Devika Syal is the kind of person that everyone falls in love with. She is passionate, driven and intelligent. She is friend you share a laugh with, and the shoulder you cry on. When you first meet her, she is the quiet and shy introvert. If you let that exterior fool you, you’ll be missing out on one of the weirdest people you’ll ever get to meet. She has a bad habit of making puns, and an even worse habit of stealing other people’s jokes before they get to the punchline. She always has a question about hair textures ready to be asked, but don’t forget that this is the girl who finds great meaning in the little things in life.
Devika is studying Journalism at Emerson, while minoring in Art History. In ten years, she wants to have a career in entertainment journalism in LA. “I want to hopefully be doing something great, having reached my full potential. I want to be on the red carpet in some capacity, but if not, I would love to write for Variety. I also want a doggie. A little Pomeranian doggie. Or like five.” Devika wants to reform the tabloid industry. “In ten years, if I have completely changed the face of People and Us Weekly, and people respect entertainment journalism, then I can die happy,” she says. “And I want a doggie.” Her love for the entertainment industry is what led to her choosing journalism as a career. “Everyone says that politics is the only real journalism because people care about it. No, people care about what Sandra Bullock was wearing when she went grocery shopping yesterday.” She says that her whole life has been about Los Angeles, The Oscars, entertainment and celebrities. Ryan Seacrest has been a source of inspiration for her. “When I saw him reporting about entertainment, I was like you’re the one. I want your job.” She wants to report about the entertainment industry because it is what she cares about and it is what she understands. She loves to talk about films and review them, but she also cares about high fashion and the shallow news about Sandra Bullock’s clothes at the grocery store. “Entertainment journalism is the journalism that gets the most exposure, but no one considers it to be real journalism, so they never realize that they’re absorbing it.”
Devika has a personal connection to the Oscars. She has the statue tattooed on her right forearm. It’s her dream to win an Oscar, she says. She loves the Oscars because she loves the red carpet, and movies. “…even though I don’t watch any movies.” They have been a part of her life for so long, she remembers when Chicago won. “And that was a long time ago.” The reason she has the tattoo is because she’s always imagined herself with an Oscar, and the tattoo on her forearm is a representation of her holding onto the award. She initially wanted to start small with her tattoo, but thinking about it, she realized that if this was the only tattoo she ever got, then it has to be the Oscar. Prod her a little more about the tattoos she wants to get and she says, “I want a blue French horn, like the one from How I Met your Mother, on the back of my neck. I want the tattoos of my frogs, some sort of Babysitter’s Club tattoo — probably my favorite book cover. A bunch of lyrics that I know I won’t want two months later.” She laughs, adding that she wants a triple L tattoo. Her triple Ls, she explains, stand for Los Angeles, Las Vegas and London. These three cities are her favorite cities in the world; the places where she feels at home. Los Angeles, the city she’s from, that made her who she is. London is the city her mother is from, where she spent her summers. She got to meet her mother’s side of the family, and it became home. Las Vegas is a place she has been going to her whole life. “Something clicked in 2013, when I was there during Thanksgiving break.” She watched her first Justin Timberlake concert in Vegas and got a very relaxing and peaceful holiday. It’s the only place where she can check out from the world. “I think I once called Vegas the purest place in the world and we almost crashed the car because everyone was laughing so hard. No one would ever think that Vegas was pure, but it’s pure for me. Everyone else goes there to do ‘dirty’ things, but I just feel pure.”
Ask her to talk about Justin Timberlake and she says, “I like Justin Timberlake. And Justin Timberland and also Justin Timbersea.” On a more serious note, she says that he was her first celebrity crush. Her first memory is of her sister coming home one day with an *NSYNC album and asking her to choose one of the boys. She chose Justin Timberlake because he was the closest to her on the cover. “From then on, I decided to become obsessed with Justin. I didn’t even realize it until I was at my aunt’s and he showed up on TV and everyone in the room was like ‘oooooh Devika.’”
She has a lot of love for Jared Leto. About him, she says, “Jared Leto shows me that no matter where you think you are in life, no matter how stuck you think you are, there’s always going to be something’s that going to surprise you and change your life.” She didn’t discover him until the 2014 Golden Globes, and he has been the biggest factor in her life since then. A sixteen-minute video of Jared Leto’s vocal range helped her through the summer of 2014, and it helped her fall asleep. She added their music a few months before her surgery and she got really into it after, and their music helped her deal.
