This is a thing that most of the Indian guys who travel abroad would have faced.The question about the fair and equal treatment of desis abroad.Though there are many cases of bad treatment that desis face,there are also some cases where the desi guys are over cautious about this issue and misunderstand an unintentional act as a purposeful act.
I came across one such incident when i traveled from Tokyo to Chennai sometime back.I happened to meet a young Indian IT guy who was also flying with me from Tokyo to Malaysia.We soon became acquainted and sharing some lighter moments.After a good meal ,he asked for a glass of Orange juice.The stewardess brought the juice and kept it on the front tray of his seat.Generally,it is a good gesture to give it in the hands.But,as she was in the middle of serving lunch for other passengers,she was visibly in a hurry.So,her act was very understandable by anybody.But,my friend was very upset and very angry with this act.He was fuming and telling me that she did that very intentionally and she was a racist.Oops!i started realizing how funny it may turn up if he raises up such an allegation in front of all.
He already pressed the button on top to call the crew members to report this.He was telling me that he was going to demand an apology from her.I tried explaining him about the hurry she was in and showed him the lunch issuing difficulties,with such a narrow aisle and dragging the cart all along.Though he was not a first timer to the flight journey,anger shadowed reasoning.I told him not to blow up this thing unnecessarily and told him that i did not feel she did that on any mean intentions.Luckily,he calmed down,though not fully satisfied.I had to distract him by showing some movies in my laptop and make him listen some songs.
I think,the main reason behind such an over cautious act is that India is in the transition stage now.I had seen videos of India-pre independence in Discovery channel.While the so called Maharajas were moving around with the East Indian Company's bigwigs happily,the poorer people were acting more like jokers in front of the Brits.Even long after the independence,the mentality did not change much.Now,IT has opened up the windows to the world,Indians are getting opportunities to explore the world and adapting themselves.So,this overconscious act is a part of this evolution and let us hope it disappears soon.
But,the sad part is,many Asian countries still have that colonial attitude in their blood.They still do not believe in themselves all are equal.I can mention some incidents for this too.One is,when i was flying to Thailand from Tokyo for a holiday.Just before landing,all the passengers were given a small basket of flowers and fruits as a welcoming gesture from the Thai Air.I was sitting between my two Japanese colleagues.When everyone was receiving,naturally i also put out my hand to receive it.That stewardess ignored me and gave one to my colleague next to me.Ok..even if she was not intentional,she should have been decent enough to welcome me when i put out my hand.how do i name this cheapest act?She did not realize that she had let down the whole country with this.No wonder Thai tops the world in prostitution and AIDS.
Another example is,when Beckham visited Japan,some Japanese TV channel invited him for a programme.You should have seen the way the hosts behaved in front of him.They were crwaling on the floor and scratching like monkeys and doing all sorts of animated things in front of him to impress(!) him.It was merely annoying and pathetic to see them.
All said ,I know i do not have too much of exposure to assert my points.i should say these are all just my views on this.I am glad to be corrected.
1 comment:
hi da, good topic. As you have rightly mentioned, there are genuine cases of discrimination, and on the other hand some which are unintentional. Experienced both kinda things while I was in singapore and malasia. Its worse in European countries like Germany, where it is very harsh. But those are not worth mentioning. But the reason might be because; people tend to have generic opinions about some particular nationality and even caste, color or race. Mainly because large part of the people belong to the particular group affects other percentage in the group. Like for example, lot of Indians especially tamils (large chunk of them came from srilanka also) were construction workers before IT came up, same in germany, large chunk are srilankan refugees working as laborers. So still in their mind if you see a dark colored Indian, he still is a construction worker, laborer etc. but as you hoped, I also believe that someday, those will not matter, when India as a nation becomes as economic super power, and everyone will be dependent on Indians as we have a large pool of talent in very diverse fields.
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