The Onion discovers India’s new tech-support caste:
“While we rank below members of the reigning order, those of us responsible for helping Americans track their online purchases and change their account PINs share many privileges not enjoyed by the merchant class below us.” (said technical-support agent Ranji Prasat). [The Onion]
The Onion: New tech-support caste arises in India
A couple years back, The Onion had another News in Brief item that made me harken back to childhood anxieties:
Indian-American Child Having Difficulty Finding Bicycle License Plate With His Name On It HAYWARD, CA— Dinesh Parekh, 9, continues to struggle to find a bicycle license plate with his name on it, the Indian-American child reported Monday. “This is the third store I’ve checked today,” said a dejected Parekh, exiting a Toys “R” Us near his Hayward home. “Derrick, Diane, Dillon and Dylan, Dirk… no Dinesh.” Parekh, who has pedaled his brand-new Schwinn to more than a dozen stores during his three-week search, said he plans to ask his mother to drive him to the KB Toys in San Leandro next weekend.
I remember collecting Honeycomb cereal boxtops in an effort to obtain a personalized license plate, but alas, the offer expired.
How about that Onion article with the Pakistani owned subway shop inside an Indian owned convenience store? The line of control was like, aisle 10 or something.
Can’t find it on my quick perusal of the site, will have to do so later. Sure, sure, promises, promises….
Friends who moved back to Bangalore told me that their office came to a standstill one afternoon because they had to do Adyut (?) puja for the computers! this is a puja that Kshatriyas perform over their weapons. Kind of makes sense–a spear or a computer, what is the difference? But as they say, only in Bangalore.
of course, the reason the joke has bite is because the IT workers are almost entirely drawn from the upper castes. Aren’t many scheduled caste software engineers…