This is what happens when you stay closetted in the Indian Community and form opinions based on Hollywood movies. If this feeling was reciprocated, Americans would think all Indians wear Jazzy clothes and sing songs around trees.

The irony of all this that while many Indians cry racism by whites, they are equally racists against other “browns”— Latinos, etc.

This comes even from members of my own family what have lived in the United States for thirty years.

I worked at a company that was about 50% American and 50% Indian and made some of the best friends of my life there.

One year, we had a Diwali party at work. Since I had taken Indian cooking classes I was the only cook that was not Indian.

A few weeks later we celebrated Thanksgiving at work. My friend Neeru wanted to cook something completely American so I found a recipe for baked corn. For a week she kept asking questions about the recipe.

It had about four ingredients and no spices so I think she believed that there was some trick involved that the recipe didn’t tell her.

Her baked corn dish was scraped clean by the time lunch was over.

At that company I think we all tried to meet more than half way and it made for lasting friendships. Most of my friends went back to India, but we still keep in touch.

I’m planning on attanding a friend’s daughter’s wedding in India. She’s eight now, so I have awhile to order a ticket.

Wohoo! Brilliant post. Super. If you ever bring back your Blog Mela, this will be nomination.

Amazing.

ducks as he sees Shanti waving the cl00-by-four menacingly

Exactly how many black/Latino friends do YOU have? Just curious…

Indians are definitely more racist than most other nationalities. It is obvious right here in India too.

Adding you to my lil page.

I know exactly what you mean. tho’ my experience is more with the UK desis. they used to refer to others as kalia and goria. assume that everyone who was not Indian was busy bed hopping, had no values and was completely morally bankrupt. And oh they were so incredibly castiest. I had a flat mate - 2nd generation Brit, Gujrati from Kenya - who asked me what my caste was.
One look at my frozen face and she said oops - her mother asked her to be careful with whom she shared the kitchen.
:angry:
Harini

Brilliant post!! The Queen of Desi blogs is back!! ;)

I’ve been in the UK for about 8 months now and this is what I’ve realized that racism is widespread problem. It isn’t restricted to ‘Desis’ alone… though the cliquish nature of Asian groups tends to exacerbate the problem and make it much more visible. ‘Me desi, you gora’ is a refrain thats so commonly used by the second generation desis here. Equally bad is the attitude towards the blacks and other ethnicities. ‘Kalia’, ‘Kallu’ … these adjectives are a part of the daily lexicon.

See… there are actually two problems here:
1. One set of Desis(Asians, if you like) look upon the white/black people as dumb and consider their culture to be trashy. These people are the ones you’ve referred to in your post. I don’t know what gives them the right to look down upon the local culture while being a part of it themselves!

2. The second problem is that of Desis looking down upon other Desis while being almost servile in front of the ‘whites’. I have experienced this first hand a few times, the most notable among them being getting insulted in a Bangladeshi restaurant by Bangladeshi waiters.

All this is the result of forming closed groups with little or no social interaction with the local people. While these people feel proud of their ‘Indian culture’ and look down upon the western culture, they forget that what makes the Indian culture so unique is its ability to assimilate/integrate with other cultures and be richer for it!

Oh Shanti, I love it when you are in fine rant mode.

You are absolutely right: there are good and bad people in all groups. I find the ones that are the most racist have the least interaction with people outside their own group. I

Thank you, thank you, thank you :)

John, I had an American friend Blake, who celebrated Pongal and Holi with me and the Chinese New Year with her Chinese friends. I feel my life was richer for knowing her.

Seyd, at my last workplace one of my closest confidantes was a black woman called Melda - I am still in touch with her and we talk regularly. Work is the only place I can really make friends these days since I spend most of my free time there. At my current workplace there are zero Latinos and black people, so I don’t have the chance.

One more thing - it really doesn’t matter to me what the race of the person I like is. What matters is that I like the person.

MD, I except you from the second-generation kids who have trouble adjusting :)

JK, Niraj, Harini and Sameer - I am amazed that this kind of thinking is more prevalent than I thought it was and is not limited to the Indians in the US.

Ravages and Wings, thanks :)

Aadisht, I am not that mean - just a little ;)

Funny, I’m a big ol’ whitey and I’ve been sharing my life, my home, my bed with a brown man named Kabir for five years. Wonder how he gets by sleeping with the enemy?

