Dave Sidhu at the great blog DNSI has a very illustrative example of what stinks in the ethnic ghettos of Europe in my opinion. It turns out that Muslims that have the munchies can now satiate their cravings at their own Beurger King Muslim (BKM). The BBC reports:
Parisian Muslims can now enjoy halal meals in an atmosphere that mimics US fast-food joints after BKM, or Beurger King Muslim, opened its doors.
BKM has set up in the northern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where many locals are first or second generation Muslims from former French colonies.
And half of the suburb’s population of 28,000 are aged under 25, the Agence France Presse news agency reported.
Beur is slang for a second generation North African living in France.
So let me understand this. It mimics the atmosphere of the U.S. by essentially being a segregated establishment? I’m torn. I HATE this idea because all it does is serve to further segregate a community whose children sometimes seem to turn fanatical because they feel segregated against. At the same time however it helps fight the poverty that leads to and maintains the segregation:
For most of BKM’s employees, the restaurant had “ended a long period of unemployment”, Mr Benhamid said.One BKM worker called Hakim explained that “young people in these suburbs have trouble finding work and this restaurant will allow the hiring of young people who have no diplomas or are looking for apartments”.
Dave was also kind enough to point me to a related article in today’s Christian Science Monitor about the growing objections in Britain to the concept of a multicultural society (where you let immigrant populations just do their own thing):
Those who want a more robust response to terrorism argue that multiculturalism fosters an aloofness dangerous to social cohesion that has ultimately led young men from ethnic minorities to turn on their own society.“Britain has a proud history of tolerance towards people of different views, faiths and backgrounds,” opined David Davis, the senior opposition Conservative member of Parliament (MP), Wednesday. “But we should not flinch from demanding the same tolerance and respect for the British way of life.” Another MP, Gerald Howarth, said if some Muslims “don’t like our way of life, there is a simple remedy: go to another country, get out.”
But even as government officials Tuesday began their campaign to reach out to Britain’s sizeable Muslim community, those who believe in the multicultural dream say it is already being eroded by the response to the attacks.
I wish I was seeing more articles right now comparing U.S. and European immigration policies. It seems (at the surface at least) to be pretty clear that the U.S. admits immigrants who are more likely to succeed and assimilate than Europe does. Part of this of course stems from the collapse of European empires in the twenty century, which often required giving citizenship to former subjects. If Turkey had a problem being admited to the EU before, I think the events of the last month are not going to do anything to help their ambitions.
Other European countries such as France expect greater assimilation from their newcomers. Britain has taken a more hands-off approach, and its ethnic communities tend to be highly segregated, as a demographic map of London shows: Indians in northwest London; Caribbeans in Brixton; Koreans in New Malden; and whites in the suburbs.Some community leaders insist that multiculturalism still works, that it has nothing to do with terrorism.
At its best, they say, it enables immigrants to settle more comfortably, retaining customs and culture while obeying British law. And it celebrates the diversity of Britain’s population.
LOL 🙂
What next ??
Anyone wanna start a business venture in India…Buerger King Hindu. Or how about McVHP.
Laughter besides, this is sad. Marginalisation and racial segregation seems to be the new fad in western societies.
From the CSM article Abhi links to:
Wait, what do you do if you spill someone’s drink in a pub?
There’s also an interesting piece on British multiculturalism by Hanif Kureishi in today’s Guardian (I’m working on a post on it for tomorrow…)
Thanks for this Abhi, very interesting. Your rightly point out the dichotomy – my first instinct is to vehemently condemn this, but there has been a positive in the form of providing employment. They didn’t really have to call it Buerger King Muslim, non-Muslim customers are alienated and revenue is lost.
I too have been calling for more comparisons to be made between US immigration policy and the current British policy. There has been some televised debate asking questions such as “Should Britain instigate a US-style citizenship test? Should immigrants have to learn British history and pledge their allegiance to the flag?”
Not sure that would achieve all that much, but I’m up for it. I did that British citizenship test a while ago and I didn’t fare that well! (Amardeep – Hanif Kureishi is frequently a complete moron, but he sometimes talks sense. I’ll wait for your post!)
All sizeable immigrant groups have a deep sense of community – they help each other out. It’s a positive and it’s natural. New to a country, you turn to those who understand you. But since the mass post-colonial influx, the groups have parted ways.
