Here’s about 1:15 of a song called “Dil Dance Maare” from the new Hindi film, Tashan. The two male leads are the currently ubiquitous Askhay Kumar, and Saif Ali Khan. The female lead is Kareena Kapoor:
The lyrics are a little… well… I don’t really know how to describe them:
White white face dheke dil woh beating fast sasura [When I see a ‘white white’ face, my heart starts beating fast]
Jaan se maare reeee eehhheeee
Aare
White white face dheke dil woh beating fast sasura
Jaan se maare re
Ohhhooo
White white face dheke
Aahh…
White white face dheke dil woh beating fast sasura
Jaan se maare re
Oh very… oh very…
Oh very happy in my heart
Dil dance maare re
Very happy in my heart, dil dance maare re
Dil dance maare dance maare
Dil yeh dance maare
Oh very happy in my heart
Dil dance maare re
It’s not entirely an arbitrary expression of a self-hating colonial mentality (or, as Fela Kuti said, “colo-mentality”); in the context of the film, the characters apparently come across an American film crew while traveling around India, and join the production — hence the blond wigs and so on. (My wife was watching the DVD in the other room, and she called me in when this song came on: you have to see this.)
Still, am I the only one to find the song/video at once deeply embarrassing and oddly catchy? I’ve been finding myself singing it for comic effect for family and friends this week.
Comments #98&100
An important landmark in the history of ancient india is the advent of vedic civilization associated with the coming of Aryans(nomadic pastroal people inhabited the region of Central Asia).The Aryans started a great migration toward europe and Asia. A section of this migratory population reached the frontiers of the sub-continent of India around 200BC and entered the country in search of pastures. Initially they met with strong opposition from the well organised urban communities inhabiting India(largely known as Dravidians)at that time.However,the newcomers were able to break this resistence and settle down in Punjab.From Punjab they moved eastwards and spread all over the Gangetic Valley.It seems that the area of this civilisation extended from Afghan to the base of the gangetic valley.gradually Aryans allied themselves with the local people and a historic synthesis was worked out between the Aryans and the original inhabitants. The later vedic period which extends up to 600BC saw the expansion of Aryan power into the interior of Northern India and the migration of the original inhaitants(dravidians)towards Southern India.However,there is no unanimity among the historians on this
Spake Civilizations the later vedic period which extends up to 600BC saw the expansion of Aryan power into the interior of Northern India and the migration of the original inhaitants(dravidians)towards Southern India.However,there is no unanimity among the historians on this So right there is a lot of controversy about this but it served Northies to patronize Southies for years UNTIL the IT boom happened mostly in the Dravidian south (so sad forsooth) and now about 98% of India’s poor are crowded in the BIMARU states of Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and UP. What ho my dear former Aryans? I know I sound bitter but I live in Bangalore where the whiff of northern superiority (based on white face, bad manners and godawful angrezi)is like the loo.I do know some great guys from the North but they are in a minority.
everyone ancestors have come from somewhere else. people living in present day england came many years back from denmark and germany and before that the vikings and romans had invaded. the original inhabitants and culture were pretty much wiped out.
what really bugs me is people wearing blue, green and grey contacts when their eyes are brown.
Haven’t you guys seen Rang De Basanti? That was an amazing bollywood film. What about other awesome films like Taare Zameen Par, Swades and Dil Se? I don’t understand the bollywood bashing here. You guys really put the c in abcd.
ABCDs like to get together and laugh at Indian things. That’s okay, we think of ABCDs as shallow, spoilt, arrogant and self-absorbed too.
I meant to say that we laugh at you guys too. No worries.
nothing catchy about this. just deeply embarrassing, and reeks of racism/sexism. right up there with the unilever ads.
I can understand an ignorant commerical, even though it made me cringe, but it really bothered me that Bipasha Basu was fine with playing the “dark girl”. A.) She’s not that dark B.) She’s hot and is implying that her only flaw is her dark skin C.) She puts herself out there as someone who’s trying to break the traditional woman’s role or the idea of a woman should look like. I saw this commercial in India – it was actually a longer verson, but this was the closest I could find to it. The commercial’s idea was similar to the Escalade commercials where the women are driving and talking about how women are strong and need a car as awesome as they are and not just a fufu girly car with lots of cupholders. She’s also a new face of Reebok and she’s trying to come off as strong and independent etc. etc.
Maybe she’s just following the paycheck. sigh.
