When Apu Meets Raj — The Real Story Behind Why Indians Aren’t “Cool”
It’s Time To Stand Up.
Dear brown-skinned brothers and sisters,
In this next sentence I say nothing that you don’t already know -
It is rare, if ever, the word “cool” seems to be associated with us Indians.
In fact, our accent and mannerisms have provided comedic fuel for television writers for years. This umbrella of the non-hip and un-cool sits above us, casting a shadow on our race no matter what we do or contribute to this world — the image persists.
As a population, we are known to be capable of influencing mass change. Through sheer number. However for some reason we’ve submissively disregarded that the wrong product label may be attached to us this whole time.
It is time we unpack this.
It has gone on too long.
It is holding us back.
I need you to stand up.
You see,
- An Italian man speaking in the thickest Italian accent is seen as romantic, alluring and suave.
- A Spanish man in his native accent as exotic, risqué, and dark.
- An African man as rich, mysterious, and powerful.
- Even the Asian shrieking at an unnecessarily loud volume with a tone that would pierce an eardrum 4 times over — is still, not too bad.
- YET, an Indian man opens his mouth to say hello and the world is in laughing fits. Like a circus clown who just started his routine. I can safely bet that as you read this line you mimicked the accent in your head. Am I wrong?
Why is this?
Why out of all races, did we end up with the short straw in the selection of cool?
Why are we placed first in the firing line for mockery?
Naturally, people judge a person in the first few seconds of meeting them. We are all judgemental bastards, and we know this. And we also know that it is an uphill battle thereafter trying to change that opinion.
Us Indians however, for some reason are already at a disadvantage in this judging game before it even starts (I’ll delve into my theory of why shortly).
The moment an Indian person greets a non-Indian’s world. There are these preconceptions ingrained into the minds of the majority that are triggered, and the story goes something like this..
“This Indian person is likely to…”
- Have an occupation as a telemarketer, service station attendant, IT tech, or taxi driver,
- Be clumsy, awkward, and nervous — particularly in social situations,
- Have a lot of gas because of the excessive consumption of chillies in his diet,
- Negotiate and bargain his way into stealing my clothes and potentially my underwear,
- Have body odour equally as delightful as Hydrogen Sulfide,
- …AND sport an accent that is ridiculously amusing to mimic and mock.
Now naturally, this is greatly exaggerated, and I do that for a reason. And equally, these preconceptions exist with all races, cultures, groups, and demographics.
However none of them are as brutal that they leave no room for the trendy, fashionable, suave, enigmatic, cool Indian to emerge.
The handful of positive associations which I’ve omitted are “smart”, good singers and dancers, rich culture, and a home for great food.
So, I guess, if we dance and sing, have lots of colours everywhere, do people’s taxes, and feed them great food — we are flying up the ladder of cool. But as soon as we start talking, well then, the snake strikes us back down to the bottom row.
THE SOURCE
How has it come to this?
Here’s my hypothesis. Which I am more than happy for someone to dispute.
There was nothing wrong with the Indian accent, it was like every other accent. Indians weren’t perceived as clumsy, socially awkward or any of the sort. Nor were we really any less “cooler” than members of another country.
Hrundi V. Bakshi from The Party
But in 1968 (21 years after India’s independence) a movie called The Party was released with Peter Sellers playing the role of Hrundi V. Bakshi.
A fictional brown-face Indian man who had the “typical” Indian accent — the one the world mocks today. And he was over-the-top clumsy, socially inept, and a menace wherever he went.
This movie moulded a new image, a new characterisation, and due to its popularity, it triggered an avalanche that Indians are still weathering today. The Indian accent and mannerisms became synonymous with humour.
Birdie Num Num —
(below is the scene in the movie that was responsible for this now stereotypical image that’s lasted over 50 years, click on the image to watch)
Apu from The Simpsons
Then came Apu Nahasapeemapetilon — the Indian service store clerk from The Simpsons in 1990 (first appearing in the episode “The Telltale Head”).
