--- On Sat, 22/11/08, eric pinto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From: eric pinto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: [Goanet] Goans' tryst with pirates ( and US Africans ! ).
>
> I was not surprised: the Foreign News Desk
> editor is African American. Generally hateful to immigrants,
> their xenophobia towards Indians has now reached a new high.
This was what I was talking about roughly a month ago, though Dr. Santosh
Helekar and the ever-present Mario G disagreed with me ...
The xenophobia towards Indians is not only in the circles mentioned above, but
also in certain parts of Africa, in Singapore, China and Malaysia. Please don't
bother asking me why it is so - it could be cultural, or display of unclean
habits (I have been told that the Indian quarter in Singapore is the most
unclean part of town - my wife's experience a few years ago) through
thoughtless / careless attitudes of disposal of rubbish.
I know of a Goan couple who wanted to go across to mainland China from Macao,
along with other Goan friends - the former were refused entry by the Chinese
because they were holding Indian passports (the latter carried Portuguese
identity papers), with the comment "Indian - disease - go back" - it appears
that these were the only English words the Chinese immigration officials knew.
My comments on xenphobia against Indians are based on experiences of behaviour
by officials of various countries that I've visited and comments of friends'
experiences, not a figment of my imagination.
While I am at this computer, allow me to advise all NRIs who hold foreign
passports, to check the visas whenever they apply for one to visit India.
Errors have been known to crop up, something that happened to me recently.
When I checked my visa after collecting it from VFS (the new company that
handles acceptance of passports), I found that the visa was issued in my wife's
name, quoting my wife's passport number. After a lot of hastle via the VFS and
the insistence by the Indian consulate that they did not have my passport after
it was given for corrections, it was finally found at the Indian consulate,
filed in an inappropriate pigeonhole, when I went there personally to
investigate. The person at the consulate insisted that she had not issued me an
incorrect visa until I pointed it to her, requesting her to cancel it to avoid
problems at Indian immigration. You can draw your own conclusions.
Gabriel.
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