Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - Feb 09 - Index

rassing him. I also noticed that
my friends were absolutely
open to him. Where desis might
have run him down, they tried
to work with him. He came
back with a menu, pointed to
each item, and everyone was
happy! I was thrilled he didn’t
back down or get somebody
else from the waitstaff to help.”
With more and more desis
settling in Ontario, we can continue
to act in our old ways, seeing
no need to mask this
behaviour as we do when we
are out of our comfort zones.
Also, with India coming into its
own, it remains to be seen how
Indians are going to deal with
this New! Improved! image.
“Our biggest test is going to
be how we deal with this new
position of power. We are a race
where if we have a little power,
it goes to our head. So are we
“We have codified discrimination from all angles – religious, social and cultural.”
collectively going to look down
on everybody? If so, we are
going to be insufferable!”
We have codified discrimination
from all angles – religious,
social and cultural – but
hope lies in the next generation,
growing up without some of
our baggage, says Rao.
“They will not have that level
of prejudice,” he says. “But the
responsibility is ours. If we say,
‘Indians and Chinese are good
at math’ or treat the cleaning
lady in an un-nice manner, they
pick up both. They internalize
the lesson that different people
are treated differently.”
Rao talks about the time he
visited a barber shop in India
with his dad at a fairly young
age. The discussion turned to
the caste system. Explaining
how it was based on the level
of education and on the different
occupations, his father said
the barber was a brahmin if he
was the best barber he could be.
Fast forward a few decades.
Rao is reading a bed time story
14 Desi News February 2009
from the Indian epics to his
young son Shrey and the B
word crops up.
“What is a brahmin, dad?”
asks the little boy.
“Anyone who is the best he
can be,” answers Rao. “You are
a brahmin if you are the best
little boy you can be!”
A
s senior manager, total
brand management,
Astrid Castro oversees
the development of hard home
goods such as furniture, tableware,
glassware and small electrical
appliances, etc., for a
leading Canadian retailer.
Her work takes her to all
parts of the world, including
India. Recently, she spent a
week in Delhi and Jaipur.
This visit was after a gap of a
few years and Castro was amazed
at the changes she noticed.
“The airport has expanded
so much in terms of facilities
and size; and all that construction
in Delhi for the subway! I
had left a very busy, overwhelming,
polluted city and I
was happy to see the changes.”
But Castro also noticed that
certain things had not changed
at all.
On this visit, as on her previous
visits, she saw how different
people were treated differently
based upon their social
and economic status, and
the colour of their skin.
“We stayed at a very posh
hotel in Delhi, the ShangriLa.
All vehicles coming to the hotel
are subjected to a security
check; they look at the car, under
the car... but it was interesting
that when we drove up to
the hotel in a fancy car, we
weren’t scrutinized the way we
were when we drove up in a local
taxi. In a local taxi, specially
if the cab driver was wearing a
turban, he was questioned, the
trunk was opened, it was a
whole different review.”
Castro’s group from Toronto included
a woman of Indian origin.
“She’s light-skinned, very
beautiful, and the last time she
has been to India was more than
25 years ago! She was born in
Canada and the only ‘Indian’ she
knows she has learned from
watching television. And yet,
when we visited vendor booths
at a Noida show, or at local
shops, they always assumed she
was ‘just another Indian’ and always,
always spoke to me first.
As though she was my interpreter,
not someone who worked
with me in Toronto. At shops
and boutiques, they would always
pay attention to us first, the
Indians there were secondary.
And within our group, a very tall,
blonde lady was singled out for
the most attention.
Castro attributes this behaviour
to two factors.
“Tourists have the money and
are therefore wooed at shops. But
it also has a lot to do with the colour
of skin. There is still the perception
that those who are darkskinned
are people who work outside
in the sun, and are therefore
lower on the social ladder.”
At a market that one has to
pay to enter, because it is assumed
that everyone coming in
has the money to spend, she
noticed that everyone was
treated more or less the same.
But still, fairer people seemed
to get more attention.
After dinner at a fancy restaurant,
the group planned to
hang out at a bar. People were
lining up to enter and there, too,
Castro noticed staff picking and
choosing who could enter.
That, however, happens everywhere,
she points out.
“I am perhaps more aware of
this discrimination because of
my travels,” says Castro. “I spent
24 to 30 weeks each year for
four years in Mexico and I got
to know the people. My friends
there pointed out to me how
clubs are more welcoming to
lighter-skinned people.
“And then I began to see
how it is not that different in
New York or Toronto. Wait
outside a club or a bar and you
will see how they first pick the
most attractive people or the
people who look like they have
the most money.”
People discriminate against
others in subtle and not-sosubtle
ways all over the world,
says Castro.
Take gender discrimination.
At a supplier of towels in
Delhi, Castro was with a group
of two men and three other
women. There were also Indian
men representing their companies.
“The supplier behaved as
though the women did not exist!”
Discrimination exists in
varying degrees in all cultures,
says Castro. She is of Italian
background and she says she
sees it in her community.
“People want to move to
Canada, lured by our ‘easy’ life
and the opportunities. They
don’t see all the hard work that
went into getting what we now
have. My parents came from a
war-torn country with practically
nothing and have built a good
life for the family with a lot of
hard work. None of the programs
and assistance for immigrants
that exist now existed
back then. People of that generation
can think that is unfair.
When the newcomers seem to
take it all for granted, as though
it’s their right, when they show
no appreciation, that compounds
the issue. And when they
come from a country that is now
doing well – like India, for instance
– there may be an element
of ‘What are they doing here?’”
Castro wants to emphasize
that at Delhi airport, she did not
see any difference in treatment;
she was not treated any better,