On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Udhay Shankar N <ud...@pobox.com> wrote:
> Venkat Mangudi wrote, [on 3/13/2009 10:21 AM]: > > > You'll be surprised that many communities in the US hesitate before > > letting Indians (all of us are the same to them) live there. I have > > heard nasty comments about the smell of "curry" in the neighbourhood. I > > am not saying that this discrimination is acceptable. But it's present, > > is all I am saying. > > Data point: > > When I closed on an apartment in Campbell, CA in 1999, the super (a > LARGE black woman) gave me an obviously well-rehearsed spiel on the > lines of "do what you want, cook what you want, but don't make me come > remind you that you're late with your rent." > > For extra irony points, my then-roomie (also Indian) said to me, "I > don't like South Indian food." To which my response was "Great. You cook > then." > > :) > When my daughter Anjana (another list-lurker) shared a room with a black girl (have I just committed TWO faux pas or pas-es?), she made the assumption that being a "female person of colour", her room-mate would not be racist or intolerant. She was wrong on both counts. It took her a while to realize that *everyone* can have pre-conceived notions and prejudices. To set the thread adrift..Udhay..how many parent-child members are there on Silk? And to set it further adrift, I can never say "silk" without thinking of the incident Mohan seeing several men letting other buses go, waiting for a particular bus somewhere on the highway near Coimbatore...they said that it was a "silukku" bus.. so he, too waited for it. When it came.it had not even a video movie, but just...a poster of Silk Smitha (Silukku Smitha). "Silukku" became a kind of synonym for "raunchy, sexy". Deepa.
