We recently had a couple of issues at college. Staying true to my image of being a clown, I sent a mail out to everyone hilariously pointing out benefits of a certain ruling passed at college to my …. For lack of a better word… ‘community’ of people. By that, I refer to the religious creed that I belong to, people who follow, or are expected to follow the doctrines laid down by our honourable ancestors in their wisdom and vision for my creed. Lol….These MBA types no…everywhere ‘mission and vision’. Anyway, it seems I have irked a few nerves among my kind. Apparently, they’ve taken a little too much to heart the stereo-typing and the joke. So far, I have not received any death threats. I could crack some more jokes about death threats and my kind, but then…I don’t want to incur their wrath.
When people ask me questions regarding where the country is going and when we are going to rule the world, I tell them, what country are you talking about? India is merely an agreement among tribes…yes tribes….that we will work towards some common good…or evil. We are still highly skeptical about our region and will kill if needed when someone says anything against us regionally. We’re stereo-types and strong ones at that, who merely agree we’ll field a single team for the Olympics. India is still divided, so what country are you talking about? Russell Peters put it the best – The difference between Indians and terrorists is that terrorists hate the world, and Indians hate each other. Now, you don’t see people taking offence on that statement….don’t lie…I saw you laughing at the joke.
Coming back to the point, when an Indian makes fun of a stereotype, why do people go up in arms? Haven’t we come to a point where we can learn to laugh at ourselves? It’s okay if some firang does it, but not our own. What hypocrisy is this? I wasn’t even making fun of another stereo-type, but my own kind…just because I listen to Metallica and not carnatic music, does not mean I have no respect for our traditions. I just believe that honouring honourable ancestors comes not by following rituals, but using the essence of what I’ve learnt.
Allow me to state some stereotypes, and you know it is true…and if you don’t agree with me, don’t read my blog. Free country! Tams (tamilians) will always be good at accounting…. Look at all the top accounting profs…all tams from my ‘community’. I am the anomaly that they feared. Gujuratis will always be good at business….Marwaris are always good at money-management ( I want to use another word here…but some might call it derogatory…personally, I think it’s a good thing to follow until money starts growing on trees….) Sardars would always be portrayed as lassi-drinking jolly chaps who’d start bhangra at the drop of a hat. It’s all true, you know it. And what is wrong if you are part of a stero-type, it’s a symbol of our culture passed down from our ancestors.
And I am proud of my vegetarian, good at accounting brethren from the community…symbols that we are a highly systematic bunch of people who are accountable – quite literally. I am proud to a point that whenever my Punjabi friend comes up to me and tells me that if I say anything odd, they’ll all come together and beat me. I retort by saying, ‘don’t incur the wrath of my people. We may be demure accountants, but we’ll mess up your balance sheet so bad, we’ll send you to jail for life for forgery and misappropriation of funds.…don’t f**k with me.’ And I mean it. Then why my own people need to frown upon stereo-type statements. In case you feel offended by stereotyping and me pointing out the obvious….sheesh… I roll my eyes and say ….so sowwwieee!
When people ask me questions regarding where the country is going and when we are going to rule the world, I tell them, what country are you talking about? India is merely an agreement among tribes…yes tribes….that we will work towards some common good…or evil. We are still highly skeptical about our region and will kill if needed when someone says anything against us regionally. We’re stereo-types and strong ones at that, who merely agree we’ll field a single team for the Olympics. India is still divided, so what country are you talking about? Russell Peters put it the best – The difference between Indians and terrorists is that terrorists hate the world, and Indians hate each other. Now, you don’t see people taking offence on that statement….don’t lie…I saw you laughing at the joke.
Coming back to the point, when an Indian makes fun of a stereotype, why do people go up in arms? Haven’t we come to a point where we can learn to laugh at ourselves? It’s okay if some firang does it, but not our own. What hypocrisy is this? I wasn’t even making fun of another stereo-type, but my own kind…just because I listen to Metallica and not carnatic music, does not mean I have no respect for our traditions. I just believe that honouring honourable ancestors comes not by following rituals, but using the essence of what I’ve learnt.
Allow me to state some stereotypes, and you know it is true…and if you don’t agree with me, don’t read my blog. Free country! Tams (tamilians) will always be good at accounting…. Look at all the top accounting profs…all tams from my ‘community’. I am the anomaly that they feared. Gujuratis will always be good at business….Marwaris are always good at money-management ( I want to use another word here…but some might call it derogatory…personally, I think it’s a good thing to follow until money starts growing on trees….) Sardars would always be portrayed as lassi-drinking jolly chaps who’d start bhangra at the drop of a hat. It’s all true, you know it. And what is wrong if you are part of a stero-type, it’s a symbol of our culture passed down from our ancestors.
And I am proud of my vegetarian, good at accounting brethren from the community…symbols that we are a highly systematic bunch of people who are accountable – quite literally. I am proud to a point that whenever my Punjabi friend comes up to me and tells me that if I say anything odd, they’ll all come together and beat me. I retort by saying, ‘don’t incur the wrath of my people. We may be demure accountants, but we’ll mess up your balance sheet so bad, we’ll send you to jail for life for forgery and misappropriation of funds.…don’t f**k with me.’ And I mean it. Then why my own people need to frown upon stereo-type statements. In case you feel offended by stereotyping and me pointing out the obvious….sheesh… I roll my eyes and say ….so sowwwieee!
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