He further aided and strengthened the warped stereotype laid out by Peter Seller’s character. Sporting, also, the farcical Indian accent and dopey mannerisms.
(click below for an interview with Hank Azaria, the voice of Apu, mentioning how the producers asked him to make the accent as stereotypically offensive as possible)
Raj from The Big Bang Theory
Then to hit the home run for the current generation that may not be familiar with the above characters — we were introduced to Raj Koothrappali from the Big Bang Theory.
An Indian astrophysicist who is not only awkward, inappropriate, and depicts the “stereotypical” Indian traits, but his character is exaggerated to a point that he is unable to speak a single word to any female unless he is under the influence.
(click below for a scene mocking the stereotype)
So then, brothers and sisters,
Is it any surprise then that with such widely publicised characters gracing our small screens at regular intervals, that the image of the awkward un-cool Indian is now mistaken for the norm?
Not to mention that anytime anyone in the world has picked up the phone in the past 10 years they have been harassed by a telemarketer who happens to be Indian. Who, at no fault of his own, has been given a poorly crafted hard-sales script by some corporate idiot who knows little to nothing about sales and just wants to leverage cheap labour.
And virtually no other Indian characters with significant reach that have portrayed a positive image appear in my research during this time period.
Strike 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the cool rating. Indians — you’re out.
TV is a powerful medium that has influenced the world’s view single-handedly. But today the power is in the hands of social media, so I write this letter to spark the flame where we can collectively challenge this view.
Because, damn son, we cool!
THE DAY THE CHANGE BEGAN
Let’s point out some facts.
Our stats seem to stack up quite well on the coolness spectrum. So lets boast for a minute.
At the time of writing this…
Tech
The software, and the hardware I’m using, and that which most of the world are also using, would not have existed without the input of Indians. Indians, and India as a country, are the backbone of the world’s technology.
We’ve created the devices. The softwares. The apps. The cool gadgets. And are in the trenches changing the world.
The Pentium chip was invented by an Indian. Email and USB also.
Google is one of the coolest most innovative companies on Earth. And its CEO is Indian.
Microsoft is another. So is Adobe. So is Mastercard.
Facebook is thriving because half of all its users are Indian.
1 out of every 3 Apple engineers are Indian.
In fact, 15% of all new startups in Silicon Valley are founded by Indians.
Aside from tech
Other important pursuits such as keeping people alive and expanding humanity’s reach beyond planet Earth is something we seem to do well with too.
The latest statistic I have been able to find is that there are 3.22M Indians in USA (1.5% of the population). Yet, 38% of Doctors in USA and 36% of NASA Scientists are Indians.
Indians also invented chess, shampoo, fibre optics, the number system, and the earliest school of Medicine.
“We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” — Albert Einstein.
Aside from intellectual pursuits
The deep meaningful cool stuff registers well too:
- The land of fairy tales and legends, beautiful princes and princesses, majestic palaces and ceremonies, mystical jungle and mighty animals. India is a land where magic is still possible, and the world has not yet become dull.
- The spiritual source. At a time when meditation and spirituality is the outreach of the world to tackle the trepidations of life. India remains the territory of yogis, and wise old men. The place where you can go to find peace. Where people still retain the old secrets of the world.
- The need to do good, just for the sake of doing good. The Golden Temple in India feeds a vegetarian meal to over 100,000 people a day regardless of race, religion and class.
- And, beautiful women. Enough said.
Also once in a while,
Some Indian dude will just do some cool outlandish sh*t just because he can.
India’s richest man built a home valued at US$1 billion. It’s a 27-story building with 3 helipads, a 6-floor car park, staff of 600, 4-storey hanging garden and a cinema.
I could keep going…
But as you see, there is enough evidence to argue a valid case against the uncool label we have stuck to us. A reasonable share of what the world shines a positive light upon is reliant on Indian influence.
However, here’s the problem.
Pointing out these facts isn’t the answer. It won’t make a difference. Even if I provide a bulletproof case to argue our way into changing the world’s collective view. It is unlikely to last very long.
