95% of the time, being an Indian-American doesn't really affect me. Okay, so I eat ethnic foods for dinner, I occasionally engage in small acts of Indian Pride, and my skin's got that "everlasting tan" that so many people envy. Woohoo. There's a whole country of people who look like I do, who eat the same kinds of food, who will proclaim loud and clear that India is the best country in the world. And yet I would like to see, just once, what it's like NOT being Indian.
Even the people who try and accept all differences: race, culture, orientation, whatever--by calling us "diverse", they are calling us different. We shouldn't be different. On a larger scale than just race and culture, it seems like the only way to not single out any one group of people is to not group them together in the first place. Each individual should be taken as who they say they are, not how they look or how they act or whether they like girls, boys, both or neither.
I suppose I can't even complain about this--I call myself Indian. I give myself a label that I'd rather not have. I used to think there was a fine line between labeling and embracing who you are, but I'm not really sure about that any more. And the more I think about it, the more hypocritical I'm being. But I'm not going to bother correcting that. Instead I'll take an Advil and see you all tomorrow.
Love for you precious few who deal with my emotional crap,
Tsubaki
Sunday, November 11, 2007
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3 comments:
Mmmmmm, I love that you post frequently.
My dear, I'd like to see what it would be like to be Indian. To have a country full of people who look just like me, to have a culture that is not self-absorbed and imperialistic, to have color, beauty. It'd be interesting.
But how this diversity thing gets so old so fast. People are people. There are about 6 billion of them. Some are hungry, some have blue eyes, some are allergic to peanuts. Some like girls, some are republicans, some don't care about politics. I'd rather that we just give it up already; I'd rather that we focus on things that matter.
I'd have to second schmidt and say that sometimes, I really wish that I was part of a distinct culture like your family is. Because as much as labels suck on the surface, it's hard to be challenged by cries of "Indian pride!" or "Jesus is my savior!" and retort with something like, "WOOHOO for people with no definite heritage or religion or sexuality!!"
I do, however, sympathize with your culture-labeling predicament. I'm sure that constantly being put in that kind of box would lose its sparkle (if it ever had sparkle to begin with).
I guess the way I see it, things like heritage and religion and political affiliations DO belong to the set of "things that matter," because their very principles are built upon some of those things. What fascinates me is that we all feel the need, once we decide what our values are, to smack a label on 'em and proclaim that we are Democrats or atheists or whatever makes us feel happy.
So, by making us feel like we belong somewhere, labels do have some merit. If only the people who identified themselves as one thing didn't have to go around bashing everybody else, as though saying "I'm Catholic" was as simple as saying "I'm a Yankees fan," and if only those kinds of boxes were as easy to get out of as they are to get into, then the label scene might just be peaches.
In conclusion, identity lies at the end of a dangerous road. *gazes philosophically* Happy travels!
To some extent, i agree with schmidt and wanda, but the thing is, sometimes its nice being the same as everyone else just for small things, like being cast in a play in which the characters are white. however, as wanda said, sometimes its nice being indian just to have some sort of identity, so people can walk by and say, oh thats the indian girl. it's easier than trying to create an identity for yourself, because to a certain extent everyone wants to fit into some sort of label, no matter how much they might deny it. and now i think i'll rant about this on my own blog.
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