She got corrective jaw surgery. Her lower jaw didn’t grow fully and the front of her face was pushed back, which also meant that her face was off center. “It took time. I had to have teeth pulled and moved so that my bite would fit. It was probably the scariest thing I had ever anticipated. I was so anxious. Two whole years.” She would act out against her family every time they tried to do anything about it, because of this fear. “And then it happened.” She pauses for a second before she continues her story. She says that when her Nurse Anesthecian asked her if she was nervous, she lied and said yes. “When I was there waiting for it to happen, it was probably the most zen I’ve ever been.” She wondered if it was bad that she was calm about it because the anesthecian told her it was normal to be worried. After the surgery, her mouth was wired shut for a month. “It was the worst thing that anyone could ever have to go through.” She was in the hospital, in the middle of summer, and it was the hardest thing for her to go through psychologically. “I would get jealous of anyone who could eat anything. And there was this one moment where my sister was eating my favorite food and I just burst into tears.” She still tried keep her sense of humor throughout. “I’d make jokes and ask my mom if they could blend a pizza for her.” She was fed through a syringe but it wasn’t the best idea for her situation, because the insides of her mouth were swollen and she couldn’t swallow it. “I couldn’t swallow the food because it wasn’t put in the right place.” She was scared that she wasn’t healing right, which led to a lot of stress. “I think it was in December of 2014 that I went to see my surgeon. And I looked in the mirror and I realized that I was starting to look…regular, even though I still had my braces. And I was so glad that I went through with it.” She doesn’t like looking at old pictures of herself anymore because she didn’t have cheekbones back then, she says. “And now I have cheekbones, I love them. They’re like my favorite thing about my face.” She adds that even though the surgery didn’t go 100% right, because of which the right side of her face is numb, and her face jaw locks at times, she is still very happy that she went through with the surgery.
Devika also writes for Her Campus, and she says that it is a great opportunity for her. She can write about anything she wants to, in any way she wants to and this lets her explore different genres of writing. “It’s also a community of great girls. I’m not the best at joining things, but these are such great girls. They’re funny, and giggly, and we all like the same jokes…everyone is so nice and welcoming. Its just nice.” She likes being a part of a community with college women and she likes writing about anything she’s passionate about, with the big support system that is the community. Additionally, Devika is a part of Desi, which is a South Asian Organization at Emerson. Her roommate started the organization and they talk about issues pertaining to South Asians, and watch movies. “I like it because I’ve never had friends who were Desi before, and this was the first time I could really talk about being Desi and find out a piece of my identity instead of pushing it away.” She says that is great to be surrounded by people like her, talking about issues such as cultural appropriation. There are also people who ask her questions about South Asian culture, which gives her the chance to educate someone and open their mind. “It’s very special to be in a community of Desis and women of color.” She says that her hobbies, however, are limited to the internet. “Using the internet, being on the internet, talking about the internet.” She considers Photoshop her hobby, as she thinks of it as an activity. She teaches herself more, or just fools around sometimes on Photoshop. She also watches a lot of Family Guy while doing other things in the background.
HCE: What’s your favorite book?
DS: I have three. Indigo’s Star, which is about a big dysfunctional family in England. It has my favorite character ever, in it. The second one is The Secret Lives of Dresses, which is about a girl who inherits her grandmother’s old dress boutique, where she finds letters. This book represents the kind of lifestyle I want to have. Living in a European small town, working in a boutique, surrounded by history. The third one is called How I Came to Sparkle Again and it’s one of those books that I read but didn’t expect to love, but I did.
HCE: Favorite TV show?
DS: Glee and the runner up is How I Met Your Mother.
HCE: Favorite artist?
DS: The Killers. But I have a lot. I also like Marianna’s Trench, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Queen and the Beatles.
HCE: Favorite food?
DS: I don’t know, I always say paneer. There’s these tofu tacos from a Vegan place called Follow Your Heart in L.A., and I’ve been craving those for like four years.
HCE: Favorite movie?
DS: Fight Club. Favorite comedy is Ted. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is my favorite rom-com.
HCE: Favorite travel destination?
DS: Aside from my triple Ls, Alaska and Amsterdam. My two As!
HCE: Favorite form of social media?
DS: I like Tumblr, even though I hate all the fandoms. And I like Instagram because I can watch makeup videos.
HCE: What do you look for in a guy or a girl? (She gives me a look) Or a dog. Anything’s fine.
DS: I’m super aromantic this week. But, I look for good shoes, a sense of humor, singing voice. Has to be sensitive because I’m a sensitive person. What I look for in a dog, is a doggie that exists. Even one that doesn’t exist is fine.