WE ARE VERY GOOD INDIANS
Scene at Walgreens, a 24-hour pharmacy, in Los Angeles on Sunday, Oct 23, 2006.
Salesgirl: Umm, so……., like…… are you Indians?
A (my friend): We are!!
Salesgirl: So, are you seek??
Me: Umm what? I’m fine!!!
Salesgirl: Oh no, no, I have this seek girl at school and she like grows her hair long and never cuts it, and like she doesn’t eat meat or beef or seafood.
Me: Oh, you mean Sikh. No we aren’t Sikhs.
A: In fact, neither of us is very religious! (Us?? Speak for yourself, pal.)
Salesgirl: So, umm, what kind of Indians are you?
A: We are very good Indians!! (Peals of laughter from people in line behind us)
We later figured out the poor girl just wanted to know which part of India we were from.
Set me thinking, how is it that people here actually walk up to you and ask you all kinds of questions but that usually never happens when two Indians spot each other? Each tries to avoid eye contact. Lips are firmly pursed, in case a smile actually dares to escape. And I have it on good authority from my friends “R” and “D” that when they first came here, they would flash their pearly whites at any Desi face they spotted and more often than not, they were rewarded with a stony glare. And that this could happen to two PYTs (pretty, young things) definitely boggles the mind!! So, evidently they have stopped smiling and have begun practicing their snooty stares instead.
What is the matter with us? We have a reputation for being the most gregarious people in the world. In fact, when one of our American friends Ann, visited us in Kerala, our aunt actually went right up to her and asked her why she had gotten divorced. Both Deep and I were nonplussed for a second. But then Ann was really touched. She said that she had never been asked why she was divorced and went ahead and laid bare a really personal part of her life. Kudos to her and to my aunt too, because obviously Ann needed to talk, and was able to finally let it all hang out.
This brings me back to my original question. What happens to us when we come to the US of A?
Salesgirl: Umm, so……., like…… are you Indians?
A (my friend): We are!!
Salesgirl: So, are you seek??
Me: Umm what? I’m fine!!!
Salesgirl: Oh no, no, I have this seek girl at school and she like grows her hair long and never cuts it, and like she doesn’t eat meat or beef or seafood.
Me: Oh, you mean Sikh. No we aren’t Sikhs.
A: In fact, neither of us is very religious! (Us?? Speak for yourself, pal.)
Salesgirl: So, umm, what kind of Indians are you?
A: We are very good Indians!! (Peals of laughter from people in line behind us)
We later figured out the poor girl just wanted to know which part of India we were from.
Set me thinking, how is it that people here actually walk up to you and ask you all kinds of questions but that usually never happens when two Indians spot each other? Each tries to avoid eye contact. Lips are firmly pursed, in case a smile actually dares to escape. And I have it on good authority from my friends “R” and “D” that when they first came here, they would flash their pearly whites at any Desi face they spotted and more often than not, they were rewarded with a stony glare. And that this could happen to two PYTs (pretty, young things) definitely boggles the mind!! So, evidently they have stopped smiling and have begun practicing their snooty stares instead.
What is the matter with us? We have a reputation for being the most gregarious people in the world. In fact, when one of our American friends Ann, visited us in Kerala, our aunt actually went right up to her and asked her why she had gotten divorced. Both Deep and I were nonplussed for a second. But then Ann was really touched. She said that she had never been asked why she was divorced and went ahead and laid bare a really personal part of her life. Kudos to her and to my aunt too, because obviously Ann needed to talk, and was able to finally let it all hang out.
This brings me back to my original question. What happens to us when we come to the US of A?
posted by newatthis at 2:28 PM
1 Comments:
We go from being regular Indians to U.S.A.(Utterly Stupid Alien)Indians ...
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