Sambar has no curry powder!
People-watching is one of my many passions. For one, it is just a good time-pass in a city like Minneapolis where fishing is the main recreation on the weekends and secondly, its just in my blood to observe people and their attitudes/behaviors in different circumstances. May be I got it from my dad, cause growing up I remember him sitting in one corner of the room unaware of his posture, his shoulders tucked under his neck and his head tilted back a little resting on his neck, observing people, while my mom was the exact opposite. In any party, she would be the talkative one but when we came back home to gossip about the outing/party (like we used to in most cases because we love gossip. I think life would be very boring without gossip. Men like to blame it on the women and accuse them of being gossip mongers but they just like it as much as women do, just that they don’t participate, but they sure do want it all in full.) she would have the least information about the substantive matters of the conversation and behavioral descriptions.
When it comes to interactions, I like to observe a bunch of things such as body language, topics of conversation, background information, reactions to certain things, politics, intellect, communication skills, etc etc. Over the years in the United States, I have grown to find the most interesting of all these variables to be race and racial perceptions. In a place like Minneapolis, where people have an “on your face kinda” attitude, a fundamental Midwestern quality, the dynamics of human interactions become all the more interesting (I must have been a sociologist in my previous birth); well at least my girl friend is in this one, which is the best I could ask for! But, my point is I love to watch people, irrespective of the venue whether in a restaurant or a mall or even in Victoria secret (where my analysis would be biased due to an increased level of hormonal disturbances in THE BODY).
I recently became a member of the YMCA in northern Minneapolis. This was the closest Y and besides my friend is also a member with the same branch so company to work-out is best, otherwise the work and out will become independent of each other. The members of the gym are predominantly African-American because of the surrounding neighborhood. North Minneapolis is considered "unsafe" and is often given nick names such as little Iraq (pronounced like "eye-rack") with no suicide bombs, black, and all the other paraphernalia of stereotypes. Obviously, like most impoverished neighborhoods that are close to a big city, this one is also becoming gentrified slowly but surely. Gentrification (for those of you who haven’t heard of the term) is (in simple words) the migration of people of medium to high socio-economic status into neighborhoods that are predominantly people of lower socio-economic status. The method with which it takes place is by means of inflation; increase in real estate value and the smart schemes those financiers come up with that most people don’t understand. Anyway, without beating around the bush, there are a small bunch of white people that are members of the gym with the regular brown crowd.
The calculated timing of the workout of white people in that gym is worth mentioning.
a. You never see them past 6pm in the evening.
b. They either come early in the morning or between 4 and 6pm.
c. You can only see them in groups of 3 or 4 (all white people ofcourse, even if they don’t know one another they would just tag along the rest), working on bikes or elliptical machines or the tread mill, always on the watch out for mugging or expecting to be robbed out of their smelly tracks and their sweaty shirts.
d. Surprisingly (this is the only time this ever happens to me), they show signs of security when they see Indian people at the gym. Maybe because I am not one of “those” or maybe because I am a blend of white and black – somewhere in the middle; or maybe because I have a black friend and I am not black; I don’t know the reason. But I feel important at the gym. The whites look at me for security and the blacks are glad to meet an Indian person who is not terrorized by them.
The reactions of black people towards me are also worth mentioning:
a. They think it’s cool that my first and last names are one of a kind.
b. They think that the Native Americans should not be called Indians just because Columbus was a fool.
c. They also think that Indians complain too much of the United States being culturally backward and that they should go back to their country if they don’t like it. (Unfortunately or fortunately, the white people think that blacks are too dumb to write software programs so hopefully my job is secure!)
d. They also think that Asians are taking away all their jobs and when they refer to people of color they usually don’t include Indians and Asians in that category. (I cannot be responsible for the present urban and governmental laws nor can I be responsible for 13 year olds missing school, carrying guns and dealing with drugs. Even though I cannot be responsible for the act, I should be responsible for not changing it – it’s an oxymoron (No Mr. president, it’s not a bad word)).
I know I cannot speak for all the Indians in this country but I do know their general perception of black and white people in this country. And all I want to say is, there are black people who are well educated like my friend at the Y (who has a Ph.D. in applied physics from the university of michigan, who doesn’t consider himself a dork. For god’s sake, which black guy has a Ph.D. in physics without being a dork?). And also, I do know of white people who are high school drop outs. And for the rest I say, there are Indians without long-ass names and yes there is Indian food that’s prepared without curry powder - sambar..duh! Yes, all of what I said is surprisingly true!
