April 3, 2009

I'm an IndYAN

I vaguely remember some rap song like that... "I'm an IndYAN.. I am an IndYan". This past week has been so weird. As Indian as I look, I have been confronted by a wide variety of people and been mistaken to be everyone from Spanish to Moroccan. I get that... maybe because of the jet black hair and matching eyes.. and maybe the kajal (kohl) in my eyes and brown skin, perhaps I look Meditteranean to the unitiated eye. Surprisingly though, no one guessed Indian. Hmph. Not even the Sri Lankan folks. Well, they often thought I was one of them. They would just break into Tamil with me... and well, of course I could reply... but our dialects were so obviously different that the second I opened my mouth, my Nationality was obvious. And this is all a shocker for I have always been told how TamBrahm I look. I think all us South-Asians (India-Pak-Sri Lanka-Bangladesh) look similar to many people... sorta how many people can't tell the difference between Indians from the east-China-Tibet-Japan. Funny how perceptions vary. If only perceptions could reach through to the varied cultures between all these countries.

3 comments:

Aravind said...

u too?? i hv the worst....even few indians think i am srilankan!.....i hv a post planned on this, so nothing more to tell :)

Krish said...

We all think we look very obviously "Indian". But the way you have pointed out, we can't necessarily tell the different nationalities of Europeans apart. I STILL think they look similar! Its their language that's most different. Thats all that there is I guess.

Jaya said...

Aravind -> Honestly da.. But the Indians "get me" immediately. But everyone wa,ts everyone else to be from their country I think. Ennavo!

Krish -> Like you said, bcoz we know that we are Indian, we think we look it. And again like you said, it's not like we can tell all the Europeans apart anyways. So its ok if they mistake us. Why would a Moroccan woman think I am one of hers?

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