The Game called Stereotypes

Indian TV ads are sometimes the best reflections of our society. Apart from them being obnoxious or over the top they show certain sides to us that takes a miniscule amount of observation skills. Having said that it is entirely possible that what I observed and what the ad wanted to potray were poles apart. The ad in question is the Lufthansa one where a Grandfather tells his impressionable grandson about Germans being cold people and how not to expect much in terms of hospitality from them. Though personally I suppose the old man has mixed up Lufthansa and Aeroflot.
The focus of this post is mainly the preconceived notions and basic racial and ethnic stereotyping that we all seem to encounter.

Indians as a whole love stereotypes. How many times have we heard a relative say stuff like ' these Brahmin people are like this only' and weird judgements on people of a certain religion being more inclined towards crime. At times it's hilarious. A friend of mine while playing cricket always assumes that the sardar is a good off spin bowler and conversely every south Indian is a good leg spinner. The guy in question is a terrible cricketer. Guess that makes him French.
The one thing we Indians are not is racist. The thing is racist as it may seem Indians never say such stuff with an intention to be racist. It's all intended to be humour. Imagine their surprise when they realise that an Australian cricketer takes offense to being called a 'monkey' (actual word may vary depending on knowledge of Hindi). We call dark skinned people stuff like 'kalla' but don't shy away from calling the fair skinned people 'gora'. Yet another indicator that we are not racist. (Equal discrimination at play)

To say this happens only in India is quite unfair.

I was watching a Russel Peters show the other day and realised that we are not alone. I am pretty sure that in some part of the world there is a cab driver joke on an Indian as I type. I suppose the universe has its own ways of reciprocating jokes.

But what I really want to say is the big fuss that is made about such things. Any joke with a racial or stereotyping undertone automatically becomes controversial. Why are we so sensitive to jokes on us?? In a country where when some yells 'Tu Pagal hai bc' our first reaction is 'Pagal kisko bola!' being sensitive is often fake. I mean we all enjoy our occasional joke on sardars and blondes and Asian/Indian accents and wouldn't it be better if we learn to laugh at ourselves once in a while. I don't mind jokes on me being fat no matter how obnoxious or my skin tone. But that doesn't mean I support the real form of racism or anti semitism that the grandpa in the ad was referring to. A good deal of banter has never hurt anyone now, has it??
Now that I am done with this article I will fold my lungi and have curd rice for dinner.
Ciao