There was this international student’s hour this Friday at my school. Me and my desi friends were chatting in one corner of the room. We were having a lot of fun cracking jokes and BCing, MCing one another. After a while, a middle-aged Arab guy came over and asked all of us if we were Indians. I and another guy said yes while the other two who were Bangladeshi and Pakistani introduced themselves. This craphead Arab then said in his butler English “Pakistan OK, Bangladesh OK, India not OK”. Me and my compatriot were a bit puzzled while the other desi buds started feeling a bit uncomfortable. I asked the Arab guy what his problem with India was. “Pakistan Muslim, Bangladesh Muslim, India Hindus so not nice” he said. I was terribly pissed. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi both tried to avoid continuing this and changed the topic. Later when we were walking home, they both told us they felt very bad about it too.
And this was not the first time an Arab misbehaved with me after learning I was Indian. On a flight to DC, there was this Arab guy next to me who was talking to me for quite some time. He then asked me where I was from in Pakistan. I said I was from India. He didn’t say anything after that and gave me such a nasty look and simply moved to another seat. Why are these stoooopid Arabs so racist and biased??? What’s wrong with them?? Once again, it only strengthens my HATRED for them.
{{{Don’t use those terms for Pakistan and Bangladesh again - Shikra}}}
^^ awww cant be true!! indian muslims are very friendly to their pakistani counterparts.. and of course they will be a bit defensive when it comes to opinions about their country.. cos that is the main reason why they stayed back in 1947.. btw cud u pls tell me of any incident u know where an indian muslim misbehaved with a pakistani muslim?
I am an Indian Muslim and and have also noticed the 'surprised' look on most people's faces when they find out that I am from India, as most of them automatically assume that I am from Pakistan. The reaction is normally one of surprise rather than of hate or anger. This is a general observation and not specifically related to Arabs.
Speaking specifically of Arabs, in my line of work I do get to interact with Arabs in the Middle East region and from my own personal experience, I would have to say that Indians are generally treated with a little more respect than those from Pakistan or Bangladesh. I am talking about Arabs living in Saudi Arabia and the surrounding Gulf states, rather than Arabs who are aboroad.
Anyone else notice this or is it just me? My take on this is that it MAY have something to do with the educational / professional background of the individuals from IND / PAK / BGD. Again, generally speaking, I have observed that people from India (wheter Muslim or otherwise) are more literate and more qualified than those from PAK or BGD. This then translates into the types of jobs that these people end up taking in the Middle East countries. Indians are generally holding better paid positions in professional capacities or in businesses, whereas those from PAK and BGD are generally in low paid menial labour positions.
I appreciate that my observations are very general and that each of you may have your own personal experiences which may refute what I have written above. Anyone agree or disagree?
I can only partially agree with your observations. This Arab gentleman made his comment ONLY after he came to know that I was an Indian (and in his opinion, a 'despicable' Hindu). That is blunt religious discrimination and has almost nothing to do with my educational background or with that of my countrymen. It has happened with me twice and I have also heard from several friends too about such incidents which is what makes me hate them for their cavemen mentality. I agree that such pricks are there in every society - anti-Indian or anti-Hindu Pakistanis, anti-Muslim, anti-Dalit Indian Hindus, anti-black whites and so on... But I am pretty confident they are only a minority. Even if such feelings were very common, such people would at least have the sense to be civil and avoid behaving so rudely. I have seen so many whites who openly do not like colored people, but at least behave civilly with such people in public. As a member of a human society, every individual must be able to show courtesy to those who he/she doesn't like. It defies my logic when some idiot openly misbehaves without any feeling of guilt. I could never hate such people in public. At the best I would avoid them but not go upto them and poke fun at their country, culture, language or religion.
Its funny you say that b/c arent pakis and indians always talking **** about Arabs and other people? So whats the difference in that? I say hate all you want dude.
dude who cares? go on..live ur life..eat hummus..eat shwarma...go put on some amr diab.. don't let people like that get you angry. ur better then that right? whenever i hear people say stuff like that about anyone..or act weird like that towards anyone..i can only pity them..its better to pity them then to sink to their level of hate. yaar..tumbhi dil se bohud kamzoor hain..mazboot rehna..bayqoof log ke saath kyon itni nafrat?
i agree but why do u forget that there is a hugeeee different between the population of both countries.. you simply cant compare the ratio… is tarah to i could go to lots and lots of gas station and i will see more indians workin there than pakistanis.. same thing with the bigger companies u will find more indians than pakistanis.. same as like my father’s firm.. they are 6 pakistanis working there as a consultant where there are about 11 indian consultants…
PS: i do agree that india’s literacy rate is i guess better than pak.. but still we have more indians away from india rather than pakistanis…
sigh wats embarassing is that u were on a flite to my town DeeCee wen this happend…:(…yh deecee ppl are EXTREMELY racist…majority of them… kasme…