“I don’t usually go to parks,” Aashay Dalvi said. “I go to coffee shops, I go to bookshops.”
It is why we started our outing at Whoopsie Daisy on the corner of King St. and Victoria St. in Kitchener. With lattes in hand, we looked out the windows from the second floor of the coffee shop and spotted the Cherry Park Trail. Part urban, part green space, fluid and ever-changing— it was the perfect destination for our walk.
Dalvi immigrated from Mumbai to Toronto in 2017, then moved to Kitchener in the early days of the pandemic, quickly establishing themself as an artist and community builder.
With a background and practice in film creation and production, Dalvi also performs stand-up comedy and is the founder of Rad Riot Books.
“I had experienced racism, but I hadn’t experienced racism until I was in KW,” Dalvi said.
“I realized that a lot of the oppression stems from fear and ignorance. So, I could either get all up in arms…or I could use this opportunity to enlighten and educate,” they said.
The second path is the one Dalvi chose.
“We started encouraging folks to read anti-racist literature, translated literature, books about immigrants who have chosen to move to different continents, books about characters learning about their queer identity,” Dalvi said.
The Rad Riot Books platform on Instagram is a place of curation and community with book club meetings, recommendations and a chance for Dalvi to spotlight diverse stories and authors, expanding the conversation around literature, identity and what it means to be Canadian.
We reached Cherry Park and passed children playing on the swings and slides as a ladybug joined us for some of the walk. We kept going beyond the park, seeing where the trails and residential streets took us as our conversation turned to the meaning of home.
“I did not grow up having easy access to wide green spaces,” Dalvi said.
“To me it’s something that I only started doing after moving to this country… I feel solace in the noise of the hustle and bustle of city life.”
Home is not a concept that Dalvi defines easily or traditionally.
“I see home as a place where you are constantly learning and you are constantly learning to love yourself,” Dalvi said.
“Wherever I get to be with people or in spaces where it is normalized for you to be your authentic self…that is home,” they said. “Home is fluid. Home is non-binary.”
Dalvi has contributed to building the home they want through their community engagement. They got involved with the demonstrations to remove the Prime Minister statues in Baden just after moving to the area.
They also founded Ground Up WR, a platform for local activists to influence progressive political change.
We reached Raddatz Park, then transitioned onto the Iron Horse Trail and walked towards Victoria Ave. before looping back towards Cherry Park Trail.
We spotted a little free library and paused to look at the contents. Our conversation came back to literature and the arts, something Dalvi is passionate about.
They moved to Toronto to attend Humber College for television writing and producing and were inspired to come to Canada after connecting with Schitt’s Creek.
“I even wrote that in my statement of purpose,” Dalvi said.
They spoke about Canadian content with admiration and respect, citing Being Erica, Orphan Black and Ginger Snaps as favorites.
In addition to consuming content, Dalvi is also a creator. They started performing stand-up in 2019 in Toronto.
Dalvi found people receptive to their style of comedy at open mics in bars like Tammy’s in Toronto.
“It felt so good and validating because it was the first time that people were laughing at what I had to say and not at who I was,” Dalvi said.
“The best part about comedy is you can mold it to who you’re sharing it with,” they said.
We were back on the Cherry Park Trail when I asked Dalvi about their creative hopes for the future.
“I would love to make long-form content,” Dalvi said. “I want to make a version of Schitt’s Creek with people that look like me…so kids who feel othered don’t feel like they have to end their lives.”
We ended our walk where we began, back at Whoopsie Daisy for a cold drink, before it was time for Dalvi to return to their work of community strengthening, connection and creation.
Leave a Reply