LOL!
I went to high school in Sacramento. When I graduated in 1986, we
had exactly ONE indian kid in my entire inner city school, which was
unbelievably multicultural already - James Sidhu. IIRC, he was from
a Sikh family, long knives and wrapped turbans, which for the time
was definitely different. It doesn't surprise me that most Americans
can't even find India on the map, much less differentiate between the
various designations - north, south, hindi, sikh, muslim, vegetarian,
vegan, omnivore, bunch, fold, boxers, briefs, etc. Since I entered my
profession I have met folks from all over the subcontinent, and I know
not to make any assumptions. I met a few more in college, which had
a large Indian Culture Club and a bitchin' network for exchanging
copies of old exams.
The funniest thing I ever saw happen was when I was in a car with 3
Indian coworkers on our way to a company meeting. The two in the
back were chattering happily in hindi at each other and the driver, but
since I don't speak hindi, I was naturally excluded from the conversation.
This went on for about 20-30 minutes, during the course of the drive.
When we got near the end, the two asked him some questions, which
he didn't answer. They said it louder, no response. I gave them the
"Hey buddy, it's rude to choose a different language than other people
in the car, so speak English" look, so they repeated the question in
English. Finally, he answered. When they asked him why he didn't
answer before when they spoke hindi to him, he replied (in the most
condescending tone I've ever heard him use) "Ahem. I don't speak
hindi."
I about busted a gut laughing. He was from Tamil Nadu. I had
thought his silence to their questions was because he thought the
others were being rude to ME by speaking hindi instead of English,
when it was because THEY didn't bother to check to see if HE spoke
hindi too.
I also had a coworker from near Goa, and he had a portuguese
name. At the time, I thought that was pretty wild, but have since then
I've met a fair number of folks like him. When I see an Indian guy
with a spanish or portuguese name, I always say, "Goa, right?" And
they give me The Look, followed by, "Wow! How did you know that?"
Considering how few Indians are present in American mainstream
media, I'd say that Indians have a long way to go to try to clear up
common misconceptions. They ought to hire an ad agency.
List of Indians in US Media, just off the top of my head:
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, wife, and octuplets (Quik-E-Mart owner,
The Simpsons)
Ben Jabituya (engineer in the movie, "Short Circuit")
Dr. Neela Rasgotra (Parminder Nagra)
I've seen a couple of tennis athletes too, and one golfer - Vijay Singh.
I vaguely recall a talented female powerlifter who medaled at the
Olympics a few years ago.
On rare occasion I'll see some in commercials on TV (old c-net ads,
IBM, ATT, or was it Sprint?) but it's rare.
Any more Indian stars/celebrities/athletes visible in mainstream US
media?
Anne Marie
--
Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimusque negata.
--Ovid, Amores, III, 4, 7.
On 1/25/06, Thaths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1534056
>
> India history spat hits US
> Educators in California have unleashed debate by revising textbooks.
> By Scott Baldauf
>
> NEW DELHI - In the halls of Sacramento, a special commission is
> rewriting Indian history: debating whether Aryan invaders conquered
> the subcontinent, whether Brahman priests had more rights than
> untouchables, and even whether ancient Indians ate beef.
>
> That this seemingly arcane Indian debate has spilled over into
> California's board of education is a sign of the growing political
> muscle of Indian immigrants and the rising American interest in Asia.
>
> The foes - who include established historians and Hindu nationalist
> revisionists - are familiar to each other in India. But America may
> increasingly become their new battlefield as other US states follow
> California in rewriting their own textbooks to bone up on Asian
> history.
>
