Oh India.. You Mean...

Whenever someone identifies himself as an Indian in this country, the responses he gets from the white folks have varied.

It started with "Oh India... you mean the place where they fly on carpets?"

Then it went to "Oh India... you mean the place where they ride elephants to work?"

Then, "Oh India... you mean the place where Ghandi(sic) was from?"

to, "Oh India... you mean the place with arranged marriages?"

to, "Oh India... you mean where all our tech support phones are answered?"

If you, as an Indian, were bugged by one or all of these, imagine what I felt when I got the newest and the worst question yesterday. I was talking to a lady at the bus stop yesterday and she asks,

"Oh India... you mean the place where Sanjaya Malakar is from?"

And I wished she had asked me about the caste system, bride burning, poverty, slums instead. But she had to ask me about Sanjaya Malakar.

Yes, Sanjaya Malakar, who very much like the present Indian government, is half-Bengali and half-Italian (not Marathi as I mistakenly assumed here... hey Bongs, stop ending your last names with -kar or I'll set the Sena on you).

Sanjaya Malakar, whose calibre as a performer is marginally greater than Karl Rove's.

Please, please, vote him off. To remind you why, here's a sample of him mangling one of my favourite bands -