To set the perspective right, it was the 2010 Diwali celebration in Auckland, New Zealand. For those who have not been to this side of the world Auckland is like the Mumbai of India. Only difference probably that while there will be handful other cities than Mumbai which can be classified as metropolitans in India. In New Zealand, on other hand, 1/3rd of the country’s population are residents of Auckland. All the people of New Zealand put together come to a number of people in Pune; which even now is yet to be counted amongst the metropolitans of the country.
So with this point of reference, anyone from India who arrives in New Zealand finds himself lost in white space. I felt no different. When I moved to Auckland a few months back, it seemed as if I had moved to a new suburb in Pune; or Mumbai. A kilometre of stretch having few high rises hosting almost all of the big names of corporate New Zealand. And yet, when one took a walk on the Queen’s street; the equivalent of MG Road in Pune or Bangalore; one cannot but stop from confusing the city to Hong Kong. Simply for the number of Asian population. Technically, Indians are pretty much Asians; but some smart Caucasian decided to label all the Asians from Asia other than the Indians, Paki’s, Bangla’s and the Lankans as Asians. These few were probably excluded as their skin colour was probably more brown than the rest. We desi’s prefer to call these Asians as Chinese. And yes, a few brethrens from east India also get labelled as Chinese. An educated label would be the Nepalis; who in turn are also very identical to the Chinese.
The world is an interesting mix of breeds; if we give Darwin a skip for a while the world is beautiful mix of colours – the whites, the blacks, the yellows (the Asians skin is yellow believe it or not), and the browns (people from the Indian subcontinent) and light browns (the south American subcontinent). Guess people from Mars will probably be blue and red and green.
No comments:
Post a Comment