First published with HCE - The East & West Issue
It was an evening of laughs, just as advertised. The kind of laughter that stems from a shared experience, enjoyed in the company of others uniquely suited to understanding the finer nuances of the humor at play.
The Indian stand up comedian was in fine fettle as he delivered punch lines that were redolent with authentic, Indian slang. For us in Hong Kong, far away from home, it was an opportunity for reconnection. A reminder of all the quirks that being Indian meant, and celebrated in the midst of other Indian expats, all equally homesick and nostalgic.
The comedian built up the momentum in his monologue gradually, before launching into his next punch line.
"...and he crinkled his slanted, Nepali eyes at me and said, 'Salaam Saab !'"
The room erupted in laughter. My eyes flitted to the back of the room, where some of the bar staff had coagulated, punctuating their service duties with a well-deserved break. They stood there, shuffling from foot to foot, distinctly not amused.
It is common knowledge, that a large number of people working in the restaurant and hospitality service industry in Hong Kong are Nepalis. They form the backbone of the food business as chefs, bus boys, wait staff and bar staff.
Nepalis also constitute a large group of migrant workers who come to India in the pursuit of higher wages and a better standard of living. They are considered hardworking and honest to a fault, and hence, in India, they are choice candidates for any kind of security related position - doormen, security guards, watchmen, as well as numerous other jobs, slowly moving up the value chain.
The stereotype of the Nepali watchman, therefore, is an instantly recognizable one. Satirized in our more mundane offerings from Bollywood, and in the ubiquitous sitcoms on television, this is what the Indian comedian had used tonight, to great effect and applause.
After the show, I sidled up to the bar. After ordering my drink, I remarked, with what I believed to be a suitably casual and nonchalant air, to the two girls standing behind the counter:
"By the way, I'm terribly sorry about that joke. I thought it was in very poor taste."
I was greeted with silence, and a vague miscomprehension.
"What joke, ma'am?"
"You know, the one about the Nepali watchman. I don't think it was right for him to stereotype the citizens of a whole country like that."
Their look of miscomprehension was rapidly replaced with one of bemused consternation.
"But Ma’am, why are you apologizing to us?"
"Well, ah, I guess on behalf of my countrymen in this audience, I want to say I'm sorry. It is prejudicial and reeks of bigotry and we should all be ashamed that we can find any humor in that!"
"Yes, but why are you apologizing to us?"
"Err...because you are Nepali, and I thought you would be offended? You have every right to be, of course."
They looked at me in a silence that stretched out interminably, even for an awkward conversation such as this. Then the one on the right quietly said, "We are from Manipur."
To say that I was embarrassed beyond belief is likely a huge understatement. Here I was, trying to apologize for what I perceived as the insensitivity of "my people" against an entire nation, with a holier than thou attitude to boot, and I had succeeded in
A) making a fool of myself, if one had to state the obvious, and
B) even more disturbingly, committing the worst kind of prejudice and bigotry, against citizens from my own country!
It is matter of lingering national shame in India that the historical prejudices against the people from our North East states of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, continue to persist. These citizens routinely describe incidents of being discriminated against - economically, politically and socially. The single biggest factor leading to this discrimination is their appearance. My North Eastern compatriots are endowed with the uniquely Oriental characteristics that make them look, as we are wont to put it, more "Chinese".
This kind of biological demarcation is not a new phenomenon. The history of human kind is littered with discrimination based on skin color and ethnicity. In India itself, we have the Aryan and Dravidian race divide at the root of our ethos as a nation. This well documented hypothesis is formulated on the basis of the difference in appearance between the fair skinned Aryan “Northeners”, and the dark skinned Dravidian “Southeners”. In this mix, the North Eastern people, in order to be intrinsically related to as Indian, have an additional hoop to jump through - the impossibly tall order of looking less "Chinese".
This is, then, an example of the way we see biological and physical differences evolve into geographical ones, the first level of morphing of geography for discrimination.
This kind of geographical division exists at the country level (North Korea Vs. South Korea), at regional level (East Coast Vs. West Coast), at state level (North Carolina Vs. South Carolina), at city level (North Mumbai Vs. South Mumbai). Aside from these, the world has many other divides primarily using geographical constraints as their basis - land locked settlements Vs. coastal settlements, mountain people Vs. valley people, forest habitats Vs. desert habitats. In my current city of domicile, one of the most common, day-to-day phraseology references Hong Kong Vs. Mainland (China).