At one extreme the black community felt much more able to integrate with white Brits, most probably as they already knew the language and came from small countries where British rule had Anglicised the way of life. Much of the Chinese community in the UK are very insular and self-sufficient – you could say they’re not integrated at all and many can’t speak English. Yet their youth, our generation, has not fallen foul of the trap of feeling like an alien in their own country. A lot has to do with schooling (see below).
The Pakistani community, whilst disparate and varied, has on the whole had a tougher time integrating. They found many things jarring with their religion and for whatever reason, 2nd gen Pakistani youths often don’t fit in.
The simplified version of London from the CSM is somewhat inaccurate in my mind; I think London has generally managed to avoid a great deal of ghettoisation. But there have been many occasions where I have had to bite my tongue in order to prevent criticising a new concession due to the climate preventing constructive debate.
I sense things will get much worse – due to Tony Blair’s mindless devotion to faith schooling. He positively encourages schools of only one religion. The link above is an example of a school which did its utmost to please Muslim groups and students, worked with the local mosque and yet lost a case to the Hizb-ut-Tahrir-backed Shabina Begum. It was trying to be a secular school. This is the school I went to and as you can see, it has a proud Christian background. However all students’ religions (or lack thereof) were respected and I grew up with a mixed group of friends and no desires to bomb anyone.
Family friends will always tend to be mono-cultural, the onus is on SCHOOLS to prevent children growing up only socialising with people who think like they do.
“So let me understand this. It mimics the atmosphere of the U.S. by essentially being a segregated establishment? I’m torn.”
Let me try to sew you back together, Abhi.
The article says it mimics the atmosphere of the U.S. fast-food joints.
In other words, it looks like them and has a similar vibe.
I think this is a great idea for people who have dietary restrictions. I’m sure the muslims welcome a completely halal food joint. I’m sure the jews similarly appreciate their all kosher joints and I, as a strict vegetarian, certainly appreciate the many pure veg restaurants in India or the Indian Macdonald’s that have separate sections for their veg and non-veg products.
By the way Arzan, in India, Macdonald’s does not serve beef burgers but has a variety of “desi” style McAloo burgers and the like. And of course mutton burgers for the non-veggies.
I think this halal burger joint is an idea who’s time has come.
I do not like the title very much but if fast food joints were more diverse with their menus catering to different religious sensibilities ( in areas of ethnic diversity), then perhaps we wouldn’t have a BK Muslims cropping up.
It took threat of law suits and public disapproval for Mc to put in salads and calorie-deficient food options on its menu. Since this is what it takes for fast food joints to take notice, perhaps we should all lobby for our preferences and maybe some of them will show on menus in a couple of years.
Yes, I know what it meant, please give me more credit than that. Your example of McDonald’s in India isn’t a good comparison. It’s not called McDonald’s Hindu is it?
Noticeable is a complete lack of reference in these articles that have appeared since the suicide-bombings, when questioning the British multicultural model, to the one million Indians in Britain whose RELATIVE success in integrating into British society and flourishing contrasts with some other communities – no Hindu or Sikh leaders interviewed, no reference to the history and lives of Indians – silence – as though they are invisible.
At times like this I wonder why. I think it may complicate the simple binaries and assumptions people have on all sides of the arguments to see a rich and vibrant religious and cultural identity that can integrate into British society and that despite rough waters, discrimination, occasional bursts of backwardness, gets on with life without complaining too much.
Its kinda like Mecca Cola which is apparently very popular in France. I guess an entrepreneur saw an opportunity for halaal food and capitalized on it by starting a new fast food chain which offers halaal food. I do take issue with the reference to ‘North Africa’ and ‘Muslim’ in the name as its exclusionary.
I meant rich in terms of cultural richness – not in the vulgar material sense – although a few millionaires are nothing to be ashamed of.
That’s my whole point. They didn’t need to put ‘Muslim’ in the title and exclude everyone else. They could’ve just had a fast food joint with halal food.
On a side note, I would not eat halal meat before I moved to where I am in London now. But there is only one place here where I can buy haram meat. Nandos, McD’s, BK – they’re all halal. I can’t believe that the same companies in France haven’t converted (hoho) as well, in the Muslim areas at the least.
Suggesting that there is a separatist impulse within SOME members of the Muslim community can lead to generalisation that obscures as much as it illuminates in terms of individual experience. But I can say that in the cities and towns I know, there is a turning inwards and away from wider society in a significant number of Pakistani communities – and I have to word this carefully because it can easily play into the hands and rhetoric of bigots who want to beat up on Muslims – but I have to be honest now and call it as I see it – everything changed after 7/7 and it is happening – ghettoes are growing – and it is not healthy.
