the tsunami hit the state in 2004.

“I was around 15 years old and the ashram where we stayed was near the ocean. We did not even take our sandals when we vacated. I remember climbing up a multi-story building as the water levels went up; it was up to my waist. We went from one building to another, one boat at a time. There was a rope tied across the building and we were all involved in helping the people cross to a safer place. For the next two months, our lives revolved around chopping vegetables, cleaning, and other relief work. We did not even have proper toothbrushes and we slept on a mat,” she recalls.

Soon after the tsunami, the family moved back to the US with her father. The shift came as a shock to her and she underwent depression. That’s when her dad told her to embrace herself the way she is and not conform to what the world around her expects her to be.

This one-of-a-kind woman has eventually landed up in the digital marketing industry. She now lives with her Spanish wife who is a cardiologist in France. Although in the West, Aparna is a staunch figure for same-sex relationships. She had doubts about being accepted by her extended Malayali community. But to her surprise, everyone has expressed their support for her decision.

Aparna has a very valid and enlightening reason for why she loves Kerala and never adapted to the ways of the West much.

“I love Kerala because of the welcoming nature of people and their warmth. Even if they don’t know you well, they would say, ‘Come home for chai!’; I think even the rowdiest Malayali is sweet. Kerala is all about community and family; this is what makes it feel like home. In the West, people are more selfish; individual goals are more important than community goals. But there is a lot of freedom here. Freedom of expression, freedom to love who you want, and freedom to make your choices,” she says.

Speaking of her plans for the future Aparna says, ”If I ever have a child I would like him/her to be raised in the Ashram back in Kerala and give the same amazing life that I have had there.”