Wisecracks on Race and racism..
Before you even think about it..let me clarify...this is not a racist, sledging-contest entry. period. It is but a very personal reflection on something fundamental that has dawned upon me in recent years.

Growing up in the metropolis in India, I never came across RACE as an issue and racism was nothing more than a serious but distant issue. Read: distant. While news reports on it did play with my intellectual curiosities, they never really made me retrospect much. As far as I was concerned...I was in India and everything that surrounded me was...Indian!! No worries there...afterall, all said and done..these were people just like me...or atleast who appeared, in their physical makeup, pretty much like moi.

I know the whole brouhaha about north indians looking different from south indians and west indians and well all that jazz. I've heard about it and I've encountered it first hand (ironically in Singapore). But honestly, as a person...I'd much rather see the individual differences among people rather than their superficiality. India is a diverse land...I think the title..!ncredible India that the tourism board has come up with is very true. India is incredible. period. I'm not saying that because I'm an Indian but because of the established fact...there is no country in the world that has the kind of diversity India offers. 26 states, not including the Union territories...and each state you visit..is like visiting another country - its totally different..and in fact..each city in each state, is a more accurate way of putting it.

Let me offer you a small example before moving on. I hail from Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. Now life in Mumbai is totally urban. People are better educated. Jobs are more glamorous (so to say), salaries are excellent..everything else follows. But move into the outskirts of Mumbai..into some of the smaller cities and its not that happening. Honestly..I've had experiences..the differences are stark and people incomparable. Thanks to all my travelling..within my own country..I've become better at accepting differences and instead of appearances, I try looking into the individuality of people....but that I realise is totally different from when you move out and experience racial differences for the first time.

In Mumbai, my only contact with foriegners (so to say!) was thanks to my father's job. We met people from all over the world..France, Germany, Britain, China, Australia, Korea, Japan...literally everywhere. Their different facial and physical make-up admittedly perplexed me at first. I felt conscious around them and in that..more aware of myself. But after those 2-3 hours of meeting and sharing post-stuff with ma, all would be forgotten. Growing up, it dawned on me that they felt the same way. That was the end of my anxiety. But it was the begining of a lesson.....

..Something that has only strengthened after this move to Singapore and travels to other countries. You learn to respect and emulate the best they have as well as gain a greater respect for your own share of the best and that is experiential learning that nothing can beat.
Honestly...one of the first things that struck me about life in Singapore.."My god! where am I...all the people here look so different from me!" I guess it was natural. Perhaps if a Chinese were to go to India..they too would have a similar reaction..haha. Its not really racism...its just getting struck by the immediate difference.

I won't stretch this any longer . But the little thing that struck me was the variety that can be found around the globe and the diversity of it's population. In retrospect..no one is good or bad..we're just different. Either we accept that greater truth, embrace it and learn from it...all for our own betterment. Or we just generalise, differentiate, criticise and get on with being racists..Everyone has racist tendencies. We all have made wisecracks on other races, for pete's sake Russell Peters has made an entire career taking digs at various races..more so his own! But the point is not falling into the negative stereotype trap and spoiling our chances of gaining rich insights into other cultures...for a few cheap thrills and imbecile laughter. period.

A good friend of mine spent a few years in France and she said that she took back an awesome ton of great recipes from her french friends not to mention - the bigger share of intellectual learning. Just the other day we were talking, and I was telling her...till now...the one Singaporean thing that I've picked up is Singlish and I'm still contemplating where to put it..My friend who's currently in a plush magazine job said after I spoke a lil spattering of Singlish -"Sweet heart its great that you've learnt something from the local culture and I hope it stands you in good stead but just a suggestion...please complete your sentences with all the required prepositions, conjunctions and articles, in all job-situations,...unless you have a good mind on getting fired"...hahaha...wa lau!