Nandita Das doesn’t look ‘dark’ in the least to me – she’s around as dark as I am, as well as many of my family members, and we’re all planted firmly in the ‘midtone’ colour range. Frankly, I don’t know any desi from my circle who tells their kids not to play in the sun, or discourages girls from being too sportive. I think it must be an ABD/UK thing. My mum tells me not to stay in the sun for too long, but that has more to do with the harmful effects of UV(of which many desis are blissfully unaware, in the belief that their melanin alone is enough protection), and I agree with her.
100 · louiecypher said
with pumpernickel, i think a nice aged camembert would do better. (and yes that is a positive comment–IMO: Das as runny cheese > Das as marshmallow)
Linguistically speaking, South Indians are totally different from Northern Indians. N. Indians speak an Indo-European language (along with Sinhalese, Bangladeshi, and Nepali). South Indians speak a Dravidian language.
I think that this is what trips up most N. Indians who view themselves to be in the same race as Swedes, and S. Indians to be of the “Indian race.” I actually had a Kashmiri Hindu tell me in a very very polite way that he’s a mix of European and Indian races, and his Punjabi Hindu friend was parroting his speach. They said that a South Indian like myself were “pure Indians”
I understand the language divide, but dna results and reputed scientists have shown that there is no racial difference. So it’s just strange to me that the thinking still persists. Indians come in all colors, including light skin, and doesn’t rely on some Iranian ancestery nonsesense. I just wonder what they teach IN INDIA about such nonsense as the aryan invasion and such? What do they teach IN INDIA?
I thought the myth of the ‘Aryan race’ was debunked long ago, but clearly the idea persists among the general population(desi at least).
Not sure where this is going. We Indians are mixed and for lack of a better term there is an “Iranian” contribution to the DNA.”
Is there any mixing with Iranians? – not much from what I’ve read.
I find it funny that some of this mixing is attributed to the “aryan invasion” which happened thousands of years ago.
Where it gets ridiculous is when people feel the need to reject the much larger genetic contribution from “people X” (I use this term because it doesn’t make sense to use linguistic terms like Dravidian to describe “race”) to feel superior.
I agree.
Fair skinned green eyed Punjabis and upper class Turko-Afghan Muslims are part of the Indian fabric and clearly they have a place in Indian cinema. The issue is that this phenotype dominates to the near exclusion of all others. And I find it laughable that Nandita Das is referred to as dark. She might be dark as far as the nightclub/gated community set in Delhi go but she is towards the lighter end of the population as a whole. She would look like a (sexy) marshmallow standing next to me. Film studios spoon feed the public, they are ready for more varied forms of beauty.
I just wonder how much of bollywood is made up of punjabis or turko-afghan muslims in comparison to other indian groups? I don’t think those groups have the hegemony – there’s a lot of actors from all over. The thing is to me, they all show a phenotype – light skin – which is also Indian. In other words I don’t think “light skin” is showing people who look “middle eastern” – they look like light-skinned Indians – I don’t buy the whole aryan huge migration/invasion stories – from what I’ve read the population hasn’t changed much for 1,000s of years and fair skin is “indigenous” to India.
When some of my friends make comments like – “Aishwarya Rai should be north indian” or “your mom looks north indian”, etc. I just am confounded. And I know all N. Indians don’t think like this…just weird to me that many INdians think like this – and I don’t know if this is a majority or minority who think like this.
even in spanish movies (latin america) the actors do not look like the average person of their country most mexicans do not remotely look like a gael garcia bernal or salma hayek (skin color wise included)!!! with this regards the indian movie actors much more accurately portray what the average indian looks like as far as the color of the skin, its a total no issue as hindi/indian film industry has actors, successful ones even, who are of skin colors ranging form dark to fair (just like the real india) and regarding the actors with mixed races, they obviously consider themselves indian enough to act in bollywood movies so i dont think some of the previous comments are fair to judge them for that!!! and btw tashan is pakka fun/timepass movie to watch
unfortunately there are and not to pick on any particular group but from what i have seen and heard the gujratis are the worst when it comes to this – i would like to think its a minority who feels this way – ppl who think like this are just delusional aholes
101 · Civilizations said
By history you mean historical fiction right? That’s such pseudoscientific crock that even hardened Aryanites like Romila Thapar have given up on it.
