Spicy

I grew up in Virginia in the 80s. I didn’t realize my skin color was different until I was 10 years old at the swimming pool and some old white lady complimented me on my tan.

American schools are brutal even if you are white. Turban head, camel jockey, sand nigger. You name it I’ve been called it. People said my house smelled “funny” (It was the Indian cooking).

So I did what probably thousands of other people in a culture not like their own did, I assimilated. I tried to change my name to Keith because people couldn’t pronounce my name. I listened to Heavy Metal and Punk rock and made fun of Bollywood thinking I was in on the joke.

I still can’t tell.

I refused to even have Indian friends because I so desperately wanted to fit in. Every fall there’s Navratri, an Indian festival where people dance Garba and Dandia. What did I do when I was forced to go to these “lame” events? I went outside and played football with the other brown kids and refused to dance with the “smelly” Indians.

And now? You have beautiful white women on the covers of Yoga magazines teaching America about the ways of the east. Indian women are the hot new thing for white guys to date. Bollywood is filled with scenes of very white looking Indians with white looking scenes traveling to very non Indian places. There’s a whole industry that of products that supposed to make your brown skin whiter. Fair and Lovely.

So am I offended by the Chris Martin/Beyonce video shot in India?

Well yes and no. History is filled with times when another culture’s practices weren’t tolerated or accepted until finally some white person said, no check this out it really is cool. Ignoring the fact that Indian people have been saying Kathak, Holi, Bollywood and dark skin is beautiful for hundreds of years, Why is it humans have a hard time accepting something different until it’s explained by someone similar?

When you have presidential candidates demonizing an entire religion, when you have tales of Sikhs being persecuted because they are “Muslim jihadists” that’s straight up ignorance. Don’t think just for a second because you go Yoga and Bollywood Cardio and god damn love Indian food that racism doesn’t exist for Indian people.

I’m a third culture kid. I love fucking love Bon Jovi and Kishore Kumar. I’ve appropriated white culture enough of my own with both delight, respect and passion flamed by demons of childhood racism. I think it’s beautiful when people learn about Yoga, Indian food, and travel to my amazing homeland.

But who’s voice are you listening to? Are you getting it straight from the source? When you travel to another country, you want the food straight up legit as it gets. You don’t want the toned down white version. You want it brown person spicy.

Well it’s the same for art, music, writing and more. I want my culture fucking brown person spicy.