Friday, September 26, 2008

Racism

I have not been posting much since month as I was very busy in packing and leaving for Bristol. Now that I am here, let me start. Firstly Bristol is nice and pretty. I don't know why but the word beautiful does not seem fit here. It is a great city to walk about, enjoy the weather and cozy up with some loved one(s). But, exactly that makes it such an unlikely place to bury yourself in books. Anyways, I will leave myself to discover the fine balance between the two polarities for later on. Before coming here I was really worried about racism. I talked to a few people about it and here is what we came up with.


MOM : I think you study hard and become the monitor of your class. People will respect you and be attracted towards you.
Umm thanks Mom! That is a great idea for Utopia but not Bristolia.

Now Ali and I spoke about this, and he give alot of ideas. All his replies are to if some Brit says ' You bloody Paki!' or something similar.
ALI : Yes, Darth Vader!
ALI: Yes, you bloody German!
ALI : I am Paki and you are Potty!
I loved Ali's ideas and I think I should try them just to see the look on the racist's face.

Last I spoke to Ramnik Sir about it. He said first thing don't bother about all this. But never take any disrespect. So when someone says ' We ruled your country!'
RAMNIK : ' Actually, you struggled to rule us for 300 years but failed and went away at last!'
He said it with such pride, I instantly knew what it meant. Nothing in the world beats being an Indian. And the more time I spend abroad, the more it becomes apparent. The feeling is entirely experential. Nothing I say can make you feel what I have.

But back to the point, yes these are some nice healthy ways of responding when faced with racism. Have you any other ideas?

11 comments:

  1. I think Asim's suggestion is the best!

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  2. I like you already!

    After growing up white-washed in a horrific suburb off NYC and finally reclaiming my yellowness in college, I have a very low tolerance for racism of any kind. I generally try to avoid white people and if I do have to encounter their ignorance, I ignore it if I can or I will blow up if I can't.

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  3. Thanks anon. I am sure you know me since you know Ali is also called Asim.

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  4. You mean the Bristol in England? It must have changed since I was last there because pretty is not an adjective I would use to describe it LOL

    I hope you enjoy your time over here - and take no notice of anyone who makes racist remarks. The kind of people who make such comments tend to be looked down on by everyone, whatever their background.

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  5. its quite hard to racially abuse us indians...coz' we ain't dark we ain't light...we are kinda confused..

    so incase u lose urself waitin for them to call u a darky or a paki or anything...watch out for the basic one...called "confused"

    also there are few codes for it

    if you see a black person coming u signal with your palm attached to ur face
    if you see a white person coming u signal with a smile and your palm far away...
    if you see a brown, or an asian or indian origin comin..u just wave ur hand signalling neither white nor black

    also thanks to andrew symonds -> the word monkey is doing rounds!

    there are also few benefits of racism...
    u can get hold of ant white bloke and if he or she is intimidating you and saying anything far from racial abuse...u can threaten him to call cops for racial abuse and they'll run for their lives..

    rusell peters mocks that he was called " sand nigger" referring to our not all that black complexion..

    i guess thats all i can think off at the moment..
    cheers and all the best

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  6. It is good to hear that you find Bristol a 'pretty and nice' place. Ofcourse, its a struggle to keep your hands on books rather than on the one(s) you love. But it's a part of the education process, no?! Anyway, about your post on racism... I recon what Ramnik Bhaiya told you is pretty much the way it is! And I feel just like that little kid in Africa, who wrote the poem on white skinned racist people, which went something like this:
    they're white in the cold,
    and red in the heat,
    they grow green when sick,
    and blue when hurt,
    they're pink when laughing,
    and orange when angry...
    what are they so proud of?
    they have changing skin color!
    while i stay black all the time...


    But if i were to write about racism, i would say it would be wrong to attack a racist.. For he who does wrong is lesser to blame than the Evil itself. He may be sick of mentality, perhaps, but maybe it is just that somewhere this racism exists in most of us. The white hate the blacks, the blacks hate the whites, the brown hate the whites and the blacks and the yellows...
    What world are we living in? There's racism everywhere... Even back home, in India...
    So talk of Respecting Everyone... Don't let anyone talk foul to you, but don't talk foul to anyone either... Talk of the good about thinking everyone to be equal. Many read your posts, and even if some of them learn from what you write, you can help bring in more joy to this world!

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  7. Dear Jay
    Thankyou so much, I hope my writing continues to please you.

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  8. Dear Kate
    Yes, I do mean the Bristol in Uk.Its pretty alright. Its getting to me in all this wind, rain and cold, but not too bad really.
    And yes, thanks I do hope I have a racism-free stay here.

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  9. Dear Bhandari
    Thanks for your ideas and time.
    I will make sure I see the Russell Peters show which you mentioned

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  10. Dear Jivi
    Thanks for your comment, which added value to my post. I guess you brought along the best solution to the problem. I hope we get out of this mess of being coloured and discoloured. I am sure it will happen as long as there are people like you. :D
    Thank you again.

    PS- The black kid is totally right!

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  11. Whilst I agree that racism is unacceptable, I would guard against labelling all white people as being automatically racist.

    There are (some) racist white people. Equally there are some racist black, asian or other skin coloured people.

    To avoid white people because a small minority of them are racist is in my opinion nearly as bad as the racists themselves.

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