(nice blog, btw)

My parents have lived in NY since the early 1970’s, and yet all their close friends are other Bengalis, mostly those who came around the same time. It’s kinda sad – I don’t see the connection between taking pride in one’s own culture (good) and keeping other people at arm’s distance (bad). I still remember taking a river boat tour near Montreal, and we’re sitting down near a black family, and my father remarked, “Do we have to sit next to them?” But one time when his car broke down, and a black guy helped him out, he said, “No white person would have helped me out.”

I’m not being naive – I have no fondness for the black guy who mugged me in a park in DC – but I’m not going to associate him with the majority of black people I’ve interacted with. And I’m still pissed at the incompetent eye doctor I visited two years ago, who happened to be black.

But I’m no angel. Sometimes I find I have to resort to some old Indian biases to win people over. I am ashamed to say that when I was dating a black woman a couple of years ago, I sometimes let it slip to my friends that her complexion was about the same as mine – fairly light-skinned. And because she grew up in well-to-do area of CT, her interests did not always line up with what TV says black people are interested in. Her favorite band was The Beatles. One of my old girlfriends, who was Asian, said in a pique of jealousy, “She’s not a typical black woman.” And I sometimes would allude to that as well - she was not a home-girl.

Most ethnic groups can be racist, in private. My Filipino friend was warned by his mom to never date a Chinese woman – the Chinese are regarded with suspicion throughout the Philippines. I think we are particularly frustrated with other Indians because we know what it’s like to be judged by your color, and yet we have such behavior down to a science.

Carlene, you are white, right? So it is acceptable to have you as a girlfriend (I don’t mean this as a commentary on your boyfriend) - you are not as bad as a black woman - see KXB’s comment :)

KXB, you ought to get a blog. I do see your point, though. We try to see racism in everyone’s actions because a lot of it a projection of our own.

Shanti,

I may eventually set one up - but working six days a week, and trying to find another job in that off day takes a lot out of me. Keep the rants coming.

KXB’s comments definitely ring true, especially the bit about parents fraternizing mainly with their own ethnic group despite being in the US for such a long time. My parents may have assimilated more than KXB’s. Even though I never saw them bring home a white friend for dinner or anything, they do have white friends at work and whatnot. And I think they hung out with them more frequently once the nest was empty.

Re: racism…there is a balance there. On the one hand, as KXB says, it’s dumb to be naive about what the inner city and the ghetto are really like. A lot of stereotypes do have some truth to them. On the other hand, it’s very different to apply such stereotypes when you clearly don’t have to (e.g. in the example above with refusing to sit next to someone at a rest stop). I wouldn’t give that a second thought, but I do hit the car locks before driving through certain areas. It’s a fine balance, for sure.

The whole assimilation thing is a slow process for the parents. For the kids it’s much faster. But perhaps the most disconcerting thing for the parents is the fact that they usually didn’t expect their kids to be American. They came over here for professional or economic reasons and somewhat expected their kids to grow up with the same values they got through osmosis (Hinduism, various Indian myths, etc.). It’s a shock to them when they suddenly realize that their kids say “dude” and see Dennis Rodman on TV. So they start to romanticize India and forget why they escaped. Only over time do they make the connection between the political and cultural climate of America and the fact that the country offers them economic and academic opportunity.

Not only do the majority of desis, (both first and second generation), display racist attitudes, they also seem to have not learnt to overcome the Desi obsession with presige and the obsession with one’s position in society. Plus there is the intra-Desi prejudice too, i.e, Bengalis think that they are somehow superior to the Biharis and the Assamese, and so on.
The worse part is that a lot ofDesis judge a person based on the job they have, the income they earn, kind of house aned car they own etc. Anyone, who doe anything different e.g say, if someone has earned an MFA from iowa and is trying to make it as a writer, is lookeddown upon just because they dont have the income or the BMW or the “prestige” that being a MD supposedly brings. Also, Desi folks cant seem to deal well with folks, like myself, whose life and career aspirations have been interrupted by cancer - people cut me no slack at all, and they have insuinated that I got cancer because I choose to “disobey my parents, and come to America”!!!
Ane worst, is this - when I was alone, and dealing with brain cancer, NOT ONE, Indian person that I know from the reasonably large Indian community, helped me!!!! NOT ONE!!! They did not come to visit, did not call, or make any offers of help!!!
To me that shows that there is something seriously lacking in the moral and ethical department of the Desi culture.
That is why, except for reading a few blogs byIndians, I totally refuse to associate with any Desis. Sad buttrue.
End of rant!! :) :(

I couldn’t agree more. I have seen the same attitude among several Indians here.
I have two varied issues plaguing me…
Issue #1:
The one comment made by Shanti regarding the low number of Indian Project Managers made me think. I have worked under Managers who are Caucasian and Indian. I currently work under an Indian (so does my husband) and our experiences have not been good so far. My life was far more balanced when I was working under my previous manager as opposed to now. This guy is never satisfied with anything, never appreciates our work, breathes down our necks….its a very stffling atmosphere. Even my co-workers(non-indian)think the same way. What is it with Managers of Indian origin? Most of them seem to lack people skills.

