Ntb :: Talking Rainbow (Blog by Arpit Rao)

Updated!!

Have I been racially discriminated in the United States? Well… I don’t really know but I’ll let you judge!

Well, since I’ve been getting a lot of hits to this post, I thought I should share my experiences in the land of dreams (for most Indians) with you.

As is the case everywhere, people tend to get apprehensive to find someone different than themselves in their own locality. No wonder that you see ‘goras’ and ‘goris’ getting chased around by an Indian crowd in the streets of Jaipur or Chandni Chowk in Delhi. It is very natural for them to get curious, get agitated, or even get annoyed with the ‘foreign’ presence. Keeping this background in mind, consider the events that I describe below.

A brown man stands out in a white and black crowd as much as the opposite. So, it is not surprising to get an occassional comment like ‘Oh! you’re an Indian… yeah… I thought so!’ Now, depending on the way it was said, this simple statement can be ajudged a comment, a complement, a simple observation or a racist remark! Mostly, what you can do is to ignore all of it if said with negative connotation. Avoid brawls to the best possible extent except if you are bigger, stronger and as they say, in a position of might (rare… very rare!) Please understand that this behavior is called discrimination… and if you don’t have an elephant’s memory, must I remind you that it is the same as what you do to other people while you go bossing around in India.

Now, most waiters and waitresses have a notion that Indians don’t tip well. Hence, expect a rough serving at any ordinary restaurant unless you walk in with the attitude suiting riches! Listen to this well… TIP atleast as much as the service tax on your bill or 10-15% of total bill amount. Yes, that would come to be around 2-5$ but it is a good habit. Saves people like me from getting remarks like ‘hey… you’re Indian and still you gave me a 5$ tip! Wow, thanks!’

Coming to the next point, like India, there are a lot of really conservative people in the US. They see you as slaves, don’t want you in their country and so on, so forth. Amazing how time hasn’t changed them. Anyways, my advice is, let them be! The truth is that Indians are going places and their closed eyes WILL NOT change that! They don’t have a right to push you around… forget about pushing you OUT. Take a chill pill, breathe deep and IGNORE all of it. Yes, ALL of it! You should be fine.

Ok, walking down the streets of New Jersey one fine night, I decided to grab a donut from this outlet. As I came out, a bunch of black (oops!) guys got loud, saying a few things. I walked past his car and he pushed a button on his remote. The car’s engine turned on and horn sounded. I knew that the car that the dude had was worth 15-17000$ and the cheap gimmick was worth another 50$. Now, he had done all he could to show me that he came from a low socioeconomic background, had no manners, no respect, forgetting the fact that his ancestors had come to this land in a similar boat as Indians. While all these things rushed through my head, I turned slightly, let out a slight smile and went on! Simple yet powerful reply.

More coming later… this post is getting TOOOOOOOOOOOOO long… so, I’ll have to curtail the experiences. In case you want to talk and know more, I’m always available at google ID: arpit.aiims@gmail.com.

‘Live and let live. Don’t interfere with my life or I shall fk u!’