I will like here to relate a little anecdote from my own
chat experience which gave me a first hand knowledge about what generally white
skinned people think about us, Indians.
It was early in chat days….yahoo was new and I went to “
travel” to an Australian room.
As I was sitting quietly there and trying to figure out what
was all the talk about and the general ambience, I found an Australian male was
holding sway in the room with his witty and sarcastic comments and women
particularly were swooning over his every utterance.
Somehow my id caught his eyes and he checked up my profile
and suddenly he asked me (in voice)…”Hey Mr. Sand (my id started with Sand), do
you have camels in India?”
I was taken aback by the suddenness of his question and did not
realize what he actually meant and I hastily typed “Yes, in Rajasthan.”
This created general mirth and snigger in the whole room and
suddenly I realized the significance of his question .I could see people were
visualizing me going to office in Rajasthan riding my personal camel and
although I was going red inside myself a smile came to my lips.
As I was still in the process of collecting myself the man
shot his next question to me…..”Hello Mr.Indian…can you tell me why do Indians
stink?”
As I groped inside myself for a proper answer and the whole
room was again reeling with laughter I felt like Draupadi while she was being
disrobed in the royal court in full view
of raucous males .
I was silent for a second while perhaps Lord Krishna came to
rescue me...and I typed this reply (I still vividly remember this)…”Indians
stink to avoid monkeys like you Mr.Australian and you are ignored now.”
Suddenly the room went silent for a pause, and Indians who
were sitting quietly inside the room until now voiced there appreciation for me
“Well said, Sand.”
I felt like an Indian hockey player who , after receiving a
goal scored a hat trick against Australia in Australia in front of the their
own home crowd.
The Indians now vociferously doubted the legality of the
birth of the Australian and so forth as I retired from the room with a feeling
that I held my Indian flag high in a foreign country.