Sometimes I'm ashamed to be Indian. The focus is on racism in America, against African-Americans, but there's so much racism by Indians against Muslims, it's disgusting. I was just asked this from someone, referring to a brown person: "Is she Indian or Muslim? Because you should never associate with Muslims, you know."
How does this help ANYTHING? Then they went on to speak of the Muslim community as though it were at colony of insects that had to be exterminated. Where does this take us? Blindly hating a specific ideology and culture? Sound familiar? That's a characteristic we attribute to our ENEMIES.
W. T. F.
Dec 30, 2005
Dec 29, 2005
Philadelphia Fun
So yesterday, my family and I visited Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, which is where I hope to go to college. It's amazing. Maybe it was just our good luck, but the weather was great, and the city was gorgeous. Then we walked through the campus, which is just far enough away to not be smack in the middle of Philadelphia, but close enough to be able to take a quick subway ride in. It's got a one-of-a-kind charm that I haven't seen in any other college I've visited. I can't wait.
Dec 25, 2005
Manhattan Mix #2
Thursday morning found me taking a shower at my aunt's house, with whom we're staying in Maryland for now (this was before we went to NYC; we're back now in Maryland).
Suddenly, without warning, the shower curtain attacked me. Billowing inwards, it nearly hit the far wall of the shower before I counterattacked. After a short scuffle, I managed to hold the curtain back with one hand, while applying shampoo and soap with the other. That was the highlight of that morning (the day we took the Greyhound bus to NYC).
Continuing the theme of the previous post, here's another food story from Manhattan. My family and I went to a restaurant just off Times Square, across from our Comfort Inn, called John's Shanghai. It was, apparently, highly recommended. The food was actually quite good until a cockroach dropped by to visit. It crawled along the wall towards my sister, who, with a mouthful of food, recoiled and grabbed my dad for help, all in mime. The four of us vacated the table pretty fast, staring at the roach. It was relatively big, even for Houstonions. The Indian people at the next table started making hilarious comments, like "I wonder what's in the Chicken Surprise?" and "So that's why it's called the SPECIAL fried rice." Corny, yes. Funny, yes. After catching our guest, the waiter, without asking, took away all of our food. That would have been okay in itself, but instead of offering us new food, he "graciously" only charged us half. Luckily, before the four indignant Indians (that would be us) could make a scene, the manager dismissed the bill. We left the restaurant and our appetites behind.
Lots more stories en route; I'll post in the upcoming days.
Suddenly, without warning, the shower curtain attacked me. Billowing inwards, it nearly hit the far wall of the shower before I counterattacked. After a short scuffle, I managed to hold the curtain back with one hand, while applying shampoo and soap with the other. That was the highlight of that morning (the day we took the Greyhound bus to NYC).
Continuing the theme of the previous post, here's another food story from Manhattan. My family and I went to a restaurant just off Times Square, across from our Comfort Inn, called John's Shanghai. It was, apparently, highly recommended. The food was actually quite good until a cockroach dropped by to visit. It crawled along the wall towards my sister, who, with a mouthful of food, recoiled and grabbed my dad for help, all in mime. The four of us vacated the table pretty fast, staring at the roach. It was relatively big, even for Houstonions. The Indian people at the next table started making hilarious comments, like "I wonder what's in the Chicken Surprise?" and "So that's why it's called the SPECIAL fried rice." Corny, yes. Funny, yes. After catching our guest, the waiter, without asking, took away all of our food. That would have been okay in itself, but instead of offering us new food, he "graciously" only charged us half. Luckily, before the four indignant Indians (that would be us) could make a scene, the manager dismissed the bill. We left the restaurant and our appetites behind.
Lots more stories en route; I'll post in the upcoming days.
Manhattan Mix #1
So the last three days have been a whirlwind of sightseeing, subway and bus rides, sidewalk restaurants, walking, walking, walking, and cappuccinos. It's been awesome. NYC is a one-of-a-kind place. Funny story: Yesterday, my family and I met with some relatives near Rockefeller Center, which is where the NYC Christmas tree is. Needless to say, that place was insanely crowded. INSANELY crowded. Thus, we all went down a side street and instead, met at a place called Burger Heaven, which looked fine at first sight. It was even a notch or two above fast food. So we all went in and met up there, and maybe the problems started when we had about fifteen Indians in a restaurant, with only about three of us actually eating. The waitress was inexplicably pissed at us. Verbatim conversation:
My Sister: "We're vegetarian, by the way."
My Dad: "No meat at all, please."
Me: "If we order anything non-vegetarian, could you tell us, please?"
My Sister: "Can you make vegetarian chili?"
Waitress: "Yes, yes."
My Sister: "We'll have the chili, then."
Waitress: "You want that with meat or vegetarian?"
And folks, she was serious, too. Next, she left both the bread and the cheese off a sandwich because we didn't explicitly specify that we wanted the mixed vegetables melt sandwich with bread and cheese.
The food sucked, too. Also, we think she was drunk.
Anyways, more stories to come later!
My Sister: "We're vegetarian, by the way."
My Dad: "No meat at all, please."
Me: "If we order anything non-vegetarian, could you tell us, please?"
My Sister: "Can you make vegetarian chili?"
Waitress: "Yes, yes."
My Sister: "We'll have the chili, then."
Waitress: "You want that with meat or vegetarian?"
And folks, she was serious, too. Next, she left both the bread and the cheese off a sandwich because we didn't explicitly specify that we wanted the mixed vegetables melt sandwich with bread and cheese.
The food sucked, too. Also, we think she was drunk.
Anyways, more stories to come later!
Dec 24, 2005
Christmas Eve In Manhatten
Hi everybody! It's me again, reporting (semi) live from just a couple blocks away from Times Square, New York City. My family and I have toured the entire city in the past couple of days, but we're not done yet. Unfortunately, the snow melted only a few days before we got here, but that's okay; we appreciate the warmth, or we'd probably freeze. This city is amazing. It's got good points and bad points, but the entire package is just incredible. So many people in such a small space...it's overwhelming. Well, we're off again, so everyone have a wonderful Christmas (winter...whatever) Eve!
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