That’s just one example of the dynamic that can be observed in a diverse city. And of course, people tend to make their judgments based on the color of a person, just like people ask me all the time how I learnt to speak English so well. Of course, in Minnesota, if you get too tired of watching people you can always go fishing. May be that’s a good way to go on a recluse if you dislike people. Observing fish may be far better than tasting them, unfortunately the two acts would have to be independant.
When it comes to interactions, I like to observe a bunch of things such as body language, topics of conversation, background information, reactions to certain things, politics, intellect, communication skills, etc etc. Over the years in the United States, I have grown to find the most interesting of all these variables to be race and racial perceptions. In a place like Minneapolis, where people have an “on your face kinda” attitude, a fundamental Midwestern quality, the dynamics of human interactions become all the more interesting (I must have been a sociologist in my previous birth); well at least my girl friend is in this one, which is the best I could ask for! But, my point is I love to watch people, irrespective of the venue whether in a restaurant or a mall or even in Victoria secret (where my analysis would be biased due to an increased level of hormonal disturbances in THE BODY).
I recently became a member of the YMCA in northern Minneapolis. This was the closest Y and besides my friend is also a member with the same branch so company to work-out is best, otherwise the work and out will become independent of each other. The members of the gym are predominantly African-American because of the surrounding neighborhood. North Minneapolis is considered "unsafe" and is often given nick names such as little Iraq (pronounced like "eye-rack") with no suicide bombs, black, and all the other paraphernalia of stereotypes. Obviously, like most impoverished neighborhoods that are close to a big city, this one is also becoming gentrified slowly but surely. Gentrification (for those of you who haven’t heard of the term) is (in simple words) the migration of people of medium to high socio-economic status into neighborhoods that are predominantly people of lower socio-economic status. The method with which it takes place is by means of inflation; increase in real estate value and the smart schemes those financiers come up with that most people don’t understand. Anyway, without beating around the bush, there are a small bunch of white people that are members of the gym with the regular brown crowd.
The calculated timing of the workout of white people in that gym is worth mentioning.
a. You never see them past 6pm in the evening.
b. They either come early in the morning or between 4 and 6pm.
c. You can only see them in groups of 3 or 4 (all white people ofcourse, even if they don’t know one another they would just tag along the rest), working on bikes or elliptical machines or the tread mill, always on the watch out for mugging or expecting to be robbed out of their smelly tracks and their sweaty shirts.
d. Surprisingly (this is the only time this ever happens to me), they show signs of security when they see Indian people at the gym. Maybe because I am not one of “those” or maybe because I am a blend of white and black – somewhere in the middle; or maybe because I have a black friend and I am not black; I don’t know the reason. But I feel important at the gym. The whites look at me for security and the blacks are glad to meet an Indian person who is not terrorized by them.
The reactions of black people towards me are also worth mentioning:
a. They think it’s cool that my first and last names are one of a kind.
b. They think that the Native Americans should not be called Indians just because Columbus was a fool.
c. They also think that Indians complain too much of the United States being culturally backward and that they should go back to their country if they don’t like it. (Unfortunately or fortunately, the white people think that blacks are too dumb to write software programs so hopefully my job is secure!)
d. They also think that Asians are taking away all their jobs and when they refer to people of color they usually don’t include Indians and Asians in that category. (I cannot be responsible for the present urban and governmental laws nor can I be responsible for 13 year olds missing school, carrying guns and dealing with drugs. Even though I cannot be responsible for the act, I should be responsible for not changing it – it’s an oxymoron (No Mr. president, it’s not a bad word)).
I know I cannot speak for all the Indians in this country but I do know their general perception of black and white people in this country. And all I want to say is, there are black people who are well educated like my friend at the Y (who has a Ph.D. in applied physics from the university of michigan, who doesn’t consider himself a dork. For god’s sake, which black guy has a Ph.D. in physics without being a dork?). And also, I do know of white people who are high school drop outs. And for the rest I say, there are Indians without long-ass names and yes there is Indian food that’s prepared without curry powder - sambar..duh! Yes, all of what I said is surprisingly true!
That’s just one example of the dynamic that can be observed in a diverse city. And of course, people tend to make their judgments based on the color of a person, just like people ask me all the time how I learnt to speak English so well. Of course, in Minnesota, if you get too tired of watching people you can always go fishing. May be that’s a good way to go on a recluse if you dislike people. Observing fish may be far better than tasting them, unfortunately the two acts would have to be independant.
posted by Mt. Heaven at 12:30 PM
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