Are we also going to do a post about a super hit tamil song Karupputhaan enakku pudicha kalaru(Black is the color I love) talking about reverse racism. You know talking about Bollywood and such.
even in spanish movies (latin america) the actors do not look like the average person of their country most mexicans do not remotely look like a gael garcia bernal or salma hayek (skin color wise included)!!! with this regards the indian movie actors much more accurately portray what the average indian looks like as far as the color of the skin, its a total no issue as hindi/indian film industry has actors, successful ones even, who are of skin colors ranging form dark to fair (just like the real india) and regarding the actors with mixed races, they obviously consider themselves indian enough to act in bollywood movies so i dont think some of the previous comments are fair to judge them for that!!! and btw tashan is pakka fun/timepass movie to watch
Well I don’t think is a nonissue in bollywood – in fact I think that’s where color is most an issue.
And yes, I know – Latino movie stars look very different than your average latino; huge difference in the phenotype they show on tv to what people actually look like and I can say the same for black stars hollywood (though I think that is better). When we are talking about indian movies penchant for light skinned people, that doesn’t mean that that preference isn’t all over the world.
I”ve seen some of the comments say this “white white” song is just satire – well I hope so.
Wow, while I think there’s a fair point to be made about fairness and all that, I also think this particular, very silly song is being taken out of context. As an earlier commenter remarked, in the film, the trio are trying to hide from the authorities during this dance number. Furthermore, there is a bit of humor before the song even begins- an Anglo director is talking about how he’s making a ‘real’, serious movie about widows, which I took to be a subtle, or not-so-subtle, jab at Water. Saif Ali Khan gets to inform the director that there’s always music in Indian movies. And later, the director mistakes Akshay Khanna’s character (whose name is Bachchan Pande, I believe) for Amitabh Bachchan, which I also found humorous.
Maybe I’m just mental, but I found the whole thing tongue-in-cheek, and was amused by it.
Why? I will happily take the Dravidianist parties to task for their Brahmin/Hindu baiting, extension of affirmative action for landed communities. But you must have a warped sense of justice if you think the rare messages encouraging a positive self image for black skinned Indians, who are told implicitly/explicitly every day that they are inferior, are equivalent. I don’t find Bollywood any worse than other Indian regional film industries when it comes to color preference. Which is why I generally use the term “Indian popular cinema” rather than Bollywood. Tamil film has a propensity for fair skinned and often N. Indian starlets (who don’t speak a word of Tamil) that is equally/more reprehensible
Sil:
That translation is accurate, but I can’t help thinking that the Tamil line sounds suspiciously close to “Karputhaan, ennai pudichu kaLaru” (“It’s only virginity. Hold me and stir me”). I doubt that was an accident.
i don’t think anyone means anything rude or offensive by saying “your mom must be north indian”. they’re probably just trying to place you. i’m north indian and i used to hang out with a bunch of good friends from kerala and when i met their friends and relatives they said, oh you must be from the north. they were just making conversation. you’re reading too much into it and i don’t know any gujaratis who say this sort of thing. i used to live in gujarat when i was very little and i’ve been back there hundreds of times, plus no one gujarati has said that to me in the US or UK.
Personally, I think the song is hilarious. Infact, I think it is a ridiculously clever parody (key word: ridiculous) of all the hindi songs nowadays that seem to be hell bent upon including poorly administered rap, which is usually trying very hard to pass as legitimate. The fact that “very happy in my heart, dil dance maare re” is a direct translation of “badi khushi hui dil mein, dil naaach rahaa hai” or something to that extent, only proves that no one is taking this song seriously. In fact, The day I heard the song, I kept repeating the first few lines and bursting into a fit of giggles after realizing what I was actually saying. Plus, if you’re like me and have ever tried to translate a Hindi song into English, the results are usually…ahem…weird. (Hats off to the sites like “Bollywhat.com” for doing such a great job.)
And Amardeep, I agree with you, it IS a catchy song…I’ve admired the simplicity and relevance of Vishal-Shekhar’s melodies since they first came out with “Aazamale” from Taxi No. 9211. Also, I’m really impressed with the music direction of this song, since its not everyday that Sunidhi Chauhan, Udit Narayan, and Sukhwinder Singh sound so toned down and folksy. I honestly think that this is best song from the movie BECAUSE it’s so “traditional sounding” AND so clever at the same time. (The rest of the Tashan soundtrack is forgettable, to say the least.)
I’m actually a bit surprised that the thread has taken such a skin-color focused turn. The translation of “gora gora mukhda” to “white white face” didn’t strike me as being a color bias…
You dont sound bitter, you sound loony. No one in his right mind would equate north indians with white faces. