An Indian Girl Living In England

 I was born and raised in England, so even though I have always been immersed in the Western culture – I myself am Indian. I know that I’m privileged in the sense that I don’t face the same brutalities of racism that my Black and darker skinned POC counterparts face. However, I am a brown skinned Desi girl living in a predominantly white country so racism, microaggressions and discrimination aren’t things that I am a stranger to. This blog post has been something I’ve been thinking of writing for a while so I thought I would finally write it and share some things that I’ve faced/heard in real life and in the media as an Indian living in the UK.

Do you eat curry every day?

With this one, I feel like white people just learnt the word curry and ran with it as the only Indian food word they knew – particularly growing up in the 00s. They truly thought “curry” was one kind of dish and was the only dish that Indian people ate (I’m sure some people still think like this). I also had someone try and argue with me that curry is a British food and it’s taken me until now to realise I should have responded “Yes, but that’s probably from when Britain colonised India and when they went home, they tried to replicate Indian food so, I don’t think that’s really something to gloat about”.

Being told by a white person that they enjoy curry or had just eaten one

This follows on nicely from the previous point and as baffling as it sounds, it has happened. If I was introduced to the parents/family of a new (white) friend, there have been cases where one I’ve been told that they like eating curry or they recently made a curry, and I would just stand there, confused. Honestly, what did they expect me to say to that? I’m still confused by it so please, white people, don’t say this.

Are you going to be a doctor or accountant?

This stems from the stereotype of all Asians are good at maths and science and I can guarantee you that’s not true. I’m definitely more creatively wired than scientifically and mathematically. There are so many stereotypes about Indians, but this one I remember being frequently asked by parents of white friends – wanting to know whether that’s what my parents wanted and if I had any choice about what I wanted to do. Like most stereotypes, it was harmful and sadly I don’t think that’s gone away.

Stereotypes of Indian accents and head wobble

This just seemed to be something so deeply rooted in the culture of the 00s when I was growing up. It felt like everywhere I looked, people would be mocking the Indian accent and doing the head wobble that Indians are so known for. People are so quick to make things they don’t understand – especially when its from another culture – into the butt of their jokes and if you’re someone from said culture living in a place where they make jokes like that; it can have a detrimental effect on you.

The P slur

Firstly, this one never made sense to me when it was directed to us Indians because…we’re Indian not Pakistani. Secondly, like most slurs, people were (maybe still are) so comfortable just using this word in everyday context, whether that was referring to another human, the corner shop or the “Asian food shop”. Seriously though, please understand this: not all brown people are Pakistani and using a word like the P slur to degrade a whole race because you don’t like them for your bigoted reasons says more about you than anyone else.

 

I’m going to stop there for now, but I really enjoyed writing and sharing these, and I think I may even do more parts to this. Let me know your thoughts!