Here is a piece of conversation between me and a batch-mate of mine. This chap has been in UK since 1993. Lets just call him X for the time being.
X:- So, you are from India?
Me:- Yup [smile]!
X:- I like India.
Me:- Oh! Cool! Have you been there?
X:- Nope. Not yet.
[Pause]
X:- There are lots of Maharajas in India, no? Maharajas and Princes?
ME:- Not any more. That was before independence.
X:- [Pause] [Ponder] Do you have elephants in India?
Me:- Yeah. Loads.
X:- You guys use it as a taxi, right?
Me:- (!!??!?) errr... NO!
X:- [puzzled disbelief] But, I saw it in James Bond movie!
Me:- Thats a Goddamn movie mate! We have the same Taxis as you guys do.
X:- Oh [slightly disappointed]! Do you have snakes in India?
Me:- Yeah. In jungles.
X:- But, there are a lot of them in cities, no? They can come like-this-like-this [makes a slithering movement with hands] to the cities. And, they bite!!!
Me:- Dude! How often do you get to see snakes on the streets of London?
X:- Never seen 'em.
Me:- Precisely! Snakes hardly come to the city.
X:- But this is UK! And, THAT is India.
Me:- Oh yeah?
[I must say, I was getting amused by this guy's hopeless general knowledge. I had no idea that such exhibits managed to survive this world for 23 years and come to LSE as well]
[Awkward silence for a minute]
X:- Do you have loads of crocodiles in India?
Me:- Dude! Now you are pushing it.
X:- No! I want to go to India and swim in Ganges but I am scared of crocodiles.
I ran out of patience by then and told him I will see him later in class.
Another chick. She is British-Bangladeshi. She loves wearing loads of kajal so that she could look like Bipasha Basu (who, as she puts it, is a Bengal-tigress). Exhibit B here has also joined a facebook group titled Bangladeshi doesn't mean Bengali-Muslim, you dumb bitch!!! (note the extra exclamation marks). Fair enough. She is probably disappointed with other people's ignorance.
BUT,
she thinks that all Indians who have come to UK for the first time are "Fresh From Oven". And, everytime she looks at a male Indian postgrad or first year Indian undergrad (even those who were born and brought up in Malaysia/Australia/NZ/Hongkong) she gets a totally romantic feeling of them being village-boys. The other day she casually enquired whether the brands like Vogue and Nike existed in India. After being told that they pretty much do, she said, "But, in India, everyone is so poor!!! How do they manage?"
Well... yup. LSE is quite an interesting place to meet people.
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4 comments:
Something which I thought I would avoid mentioning in the blog was the first chap's name.
Can't resist it anymore.
His first name is Girrafe (!)Originally from Azarbezan.
Nice chap though. :P
Baapre baap these people are epitome of ignorance. Anyway, ignorance is bliss. With the conceptions they have about India they won't ever dare go there and reduce the average level of general knowledge of the masses. Huh ha
I also met this Indian guy residing here for last 10/12 years who thinks baseball is better than cricket and American football is better than our football(which they call soccer). Disgusting eh!
Sorry I shouldn't even call him Indian, he was born there but is a citizen here now!
Lets just call him American, shall we?
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