I would not eat halal meat before I moved to where I am in London now.
Why not ?
Agree with Bongbreaker, Though the idea is welcome, they need not put ‘muslim’ word in their name. Could’ve just marketed it as any other halaal fastfood joint. Why be exclusionist? Even frm business POV doesn’t make sense. No matter how good the food they serve, non-Muslims will simply dare not enter it, for the fear of being identified with ‘terrorist Muslims’. A perfect recipe for segregation.
Punjabi Boy, I am not surprised. After every such major incident, ghettoes are a reality. I recall, after th 92-93 riots in India, many people left – were actually ‘forced’ to – selling their houses in mixed localities at dirt cheap prices, and then relocated to ‘safer’ areas. And it swung both ways. Quite a few Hindus too did the same.
Al Mujahid, Mecca Cola is available in Kashmir too. And as this old article points out, they had planned to launch it in Gujarat. Can only tremble in fear, if they decide to launch it now, in the post-Godhra scenario.
Suhail Kazi
This ghetto thing has been happening for years – it is not just due to the current situation with the suicide bombers – it has been noticeable for at least a decade.
I have worked on a farm and seen a cow take a long time to die after having its throat cut. The heart continues to pump and it thrashes around. I’ve seen a cow killed the ‘English’ way as well and, to me, it seemed far more humane. I guess I shouldn’t really be eating any meat having seen inside an abbatoir, but I’m weak and addicted.
There are some interesting articles on it:
The BBC – Halal and Kosher Must End
The Guardian – The slaugherhouse rules
It got me thinking about a lot of oddities about halal meat in the UK, I know an abbatoir that just play a tape of namaaz on auto-repeat as the blessing. But I think I’m gaining a reputation for going off-topic so I’ll stop there.
When I said that ‘everything changed after 7/7’ I meant that the restraints on honest debate have to be removed – before nobody really talked about these things for fear of offending and upsetting and so it was kind of ignored – but that cant carry on now – since these Leeds suicide bombers everything has changed we have to be honest and state some home truths and not be shy of upsetting people – there is a real problem here – it is almost as if every community has accepted the terms of the British model – the liberal, secular, democratic, integrationist model – there are bumps and incidents but they are minor and dont distract from the main philosophy – nobody opposes the British consensus – all at least start integrating and accept how this society is settled, White, Black, Indian, Chinese, Jewish – except, sadly, for a significant section of the Muslim community, and some of their leaders too.
So that is what I meant when I said everything changed after 7/7 – meaning we cannot deny this is not happening and hold back from discussing it any more – even though it may upset some people, who do not fit in with the broad brush strokes we use in our discussions of the issues.
Actually, in India you will find “Jain Food” restaurants as well as “Vaishnava Bhojan” etc, that conform to the dietary restrictions of these sects as well as others.
That such a thing is sprouting up in France I think is a good idea. Just because a religious diaspora lands on foreign soil does not mean that they have to adopt all of the habits of the majority.
So they called it “muslim”, big deal. Now muslims know where to go when they want a halal burger and some social life with other muslims. And now I know where to go to find those hot Morroccan hunks the next time I go to Paris!
It’s all good!
Crown Fried Chicken? Kabab King? Bukhara? Ethnic ghettoes always have their own knock off fastfood places.
1) It’s just a burger place. I understand the broader trend the post is pointing to, but it seems a little odd to use this to do it. The French ban on headscarves probably will contribute more to the Al Qaeda recruitment efforts there than this burger place (although social networks are important).
What is this statement based on?
PB, Agreed. My comment was just a ref’ce to a recent event (even redundant, you can say).
Couldn’t agree more on this.
Just my personal observation.
First, it’s based on my experience as a University grad student. Almost every legal immigrant I come in contact with is very well educated and out to get their piece of the pie (and therefore less likely to turn militant). I realize I am getting a skewed perspective but I pointed out in the post that I am ignorant about the specifics of U.S. immigration policy.
Second, the U.S. never had an overseas Empire. For the last 50 years or so we have been able to make guidelines for who we let in (often conservative ones). We like high tech workers and doctors and scientists. My mom was born in Uganda. She was given a British passport when colonial rule ended. The UK somewhat opened its doors to all economic classes, even those that weren’t well supported enough that they were guaranteed to make it in the new world.
Like I said, I would like to read something about a comparison of immigration policies so I have a better perspective on it.