Issue #2:
Most of the indian families in my neighbourhood enroll their kids into Balvihar. I have a 6 yr old and although she may not be knowledgable about the Hindu religion (not that I am ) she strikes a balance being an Amercan of Indian origin. She may not speak my language(telugu) fluently but understands every word I speak.(me and hubby resort to hindi sometimes!!) She loves watching hindi movies,eats every kind of food be it hot dogs,dosa,mutton biryani,ravioli etc… so much so traveling with her is hassle free ‘cause we don’t have to go looking for a particular kind of restaurant. Now I am planning to join her in the local Balvihar class. Neither me nor my husband are overly enthu about it…both of us have grown without having uttered a single shloka!!!
The reason for joining her is I want her to get an insight into the Indian culture but at the same time I don’t want her to feel alienated in her current environment . Can any of y’ll out there post your opinions on Balvihar ?
It does have a lot of merits but does it make our children more confused about where they stand in the society?
—Thanks
Anita

gc, you are right - I think the immigrants are failing to see unintended consequences like the Americanization of their children and try to hold on to their old school values as their children pull harder to get away from them.

Ronin, I am really sorry for what you had to go through. I hope desis or not, someone has finally helped you and been your friend.

Anita, I think most Indians are just in general not interested in people-skill-requiring jobs. They do need a little improvement getting along with others.

As for the Balvihar, I don’t know much about them - interesting to know about them, though.

Wow! What a rant! Just found this site through Instapundit.

I like what Ronin had to say about the obsession with prestige and material possessions (from our supposedly non-materialistic culture). Although, in defense of our community, both of my parents passed from cancer and a large number of people came from far away to help my brother and me take care of them.

Our community is at a crossroads. We have an extremely high rate of intermarriage (i.e. marrying someone outside of the community) and a very low birthrate. How many families do you know with more than two children?

As a result, we’ve become isolated in our own little world, obsessed with preserving what we feel is India, even though the vision of India is nothing like the reality. Our choice is simple: Preserve oursleves in some mythical never-land of India or engage in the cultural give-and-take that has informed real Indian culture for millenia.

I’ve rambled on long enough, and I take responsiblity for any typos or mangling of the Queen’s English.

Sachin

Sachin, good points made :) I think the more we see things getting out-of-hand, the more we withdraw into our imaginary “India”. At some point we will have let go and learn to adjust.

I hate it when people act like something they’re not, like when black, hispanic, asian and middle easterners act white or seem like they don’t know who the fuck they are anymore. For instance, I’m a student in highschool and I see asians and hispanics hang out with preppy racist white kids that don’t like blacks and the asians and the hispanics that act white think they’re superior…. why? because you hang out with white people? Wake the fuck up! you’re always gonna be a minority no matter who you hang out with.

Everything about Indian Mentality mentioned is TRUE and explanable.
The very fact is that ‘leaders’ had been born in the past of last 40 years in India. But for us so far only asses have been leaders. This kind of INDIFFERENCE of attitude is due the the fact that our IDENTITY IS WOVEN IN UTTER STATE OF NULLNESS,THAT LACKS ANY COMMITMENT.
For 400 years musslas ruled India , apart from afew spikes we cared less. Then British came for 200 years. The fact is indifference is written in our blood . Too bad to accept , but we are waiting for someone out there in the land rounded by 3 seas to born to affirm to the world that we are not SECULAR , TOLERANT (esp towards religions that cause deportations here for security reasons - referring clearly to islam), piece of trash. THEN POSTIVELY 100 % THIS DESI MENATILIYT WILL END.
We ( being Hindu & Conservative , I am referring to ‘us’ largely) are NOT at all politically active even here with some commitment . Most of our activism is opportunistic …R or D who cares…? Whoever’s gonna gimme the best deal !! .
Here are some definate points in contrast:
> Bombay Stock exchange and innumerble episodes of paki islamic bombing …..no one ever cared.
In USA Sept 11 occurs… nextday hue and cry is raised in Senate …..Bush passed Patriot Act. to protect against pak piggery.
If Vajpayee had attempted something even 50times more dilute…what would we do .?Protest against a evil communal govt.
> Racial genoicde against …Hindus in India (Kashmir,South India)/Pakisan/Afgandeestan/BanglesDesh……no one is aware…..people aware (including me)……sit tight …cos of helplessness..
contrast this …..
1 Bomb Blast in Isreal…..next day…..Paramilitary crushes the sword and dagger tribes……Isreali PM affirms its stance on Jewish Land as more land is claimed back to its original owners.

