April 8th, 2009
A Typical Conversation…
Indians are more than just their stereotypes….
-Krishna
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April 8th, 2009 at 2:35 am
You guys put spice in everything (even TEA) but are superstitious about passing spices to each other. It. Makes. No. Sense.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:39 am
It’s basically the word of mouth which has made some sect have this presumption about the whole asian crowd in general.
But I still believe a man who has took the pain to understand the way of live in this part of the world, wouldn’t be talking in this style… hopefully situation improves for better… as there is more of us than it was ever before in the foreign countries, who can act as the ambassadors for our people back home.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Roto, even I don’t get that. Yes, Indians have weird superstitions. But which culture doesn’t?
April 8th, 2009 at 6:49 am
Well done – reminds me of the time I studied in the US and had some of the most outrageous questions about my origin.
April 8th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Is this based on an actual conversation you once had? If so, that sucks. The ignorance of people astounds me. I am just your regular old white American but I lived in Japan for two years teaching English. Never once did I ask any of my students or acquaintances to explain stupid rumors like that. It’s just so disrespectful. And I’ve found that if you just observe and treat people with respect you’ll come to understand the culture and traditions without being an ignorant foreigner. Ugghhh!
April 8th, 2009 at 10:41 am
hahahaha
Too bad Indian educational system is not much better. I get often here that I am from America when I try to explain that Brazil (the country I’m actually from) is in *South* America.
Also, I’m lucky when some people ask if the official language is “spanish”. Normally they think it is “Brazilian”.
April 8th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I get that kind of stuff all the time. People just ASSUME I’m white because of my skin color and if I’m white that automatically means I have sex with my immediate family and hate everyone who isn’t white….
April 8th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
haha … very true…
another one “what is that dot on ur head”
April 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
So wait…you’re telling me it isn’t “hindi”?!?
April 8th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Fletcher – you would not believe how often I’ve been asked those questions. I’ve found that the less a person has traveled outside the US, the less they know about other cultures.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
i’ve heard/read/seen similar and worse. “do you really eat dogs?” No, I’m an Alien Life Form. I eat cats.
sometimes it is an honest curiosity based on ignorance and making it into something kind of funny can break the tension. sometimes it is a deliberate slur calling you out to defend your weird/funny kind–best to walk away. or use a baseball bat if you have one.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:07 am
I can’t imagine how hard I would laugh if I heard someone seriously ask a person to “say something in Indian.”
April 9th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Sorry to hear that Krishna. I think everyone should have to travel outside of the country of their birth for just a little while. That’s all it really takes to make you realize how small your way of thinking is.
And Phazzer- what the hell man? You think you got stereotyped? I’m actually from the southern United States. I get that kind of stuff from people on both coasts and everyone living above the Mason Dixon Line. Who is applying these stereotypes to you? And where do you live?
April 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Nice comic. People are so insensitive to Indians…
…oops, I mean Native Americans…
…ah, never mind
April 9th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Here in Canada the question that is often asked of people from India is “Where/how did you learn to speak English so well?”.
Best reply so far: “I learned it on the plane while flying from India to Canada.”
April 10th, 2009 at 3:36 am
Lord, I hate this one. First off, I’m from California, so *that* gets annoying (I live in teh cold, rainy, distinctly NOT LA part of CA). And then I have Roma heritage- or, that is to say, ‘Gypsy’.
Let;s just say that the four months everyone seemed to spend quoting ‘Borat’ was unpleasant, to say the least.
April 11th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I love having such conversation with dubious folks with little knowledge. Quiet occasionally believe that with elephants now also in the metropolitan cities, Its actually makes sense having HOV lanes.
Yeah, my dad gave me his first elephant when I started high school. Said its important for me to learn how to ride one before going for the newer models with high bio-gas emissions.
April 19th, 2009 at 1:08 am
I am so lucky no one knows anything about Finland so I escape that. All I get is “Where’s that?” and “Oh so you are like Swedish?” We are very sensitive about being called Swedes. We have a saying: We are not Swedish and we do not want to become Russian.
The thing about that is, if anyone even cares, is that we have been a language unrelated to Indo-European languages and a culturethat is not the same. We were never Vikings or anything. We were under Swedisn rule for hundreds of years and then were handed over to Russia. It was a big identity crisis for us because we had seen ourselves as a type of Swede and then we were definately Swedish anymore, being given up by them and we had no reason to want to be Russian, the cultural differences were even greater. So we had to get our identity straight and realized we had been Finns all along and did not need a king or a Tzar to define us. Then, up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russians have seemed to have this hard-on for ruling us.
Well, now you know, sorry for gong so long. I love Indian food, oh and elephants and then there is the pretty clothes. Do you wear a red thumbprint on your head? Kidding…couldn’t resist.
July 26th, 2009 at 8:06 am
I’m an American living in Pune, India (over 8 years now (and desperately homesick)) and when people here find out I’m an American they hardly ever ask me any weird things about America. Mostly it’s just how much I love India and Indian food. If anything about America comes up it’s “so you guys don’t love you parents?” since they know we don’t live with our parents once we’re pretty much grown up…
December 11th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
man, I’m only half-Korean and I know what you mean… I get asked questions all the time, including ones about Karate, Chopsticks, and I even had one idiot when i was younger ask if I knew how to use a fork…
…and yet no one ever questions why i always take off my shoes whenI come into their house.