PB, do you really see this happening? I don’t. I couldn’t agree more that what we need is frank, open and constructive debate without the fear that someone will fly off the hook and say you are defiling 1400 years of tradition…for example. It’s still the Sun and the Mail saying one thing and the Guardian saying another. I don’t see much real debate about the things that bother me and other regular people.
Bongi
Well, have you had a frank debate on these issues without somebody’s blood boiling? This is about the only place I have. Some of the message boards where British Asians hang out – forget about it – talk about some people being in an absolute state of denial.
The thing is, there really are some Muslim Bashers out there who will use any opportunity to have a dig and that is what makes the shutters go up – but I have talked to some Pakistani friends of mine and friends and friends of friends – and there is some serious denial going on out there.
It’s a positive development on many terms. 28 new jobs in an unprivileged neighborhood. Cheap food – the commoditization should make for a cheaper product. Improved environment for kids – they have kiddies’ play areas . sense of ownership – Buerger is French slang for 2nd gen or something like that. Thinking out loud. There’s 28 employees + 28 dependents (at 1 per employees) = 56 people directly affected by BKM. Each of them likely supports half a local vendor. Net = 56 *1.5 = 84 people. That’s under 1% of population in a high density neighborhood – but a healthy number. So opening this one BKM reduces sense of disenfranchisement among 84 people within the particular neighborhood. Wonder if Nasscom factors this when building a case for outsourcing. Are we there yet?
Too true PB. I started a post off on AiM – I thought I worded it pretty well and really didn’t say anything inflammatory. One of the main points I wanted to convey was that one of the reasons that nothing has been done about fundamentalists in Britain is that they are more popular than we are lead to believe – and the politicians know this. I repeated that it’s still a tiny minority of Muslims but my goodness did the sh*t fly. I can track it down if you like. I have been accused of Islamaphobia and worse.
Denial is the exact word I used, but they denied there was any denial.
This is the brick wall that I don’t see coming down.
Some Canadian university campuses that have close to zero hate crimes/problems have student organisations making students aware of Islamaphobia – in other countries. I know it’s for a ‘good cause’ but how does that help when the problem isnt rampant on these campuses? Really, the biggest membership is primarily enjoyed by MSA anyway ( Muslim Students Association). But when I voiced this, just suggesting that my tuition fees used by SAC et al could go towards problems that are a big-ger source of concern at our campus , I was looked upon as someone bordering on being Islamaphobic ( hence providing more fodder for their campaign-who knows maybe they use my example somewhere too now ). I think I should have calmed them by explaining two of my best friends are muslims huh.And yes one is Paki.
Bongi
I can imagine the kind of response you got.
It is denial and it is delusion as well – conspiracy theorising and extreme anti-Semitism – really deeply embedded prejudices and paranoia.
You have to keep telling people to wake up though otherwise nothing will change. Some people just do not want to face up to the fact that there is a deeply fascistic and extreme right wing menace in our society – and it does not come from ‘white racists’ – it has arisen inside them and is targetting everyone. They just cannot face up to this fact – blame it on Zionists, America, anyone but to look inside and diagnose the malignant melanoma within.
Vidushi
I am beginning to believe that some of the concept of ‘Islamophobia’ is actually part of the problem – an attempt to assert an Islamist agenda and stifle internal and external criticism.
Take a look at this article – in fact everyone read this article, written by a British-Muslim journalist and writer called Kenan Malik.
The Islamophobia Myth
This was published about six months ago. It is even more important to read and consider now, especially in the British context.
Some Canadian university campuses that have close to zero hate crimes/problems have student organisations making students aware of Islamaphobia – in other countries.
I know it’s for a ‘good cause’ but how does that help when the problem isnt rampant on these campuses? Really, the biggest membership is primarily enjoyed by MSA anyway ( Muslim Students Association). How islamaphobic can this campus get then? Besides, how does it help to spread awareness about people being islamaphobic when these campus students are more open about ethnicity and religious sentiments. consider this:An Arab students association at one of the local university campuses, invited a panel of speakers to express their (pro-) Palestinian opinion. the flyers distributed for the talk spoke of jewish hands being tainted by blood of palestinian muslims. No we didn’t have any retaliation except letters sent to the campus newspaper protesting the language used. As you can see, it is very peaceful in these places.
But when I voiced this, just suggesting that my tuition fees used by SAC et al could go towards problems that are a big-ger source of concern at our campus , I was looked upon as someone bordering on being Islamaphobic ( hence providing more fodder for their campaign-who knows maybe they use my example somewhere too now ). Some Muslims do tend to take the islamaphobia notion too far.