SEE THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE . ITS IS THIS VERY SAME TENDENCY REFLECTED IN EVERYDAY LIFE….OPPORTUNISM, HYPOCRACY, NULLNESSNESS, AND APATHY. EVERYTHING WE HAVE EVER DONE FOR AN IDENTITY IS LESS THAN SKIN DEEP. HOW IN THE BLAZES DO YOU EXPECT THE ATTITUDE TO CHANGE TO AMERCIANS WHEN FOR 400+ YEARS WE LIVED WITH US WITH OURSELVES AND ALL OUR INVADERS. ?WE HAVE ALL THE INTELLECT AND SCIENCE….BUT INTEGRITY IS LIKE AN ANTHILL…..IT NEEDS LESS THAN A PUFF TO BLOW IT OFF.
THE WHEEL WILL KEEP SPINNING THE WRONG WAY…LIKE A WILD ELEPHANT …..UNTIL SOMEONE THERE PUTS IN A ROD TO BREAK ALL SPOKES AND RE-RUN IT CORRECTLY.
ESTABLISH AN IDENTITY BY ACTIONS, TO EXTERMINATE islamic & political filt that has succeeded in corrupting the pure Vedic Aryan Culture….even our language has changed. We think we see “Hindi”movies that are actually not Hindi at all …but urdu ( a pimps language) …….and their message feeds back into our attitude.
INDIA IS A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY BUT INDIANS ARE’NT.

Sam,
I think you need to see a shrink as soon as possible.
Also your claim about Islam corrupting your ‘Pure ARYAN vedic culture”. Didnt the Aryans come from the West as well ?
So the Aryan culture cant really be that INDIAN can it ?

i believe INDIANS are the most RACIST this world has ever seen. does not matter where ever the indian community is in the world, indians discriminate among each other on the basis of color, caste, status, mother tongue, region (north or south indian?) and what not.
And also INDIANS try to mingle/appease with WHITES and look down upon other minorities. this is a CHEAP attitude. may be INDIANs like that DISEASE WHITE WRINKLED (FAST AGING) SKIN PEOPLE.
one more noticeable thing.most indian women born/bought in the WEST seems to like only WHITE WRINKLED DISEASE GUYS, means white guys.
maybe because these girls parents have settled in WHITE SUBURBS and start brainwashing these girls from childhood that WHITE is SUPERIOR (though infact most WHITE people are IMMORAL, CORRUPT,
RACIST and more more).

the above information is a FACT which indian guys in WEST cannot ignore. come on guys, WAKE UP.

KS, look in the mirror lately? You are condemning Indians as racist while you yourself are calling white people horrible names. Racism is not just looking down on black people, you know!

WOW! so much of intellectual thought process! So much talk about culture! Simply kudos! Really you guys summed all of the thoughts that kept bouncing back and forth between my brain cells for almost a decade now!

After reading all this, one simple question still bogs my mind - Do we really know what our culture is? Do we follow our own culture? Whether we are in India or not, what exactly “following our culture” mean?

O.K., well, it was not one question, I lied. But you get the point.

What is following our culture?

Celebrating Diwali or Holi in a Temple or a hotel conference hall rented for the night with other Indians?

Going to temple every weekend -especially over the holy days and looking for a Southern Priest or Northern Priest?

Wearing Indian clothes and attending marriages celebrated somewhere in a hotel?

Talking to your next cube programmer in your language? If he/she does not speak your language, try the national language?

Going to a pal that has some Indian satellite TV channel to watch cricket?

Then again I am still baffled with these:

Do we really have one culture in India? Or is it different from state to state? North Indian Vs South Indian? Telugu Vs Tamil? Aryan Vs Dravidian? East Vs West? Hindu vs Muslim? Parsie vs Christian? Vegetarians Vs Non-Vegetarian? Low Caste Vs High Caste (I know, its politically not correct)?

