I’ve been in the United States for the past four years. Although India, as has been widely acknowledged, has gone places in a modern sense over the last many decades, the average American’s perception of India and its people does not seem to match the current reality. During my early days at university my professor seemed surprised that I, an Indian, spoke good English. And this, from a person with a PhD who had travelled the world. So I’m usually not surprised when lesser American friends ask me, “Do you speak Indian?” and make statements such as, “I know all about India; I’ve watched Slumdog Millionaire.”
Cultural prejudice is nothing new and everybody does it (Americans are obese, French are snobs…) but that is perhaps understandable when you don’t know better. For example, you don’t meet French people routinely in your schools or workplaces to know that not too many of them are really snobs.
Often, what we know is what we learn from popular culture. America, on the other hand, is the self-proclaimed land of immigrants. Keeping that in mind, pop culture misgivings hold good only when you haven't been exposed to a given culture or people on a large-enough scale. But is there a sufficient excuse for ignorance when you have some three million Indians living in the U.S.?
When is the “Indian” stereotype going to change from that of the characters of Slumdog Millionaire to maybe the CEOs of certain companies such as Google and Microsoft? This brings me to another stereotype: Indians are great at computers and coding. Yes, computer engineering is a popular choice of career in India, but it isn’t the only engineering course that is offered. Actually engineering itself isn’t the only career choice anymore. The assumption that every Indian is “tech support” is insulting, to say the least.
Let’s hope that the next time an American has the urge to ask an Indian in the U.S. if he or she rides elephants back home or know a snake-charmer or happen to be a programming expert because he has it in his genes, he or she would reflect a bit.
(prathiksha.ramesh@ gmail.com)