I think I should have calmed them by explaining two of my best friends are muslims huh.And yes one is Paki.
sorry about the dual posts :S something went wrong.
PB : thanks for the link. I’m glad someone is voicing what is going on in my head.
Interesting read PB. Although he tea leafed my exact phrase about frank and honest debate! Haven’t heard of the chap. It’s very relevant in the current climate. I like the way he compared things to when the Tories were in – and also mentioned Behzti which I have written a fair amount about, to give a different angle. Yasmin Alibhai Brown pisses me right off, although I realise that’s nothing to do with anything.
I’m sure Irshad Manji has been linked to before on here, but she’s written some very good articles recently, addressing the denial and how all condemnations of the bombings were suffixed by justifications.
And since when have I been christened Bongi?!
Does Irshad Manji have much cred, though? I won’t deny she’s identified some real issues, but I find her to be such a media opportunist, and I find she belittles and simplifies dissenting streams in Islamic thought even as she claims to be putting them forward to the public.
And I don’t think she successfully walks the line between sensitively criticising the guardians of her own faith, and inviting hostile attacks on adherents of that same faith. From her website: “My question for non-Muslims is equally basic: Will you succumb to the intimidation of being called “racists,” or will you finally challenge us Muslims to take responsibility for our role in what ails Islam?”
Does this kind of statement really help open up dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims, and equally importantly, could it really help Muslim dissenters? It seems to me to conveniently feed that stream of opinion which seeks to deny that racism and Islamophobia even exist, while conveniently putting all the blame back on Muslims for refusing to get Western culture, however this may be defined.
the problem i have with a term like ‘islamophobic’ is that islam is a diverse set of ideas. hell yeah i’m phobic about a lot of islamic ideas! i really don’t like bug-eyed bearded muslims who glare at my gf in public places because they don’t want to see her in shorts marring their appreciation of the sunset. my small oregon has a bunch of loonie converts, and with their big red beards and pasty ass complexions set off on their faux arabic dress they make me pretty islamophobic (these aren’t sufis, one of the dudes was bitching about his friend was detained because he worked for a saudi ‘charity’). i used to tell my christian evangelical friends that i hated christianity, not christians, hate the sin, not the sinner! was i christophobic?
sure, prejucide and racism is a problem. people have no choice about what skin they’re born into, and on a person to person level it doesn’t have to be an issue (i believe in a brotherhood of values, but many people feel they have more in common with those of similar race/culture, and i’m cool with that as long as people don’t make laws to impose that). but ideas, beliefs, that’s a different can-of-beans. at some point, we can’t all get along. many muslims espouse views that are by their nature inimical to who i am. many fundamentalist christians espouse views that are by their nature inimical to who saurav is as a gay man. there is certainly a conflation of ‘muslim’ with ‘brown person,’ but i don’t think we should give into the tendency to identify a particular religion with an exclusionary category (ie; non-white), and so include the religion in the umbrella of outrage that is included as a response to race-hatred.
Same bucket as Ted Rall or Ann Coulter – conservative pedigree. Gets a lot of spotlight. Yes. Has credibility? Not sure. Uses sexual identity, religion, ethnicity to good effect – claims prejudices from all ends – media is alternately thrilled at the opportunity to be a voice for the downtrodden and afraid of being labeled as biased if it fails to be a mouthpiece – bends over backwards to appease.
I agree it’s not the best term in the world, and I completely sympathise with your distaste for the bearded, staring guys, but I’m not sure. I think the term has some merit. When the newspaper front pages jostle to vilify entire communities on the basis of their religion, I get the feeling they’re pretty Islamophobic. And every other person who fits the profile gets to have a taste of it too, but because of their association with a “Muslim” physical type (horrible notion). Having said that I do realise that all kinds of nasty types hide behind the term in order to deflect criticism. I’m not really sure if there is a more suitable term, however.