PHEW! I am reaching for my daily dose of advil..my head is spinning so fast, if I don’t complete this don’t blame me;)

No, I am not targeting any of you personally. Its just that I am really sick and tired of many of our Indian brothers and sisters that think all of the above is what following our culture is:(

Once my great grand father told us: Our culture is gone! Nobody knows what it is. It is what one thinks it is anymore. Noone knows or really cares what it means by -

“Sarvepi Sukhinah santhu-
Sarve Santu Niramaya-
Sarve Bhadrani Pasaynathu-
Maa Kashrith Dhukh Badbhaveth”

(Let everyone live in happiness-Free from illness and suffering-Let everyone see only God-Let nobody undergo pain)

or

“Asatoma Sadgamaya-Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya-Mrutyoma Amrutangamaya” (Lead me from to truth from untruth-Lead me from Darkness to Light-Lead me from death to Immorality)

Hope when the end of the world comes and the universe starts all over again, those good old days come back and whoever remain will understand the true meaning of our culture and follow it :-)

Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthi
(Let everybody be Happy).

—Sri.

Sri, good stuff - thanks for posting :)

Hmmm…most of you made some very good points. I know that most foreign minorities can be very clannish (my maternal ancestors were Dutch & they didn’t care for certain ethnic types either, mostly blacks). However, it’s only fair to say that nearly everyone has biases…even the most open-minded people.


I happen to be VERY open-minded about almost anything, but I will admit to having had problems with minorities being racist towards me, not the other way around. Therefore, you could pretty much say that it has affected the way I look at most of them. I’ve never really had a problem with Indian people. Sure, most don’t come across as very friendly or polite, but that’s more to do with culture rather than racial backgrounds. I’m very fair with dark hair, dark eyes, & a curvy figure…not your stereotypical blue-eyed white girl with stick-straight hair. Here in Florida, most people look at me and immediately think I’m Latina or some other nationality. In truth, I’m not Hispanic, certainly not black, and my roots are Dutch & Jewish. Stereotypes need to stop.


We are all different…period. KS, you really hate white people, dude. Look around you! ANYONE can be immoral, corrupt, & racist. Whites, Blacks, Indians, Asians, Latinos. Meet people, make friends with whites, we’re not horrible people. Learn about people before you start calling them names. You have no room to talk because you’re racist. I happen to be white & I’m very offended.


And Grace…out of curiosity, what’s your background/nationality? Hmmm…I had different friends in high school & it was really more fun that way. There’s no law stating that Blacks should associate only with Blacks, Whites with Whites, Hispanics with Hispanics, etc. And what is “acting white?” Everyone is into their preferred music, clothes, etc…fitting in with an ethnic group different from your own doesn’t mean that you’re denying your roots. You can have all kinds of friends & still be yourself. A Black person can enjoy listening to rock or classical music. A White person can enjoy BET and authentic Mexican cuisine. Sounds like you’re a little bit jealous, if you ask me. I dated a Black guy in high school, but I wasn’t “acting black!” Oh, and that comment about how they’ll still be minorities no matter who they hang out with? This sounds like you want to keep people separated somehow…this isn’t the 1950’s. Today we have the freedom of choosing who we want to be friends with, date, marry. Don’t make assumptions that white people are preppy & racist, or that Asian/Black/Hispanic kids are “wannabes” denying their heritage because they’re more diverse in their choice of friends. I’m sure they’re aware of their own culture & nationality, but it’s fun to have some diversity, no?

:smartass:In think that if you are one race you should at that race because God made you to be who you are.If you at another race it makes that race seem fake. So act your own race.

Hi Shanti,

Who the hell u think u are. What are u trying to tell here. U are totally corrupt and think u are smart and intellegient, U bitch get lost here. U canot comment on Indian values u horible pathertic bitch

Shanti says: Please witness folks, the chivalry of the kind of people I am talking about - we refuse to attack an argument and attack the debater instead. Bravo, Mr. Anand, for illustrating my point so well.

Oh my God, I had the exact same conversation with someone today. Fantastic write-up, Shanti. Hats off to you.

Here’s the deal - they come here, and fret and fume all about how life here sucks and how they’re the oppressed lot. Excuse me, but why don’t you take the next flight back home?

Oh, that. The money here is good, the life ain’t too bad, you know? Things like that.

Right-O, fella. Tell me again, what did you do this weekend? Well, I hung out with my Indian friends. Ofcourse you did.

And then, some of their reactions are classic. Hey, Happy Fourth of July. Fourth of July!? Bah, I celebrate the 15th of August, I don’t give a damn about these crazy holidays. Dumb Americans. Right, so why the hell are you here in the first place?! Well, err, you know?

