As some people have commented favorably on my previous blog on Discrimination, I am eager to present you with the next installment.
The discriminating elephants :
The elephants do not discriminate against people, usually. Or do they?
This is about Rakesh, our erstwhile tour guide for an air-conditioned sightseeing tour from Delhi to Jaipur and a few other places in between. The year was 1982, when these tours were expensive by Indian standards. There were about five affluent Indians, three young American women traveling together, two other Europeans, an older Japanese gentleman, and three NRI’s including me and my wife.
Today, NRI’s are pretty much indistinguishable from the locals. But back then, in import-starved India, there were no “phoreign goods”. Thus an expensive camera, nice athletic shoes, a flashy wristwatch (yes we wore them back then!) even a stainless steel flask, or other things that we used casually were not available locally. So you could easily tell the NRI’s apart.
Our guide Rakesh told us he had a Master’s degree in history. He spoke very good English and was very congenial, funny as well.
Until we arrived at Amber Fort. The tour had arranged for three elephants to show us around.
Rakesh rounded up the five Indians and put them on the first elephant.
Next, he gathered all the white people, including the three American women.
But wait, one of the three women was black, very dark indeed.
“Please wait for the next one” he told the black girl. But clearly there was enough room on the second elephant!
On the last elephant, the remaining people were loaded -the NRI’s, the Japanese gentleman, and the black girl!
This happened so fast that it took the young woman some time to figure out what’s going on.
She was very upset once she saw what was going on, so were her friends on the other elephant. They did not say anything, but we all noticed their angry demeanor, the flared nostrils, the curled lips and flushed faces.
Rakesh was no fool. At the conclusion of the elephant episode, he went into hiding. Sat next to the driver in the bus, facing the road instead of facing us as he was doing before. Spoke on the mike and avoided all eye contacts with everyone. No more Mr. Congeniality. His assistant, who was a menial employee and spoke only broken English, accompanied us at the other sites, Rakesh stayed in the bus. The girls didn’t get a chance to confront Rakesh, I bet they sure wanted to!
I guess one elephant was designated “whites only”! The elephant didn’t know, but Rakesh did.
They gave you a job! That’s nice!
The blonde was from East Europe, but she went to a small college in a small town in America. Spoke excellent English, was mostly Americanized. I guess she had only seen American-born faculty.
She got admitted to our small Ph.D. program. Our chairperson was pushing for serious collegial cordiality, so he arranged for a welcome party for the students in his house. He told his wife to cook a lot and told all the faculty to mingle, mingle hard, so we can restore the aforementioned collegiality.
I went to mingle, with Alex in tow. He was writing his thesis with me, followed me everywhere.
After Alex made some small talk with the blonde, I introduced myself.
“What’s happening?” I said
She looked me up and down and turned around halfway, just like women do in a bar to avoid unwanted strangers.
“What are you doing here?” She asked me point blank.
“Hey! I work here” I said, then stated my name. I thought she had seen my name on the faculty roster. Apparently not!
With a wry, sardonic smile, she looked directly at me and said sweetly,
“That’s nice, they gave you a job! Good for you!”
And turned around, obviously not wanting to mess with the riffraff any more.
I tried again. “I am on the faculty here”
“Whatever!” She muttered under her breath, loud enough for me to hear, and brusquely walked away.
Alex, who was watching this encounter, saved my day. He was laughing his ass off!
“What was all that? Did she think I was hitting on her? I asked him.
“Yup, she was pretty much clueless. “They gave you a job! That’s nice! “ Hahaha! I will remember that line.” He could not stop laughing!
In a few months, she was enrolled in my graduate class. This incident was never mentioned. She basically looked at her notebook all the time, never asked me any questions. She was bright. She got a well-deserved A in the course.
Years later, like at present, Blondie has finished her education and is married to a person who lives in my town. I actually know her husband, and have met them both in social gatherings.
Sometime last year, in a picnic, I casually told her “Hey, Alex was asking about you. Shoot him an e-mail sometime.”
“Alex who?” She asked right away.
“Alex Preston, the tall guy that was about two years ahead of you in grad school. Don’t you remember him?
Blondie frowned a little bit.
“You know, I seriously do not remember any Alex Preston. I don’t think I ever met him.”
“Seriously now”, I said “You guys overlap about two years. It was a small department, I am almost sure I have seen you talking to Alex. You probably met him at the first welcome party we had for the students”.
Alex was six feet five, it was hard to miss him!
“You know what?” She smiled. “It has been a long time. I do not remember most people from school”.
“I will give your e-mail to Alex” I said “so that you guys can get back in touch again!”
“OK” she smiled again, a little worried now.
I told you Blondie was smart!
Hey, I still like blondes, in fact I like women in general!
This incident did not put me in therapy. Some other women almost did! But that’s another blog!
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