In this first morphing, these terms of North, South, East, West, and all their permutations and combinations, evolved from being simply ordinal points of reference of direction, into a labeling system. They became legends that accounted for differences in language, culture, customs, food habits and clothing. These differences naturally stemmed from distances and environmental factors, but now, they could be referenced easily by just the corresponding geographical appellation.
These directional terms had started out by being relative by their very definition; after all, something that is to the "North" of something is usually to the "South" of something else. For the Chinese, in their own language, the name of their country translates as "Middle Kingdom", i.e., the country at the center of the world. But in the evolution of these terms as a representative grouping of a specific way of life, they became rigid and inflexible, intransigent and immovable. They became absolute.
With the passage of time, there came about a second level of morphing. These naturally occurringgeographical differences soon became imbibed and impregnated with nuances of increasing abstract manifestations. Being from the North or the West no longer simply defined a different culture or way of living. It began defining a specific value system, a specific understanding of the world and our place in it. A person's geography began determining whether he or she was perceived as an intellectual or a hillbilly, an emancipated modernist or a parochial traditionalist. New phrases entered our lexicon - "Developed" and "Underdeveloped", "First World" and "Third World", the "Western way of life", "Eastern Philosophy", and so on.
With the advent of the 21st century and the rise of the Millennial Generation, as well as the unceasing onslaught of technological development, there was a shared hope that an increased understanding and appreciation of our common humanitarian ideals would put paid to biological prejudices. And, it was hoped, living as we did, in an increasingly interconnected, "borderless" world, would in turn help to gradually do away with geographical differences. We could finally stand, united as one genus, one species, as one people. A whole planet, connected as one, united in the pursuit of those deserved ideals of security and equality, and peace and prosperity for all.
Unfortunately, for all the idealists waiting with bated breath on the sidelines, this promised Utopia has emerged stillborn. While the Internet has succeeded in bringing the world together, instead of minimizing and indeed obliterating these lines that divide us, it seems that the 24 hour anonymity that is afforded by going online has simply aided in making it easier to find others that harbor the same belief systems as we do.
In some sense then, the increased exposure and open mindedness that has resulted from a more interconnected world has made us more acutely aware of prejudice that results from a biological root cause. Today, racial prejudice is rightly denounced by most civilized societies as a social ill, worthy of our collective denigration and vilification.
The increased connectivity among us has also helped mitigate the geography as well, but this is where it falls short. For while geographical distances and boundaries have been bridged, the core characteristics that the geographical labels have come to symbolize have become more entrenched than ever.
Hence, the despairing majority amongst us grows increasingly cynical of there ever being a truly united and borderless world.
Perhaps the main reason for our quandary is, that in all of our deliberations, we fail to account for one very basic axiom regarding the human condition. Our need to belong is very great, often blindingly so, enough to supersede all other moral and humanitarian ideals and values.
Our desire to be part of a group that looks like us, acts like us and thinks like us is hard wired into our consciousness. It is an integral part of the process that helped us evolve from our cave dwelling ancestors into the suburbanites we are today. This innate, primordial need, that is practically limbic in nature, spurs us on to find our tribe. And the very nature of tribes implies that where there is one, there needs to be another.
We come into our own when we, in the safety and brotherhood accorded to us by like minded voices that hold us up and buttress our positions, compete with other groups with differing points of view. These arguments can be theoretical, intellectual, rhetorical even, but every once in a while they can turn violent, catatonic and destructive. There is enough passion and fervor to fan the flames at both ends.
Our current political climate, our fascination for sports and the need to cheer on "our team", all are manifestations of this need to belong. Social media helps us connect with other likeminded individuals. Together, from the safety of our own homes and desks, we indulge in shouting matches that quickly turn into hate speech. We spew the most vile kind of vitriol from our makeshift pulpits, in the guise of "arguing our case", against those who would disagree. The world distillates into "Us" and "Them".
In this proxy war, geography is again bastardized and held hostage to our conflicts. So we have arguments over Midwest conservatism over East Coast liberalism. Over Western allopathy and Eastern alternative healing. Over Rural priorities over Urban ideologies.
Perhaps it will take a single event, perpetrated by something or someone that we all consider to be outside of our "human tribe", to unite us. To make us come together, truly as a single species, beyond all these demarcations that we have etched with our own hands into the fabric of our shared history.
Until then, East will not simply mean East and West will mean much more than West. These will be the Twelve Tribes of our times, wandering in the wilderness, incessantly searching for the promised land.