You can notice this in the workplace too - most Indians are quite unwilling to hang out with the co-workers or spend a few minutes in the breakroom, or watch the playoffs in a bar with their friends and family (nothing could be better than rooting for Spurs when your boss is from Michigan).

It’s sheer hypocrisy, you’re willing to use the resources and comforts of this country, but you’re absolutely unwilling to adapt to, credit nor be part of the culture. Tough shit, fella. These are the same guys who complain about how the US is so not like India here, and then they step into the airport in India and say how shitty the place is when compared to the Oh-US-of-A.

My girlfriend’s caucasian, and sometimes it disgusts me to see how some Indians react when we go out. I don’t have to say much, some of the comments here made my point for me.

::shakes head::

We’re an immature people, we really, really are.

Metlin that is what makes me sad. We claim to be all worldly and intelligent, make fun of others and refuse to realize how emotionally immature we really are. With a Caucasian girlfriend, you must surely be getting a lot of disapproving stares.

before we go bashing ks, he does have some truth in what he says…we are all a product of brainwashing to some extent. each culture thinks theirs is the best and racism, clanism, sexism, ageism, colorism, religionism, on & on does exist.
and as the whites have the power in the world, the closest to them you are the better you feel about yourself, hence the furthest from them you are (i.e. black) the worse you feel. so now people of african descent are called ‘blacks’ even though many Indians are just as dark in skin color (although you would never know that by watching their movies). yeas many of you are brainwashed and don’t know that Africa & Africans gave the world much of its early civilization-see Egypt & Ethiopia…even though at the present time they are degraded and disrespected by all the other races who want to say ‘as bad as it is at least we are not black’; I’ll say technological advancement does not equal being civilized, as racism is the most vile & barbaric philosophy on earth and those who practice it are in no way ‘civilized’.
peace

Hi, I’m an Indo Trinidadian now living in Canada. I grew up with a strong balance between East and West. In Trinidad there is a lot of prejudice against Indians by blacks and yes kids, blacks can be racist too but what boggles me is the attitude from Indians from India to any Indo person who grew up elsewhere! Yet, when I went to school in Trinidad, there would always be a few Indians whose parents would enrol them in Indo populated schools and these kids would start out stiff as boards only to refuse after a few years to want to go back to India. Similarly with all the prejudice and anger directed at Muslims who by the way look like South Asians, I seriously urge that as a community we take a page from the whites and that is , whether you are from India, Pakistan, Los Angeles or Japan, if you are Indo then you are connected.

I do not see whites from Europe denying whites from Canada their whiteness so why is it that Indians from India act as if you are not even racially South asian if you were born and bred elsewhere? Indeed in schools here where there are Indian teens /kids growing up they act very confused as if they do not know how to act and I can tell you, Indians are even laughed at by other minorities for their odd ball behaviour. As an Indo guy I really think that it is up to me and all Indian peoples to simply make friends while simply being who we are. I don’t crae about who is what- I judge the individual but like any black or white, I do look out for my brothers and sisters. Why not, every other race especially one in particular does it.
Booyakasha!

why cant all people get along . that why i say dont sat stuff about oters.

Guys,

Please relax and take a deep breath. For God’s sake, this is only a movie. Remember this movie was produced about 20 years back where people, circumstances and the World were different. Just think of yourself 20 years back. Were you in a position to better analyze any discriminatory practices ? I simply can not believe educated people are jumping into conclusions and branding Indians living abroad.

Abcd, the only reason I quoted the movie was to show how funny but apt the lines were when it comes to the attitudes of desi people. I love the movie and it is one of my favorites.

I come from an island situated in the indian ocean, i’m part indian, african and french. Therefore, i consider myself just human!!! no indian, african or french. However, i have this to say, ” Indians are very racist in their own particular way”. Let’s not forget that in India, there is the CAST system. They come in the United States to make the big bucks, critized the whites, blacks and latinos… but forget that they themselves came here for the opportunities just like the other groups. And also, i have to say that i have ran in some indians who were pretty arrogant. However, when they have to deal with a white person, they tucked their tail between their legs. I used to shop at an indian grocery store here in Georgia, however, i ceased going there when my wife who happened to be black was there one time and the guy demonstrated his arrogance to her.
Anyway, going back to my island, the indians will suck up to the whites as in the colonial days. But then will show greater arrogance behaviour towards other colored groups… So, since one can’t change a person mentality, I therefore, stay away from them and ignore them. Cause i certainly dislike dealing with hypocrytes!!!!!!!!!