Because I don’t tell the complete story here.
TV, or any other medium, can’t manufacture an image out of thin air unless there’s some truth to it.
THE CORE OF THE PROBLEM LIES WITH US
Our internal flaws and behaviours are what’s fuelling this image.
The stuff we do matched with our behaviour is making it unlikely any positive perception will last. We are F’ing it up for ourselves.
There is only so much deodorant you can spray on a pile of dung before it starts to smell again.
Without being aware of, and correcting, our own flaws, any change will end up back where it started.
The sh*t will smell again.
I’ve already pointed the finger at others for you, but until we point the finger at ourselves, the whole story isn’t complete.
Here’s my advice. I’ll put it out there. You can take it or leave it.
Stop Trying To Be Someone Else
No one will think you’re cool, if you yourself think cool is someone else. Our collective tendency to mimic the look, mannerisms, fashion, and lifestyles of the Western culture (and doing a very poor job of it by exaggerating it way too far) is what makes us look even worse.
Try-hard seems to be something we exemplify.
We are fine the way we are. In fact we are great. We don’t need to be uncomfortable being ourselves. Learn, improve, explore and incorporate your learnings from others, but enough with the copying. It’s damaging.
Stop Half-Assing
Quality is not synonymous with India.
Cheating, scheming, corruption, and half-assing seems to be the modus operandi of the way we, and India as a country, seem to work. Isn’t it clear by the pollution, traffic, population and unorganised chaos in the motherland? I write this while seated in a quiet cafe in China where the population density is equally as high and the same doesn’t remotely occur.
For it seems that the collective Indian mentality is such that while the lid is on the volcano, let’s just ignore it, and keep going. We’ll deal with it if/when it erupts.
As I’ve seen first-hand many a time, this mentality geared towards striving for short term gains as opposed to ever-present long term rewards. Where, contrastingly, long-term value actually makes more business sense.
You can brutally milk a cow today to feed you, but it won’t be there when you need it tomorrow.
Stop The Arrogance
Having cheap labour to undertake tasks that you rather not do embeds a false sense of entitlement. You expect it all on a silver platter. Because more often than not, it is that way.
When you haven’t had to work hard at a night-fill job stacking boxes for a retailer, when you haven’t had to clean cars, or flip burgers as a university student. When you haven’t even cleaned your dishes or mopped your floors once in your life. There is no development of grit. There is no development of resilience against hardship.
When you don’t know what it is like to work hard to achieve things, you typically won’t. Arrogance ensues. And arrogance is not cool.
I’LL CAP THIS DISCUSSION HERE
Naturally, I write this letter to motivate action.
And this wouldn’t be as great a letter, nor would I be a good writer, if I didn’t bring it all together and leave you with a lingering punch line.
#STANDUP.
We are talented. We are thinkers. We are a force. We are lucky to have an educated, capable, and ambitious young population that can make a difference.
We can create art. Trends. Build structures. Take humans to other planets. Manufacture new products. Medical innovations. Cure diseases. Make the world a better and happier place.
But Hrundi, Apu and Raj stand in our way.
They make the world believe there is a ceiling on what we can do together and who we are as people. They are our limiters.
It all may seem like a light joke, may seem trivial at best. Maybe, I am also at fault for presenting this case with a humorous undertone. But I sincerely feel each curated laugh pushes us one step further from the rest of the world.
Moving them out, though, is within our control. The change starts with us.
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” — Gandhi
My story in 5 lines —
Studied to become an Engineer (did a 5.5 year double degree), but quit instead to start a record label, write a movie script, and tour the world as an MC and performer. With little savings left, co-founded now the largest AV provider to education in WA — growing it 100% year on year. Working on my next venture with aspirations to help people connect face to face in a way social media can’t.
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P.S. Thanks Srinivas Rao, Ketan Anjaria, Raghav Haran, 500 Startups India, Naval Ravikant and HindolSengupta for your positive words and inspiration.
