You know the comic strip which still features a big guy named ‘Punjab’ with East Asian eyes, a genie turban and pirate earrings? Now it’s saving desis from the tsunami. Chutzpah, thy name is Annie:
But don’t worry — Daddy War-Rupees still blames ‘the crooked locals’:
Previous post here.
OFFICAL STATEMENT
After Latest outrages witnessed against my desi people.
Uncleji on behalf of her Britannic Majesty invites you the flee your terrible country and instead settle in a place where the desi are desired and the brown is worn like a crown. Please people you have nothing to lose but your undeserved sterotypes and your standard of living.
We will be departing on the Komagata Maru via Casblanca. payment in advance to Uncleji’s “People Smuggling enterprises (Cayman Islands)” Charming Young Madames go free after “a personal interview” with uncleji.
Direct all enquiries to The dis-Honourable consul of the United Kingdom of Desi & Northern Poojab c/o Punjabi Boy propping up the Bar at Glassy Junction Southall Ingland
Thank you for your kind Attention
I belive this how is that Desi Americans have to put up with this crap. I get the impression that South Asians of all the ethnic groups are regarded still as Fair game in America. Why ? It hasn’t been this bad in the UK of D since the 1970s Then ALL we non-white folk had to suffer it……
Hic
Ik hor glassy yaar…
Its like – enough of this white mans burden shit in the aftermath of that hurricane in New Orleans with the images of all those black people treated like second class citizens and thousands of bodies floating in the water.
I reckon we need to send some Punjabi Boys over to rescue the African-Americans from the tyranny of that corrupt and rotten racist system that neglects African-Americans in the ghetto and lets them fester in a sports stadium for a week without food or water.
Kanye West can sponsor us.
What I meant to say was While this gross ethnic humour is beyond the pale for all other ethnic groups, South Asians in America are still regarded as fairgame. I marking down Amerika along with the Gulf, Eastern Europe as non desi friendly. Or have I misunderstood.
uncleji
South Asians are going to be massive in America – in twenty years they may be the most vibrant desi community in the diaspora and the Apu’s will shut down like it they have been here.
I think Manish was talking about the patronising tone of the comic – you know – the rich white man coming over to Asia to save the darkies from themselves.
Whilst Kanye Wests people need our help to save them from the ghouls of Washington. Maybe. Perhaps.
Last post was by me – I was e-mailing my mate Luke simultaneously and typed his name – dont panic.
Hmmmm I have my doubts about Kanye West with his “man-made diseases placed in African communities”. Can’t we link up with Chris Rock, he appeals more to my bourgouise sensiblity (if not to my sense of spelling) They just seem too educated and refined compared to the early pioneers in Brum, Southall & Gravesend.
Manish in his previous posts refers to sterotypes.
uncleji
Yeah I know I was being reductionist and facetious – I dont even know enough about what happened in New Orleans to comment.
The American Desis will be big because they are so educated and there is a lot of energy and desire for recognition and they have Hollywood and TV and all that stuff on their door step – although it will be different because England Desis are more working class although that is changing.
They already have people like Jhumpa Lahiri and ten years ago – did you even realise there were Indian people in America? They are coming up fast.
Just so’s you know, mainstream syndicated comics are produced at least six weeks prior to publication. Obviously “Annie” is a pretty ignorant bird dropping of a comic strip anyway (although they seem to have a competent illustrator hacking on it right now) but even its managers may have nixed this storyline in light of post-Katrina New Orleans. On the other hand, the syndicate’s editors could have pulled the strip and replaced it with some oldies while the creators came up with something else.
You should definitely write to the syndicate. Syndicate managers are notoriously lily-livered cowards and letters of complaint strike terror into their limp little hearts. If “Annie” appears in your local paper, write them – local newspaper editors are even more spineless than syndicate hacks.
Please don’t lump all white people in the same boat as the ghouls in Washington. God knows I didn’t vote for them!!! 🙂
I am as horrified as to what happened in New Orleans as any of you.
Hanuman
I know I was just being foolish – I was trying to, you know, reverse the message of this comic strip in the light of what happened in America but I probably shouldnt have because it was in bad taste.
“Annie” is syndicated by Tribune Media. According to Tribune’s contacts page, the managing editor of US syndication is Mary Elson: melson at tribune.com. Addional mail links can be found on the contacts page.
This kind of Ali Baba-Aladdin bukwaas portayal reminds me of the kind of rubbish that used to be pushed out my alleged “comedians” here in the UK when I was much younger. People like Jim Davidson playing “Pakistani” shopkeepers called “Mr Patel”, in a Sikh beard-and-turban, and with the Apu accent. And don’t get me started on Bernard Manning.
Considering how the US is normally so sensitive these days to political correctness and race relations, it’s mind-boggling why anyone would think South Asians are fair game if, for example, it would be (rightly) regarded as being completely unacceptable to target/stereotype black people like this.
I know we’ve all discussed this on previous threads on SM but, regardless of the subversive nature of his portrayal, I wince everytime I hear Apu’s sing-song accent on The Simpsons. It reminds me of the way so many locals in the media “mimicked” Indians when I was younger, not to mention all the jokes and insults in the fake accent so many of us had to hear from the population at large when we were growing up. I’m sure I don’t need to tell Uncleji and Punjabi Boy what it was like hearing people either mimick or smirk at our parents’ Indian accents when they spoke English, even if in reality their accents — although desi-tinged — were actually nothing like the Apu cliche.
Anyway…
Uncleji I hope your “international human transportation enterprise” isn’t exploiting your “Business Studies HND work experience” gap-year nephews and nieces too much, along with all the auntiejis finding some spare time to help you out in-between knitting booties for their new grandchildren (and gossiping about the other aunties whose sons/daughters aren’t married yet).
I also hope you’re paying Punjabi Boy his standard on-site client-facing daily consultancy fee of 3 microwaved samosas and a “chat” with Mr J Daniels, along with a possible “performance-related bonus” of a genuine Uncleji replica safari suit (either in “Nairobi Pastel Blue” or “Kampala Khaki”)…..