Desi Manifesto Blog: The Forum for South Asian American Men

[Blogger: S.I.] We’ve been delinquent. It’s a very busy time in the lives of the Desi Manifesto crew. Of course, if we had more people to blog, there wouldn’t be lag like this, would there? I put the blame squarely on you.

In the last few weeks, I’ve encountered snippets of race-related situations, and even I had a lot of trouble deciding whether I considered them racist or not. So I throw them out to you for some feedback.

LASIK AND EYE OPENING COMMENTS

I recently got LASIK performed at a prominent clinic in LA. Highly ranked doctors, technicians, etc. A few days before the procedure, I underwent an extremely detailed eye exam, including dilating of the pupils.

As the tech tilted my head back to instill the drops, she noticed how easy it was. She said: “Oh, you have such big eyes, it’s so easy to put in the drops. You’re not going to have a problem at all. Not like our Asian patients with those tiny eyes.”

Personally, I’ve always felt (and gotten the vibe from East Asians and East Asian Americans) that Indians and Asians are indeed two separate groups. The concept of Asia is just what white people drew on a map as “East of Where White People Live”-land, and I don’t feel like abiding by their construct. Beyond our basic looks, our cultures, while vaguely similar, are still quite different, as are the religions and lifestyles.

Reader P’s story of “the burrito”: P is an Indian guy in his early to mid 20s in LA. Works in a corporate-ish building, though his company is relatively relaxed in dress code.

During lunch break, he grabbed some food to go and made his way back to the office. As he rode the elevator up, bag with food in hand, the door opened and another building worker (different company) entered…

“Well she was a white woman probably in her late 30s. I was coming up from the parking garage and the door opened on the ground floor, I was about to step off but then I stopped and realized it was the wrong floor. She got on the elevator, looked at me and smiled, then said: “Let me guess, you’re delivering a burrito?”

It’s not uncommon for Indians to be the “filler” race in film, TV, and commercials. I’ve seen Indians routinely portray Latinos, Arabs, Persians (or as Hollywood calls them, “terrorists”), and of course, other South Asians. As posted on this site a little while back, even in the real-life legal system, our peeps sub for any race you want.

As I removed my lunch from the microwave, another co-worker approached me, inhaling the aroma deeply. I awaited another compliment. Instead, I got, “Is that your curry?” …My face contorted in disgust. …Why the visceral reaction?

A few hours later, it hit me: “curry” is the n-word of Indian food.

If someone wants to eat at an Indian restaurant, I’m Zagat. If someone’s looking for a yoga recommendation, call me Bikram, and do I know of any good places (no, I don’t, but I want to try it sometime)? I’m also the Ebert of Bollywood as well as president of the Kal Penn fan club. And if people recently ate Indian food, they often envision that I can identify what they consumed with descriptions that include “spicy,” “orange,” “chewy but not meat,” and “potato.”