When the newspaper front pages jostle to vilify entire communities on the basis of their religion,
i don’t know if you live in britain, but here in the US our middlebrow press always presents both sides, and i don’t ever really seeing it villifying all muslims. i agree that profiling ‘muslim’ types is wrong, but while objecting to the natural psychological response (and i’m sorry, but it is natural, which doesn’t mean it can’t be controlled or modified) one should also always remember that that response is set off by the reality that a small subset of self-describe muslims seems intent on waging war against their own citizens because the dictates of their understanding of their religion renders all outside of belief subhuman.
there are multiple reactions one can have toward group X (doesn’t have to be muslims) who espouse values, propositions and practices a, b, c, d….
a) revulsion and opposition b) distaste c) tolerance d) acceptance e) admiration etc. etc. etc.
radical islamists are objects of a. i doubt anyone would object to that. but frankly, most practicing conservative muslims are the objects of b in my opinion, i don’t like their attitude toward gender roles, i don’t appreciate their tendency to assume that those who know about islam but are in unbelief are being obstinate or haven’t read the appropriate texts and i don’t like their ostentatious regimentation of their life according to a code formulated between the 7th and 11th centuries. as for most religions, they fall under c, they strike me as weird, but it’s their business.
islamophobia is just one of those terms that ends up with a lot of mission creep. some people seem to take it to mean that muslim orthodoxy shouldn’t be challenged by free thinkers as has been our prerogative since 1750. all cultures have a free right to be expressed in western societies, so long as they fit within the bounds of liberalism as it has developed to this point and time. should i accuse traditionalist conservative muslims of ‘liberalophobia’ because they send their daughters back to pakistan or often produced sexually repressed and warped sons?
p.s. option b is what i go for in the case of hasidic jews. sorry, they creep me out. call me anti-semitic.
btw, the USA has a bimodal educational profile in its immigrants. personally, i think we should just skew toward highly skilled types and suck the rest of the world dry of their elite if possible.
While Hanif Querishi is a massively self-indulgent fiction writer (whose work nonetheless I adore), his article in the Guardian actually makes some good analytical points. I like how he writes, “multiculturalism is: not a superficial exchange of festivals and food, but a robust and committed exchange of ideas – a conflict that is worth enduring, rather than a war.”
I’m occasionally rendered speechless by the way conservative elements existing within most diasporic communities advocate the most retrograde, stupid-headed essentialist cultural politics of nostalgia that are usually several decades out of date with what’s goin on ‘back home,’ where odds are the corner chai huts continue as they have been for the last two centuries to be filled with queer pot smokin socialists writing bad poetry and resistin the state like any self-respecting third world revolutionary, unlike the keeners who upwardly-mobilized themselves right out of the country.
Sorry Bong Breaker I just couldnt be bothered to type out Bong Breaker so just typed Bongi and BB seems too impersonal but if you are offended by Bongi I will not do so again.
Yeah, the article by Kenan Malik is very good – this victimhood culture is the fast route to religious ‘leaders’ getting their egos boosted with attention – scream and stomp your feet and throw a hissy fit and you get noticed – it is a strategy Sikh and Hindu ‘organisations’ will try to use and have tried to use, in fact it is the way of the minority mentality everywhere – it is just with Muslims it has a certain urgency because, well, a handful of them blow themselves up on the Underground and other places.
Sometimes people wallow in victimhood.
Nah it’s very hard to offend me Punjabi Boy!
Good point razib.
In Britain some have criticised the press with giving too much attention to extreme Islamic fundamentalists, saying that the media doesn’t give Combat 18 or the National Front exposure, so why do they put forward a twisted form of Islam as the norm?
Bongi
I am touched I made you change your name – although personally I think Bongo sounds much better.
It’s just a temporary thing my friend. I am the Bong Breaker! (you have to imagine me saying that like WORF. A short skinny version of him, but still WORF)
if only WORF could dance like you 😉
I vote for Bongi. Or perhaps Bongi ji.
Further permutations:
–>Bongi G
–>Bongee jees (as in Bee Gees)
–>Bong Bejeezus
Bongo is the best I reckon – no doubt about it.
I am thinking of changing my nick – just for the novelty – but I cannot think of anything as sexy as Punjabi Boy.
DesiDancer that is some thought. Imagine Worf doing a headspin on his Klingon cranium. Hell, imagine Picard and Worf battling…I’d give all my gold pressed latinum to see that. Then Data comes along, busts out the robot and dumps all over them. Awesome!
This conversation went a bit weird.
Punjabi Boy. It’s a good solid name. No points for imagination I have to say, but at least it ain’t PunjbiJatt2Hott4U. My name started out as the Bengali Bboy and somehow worfed into Bong Breaker. Oddly enough Amardeep, I’ve been Bee Gee too – as the nickname everyone else knows me as begins with a ‘g’.
incidentally, Bongi, I tried to reach out on your med student link, but I am not sure if the email form came to you…
Seems not to have – there’s a mailto: at the top of the contact page which works. Or guptastar at gmail dot com.
Wait a minute….we’re going for sexy with the nicknames? Hmmm, I truly missed the mark with “but no” 😉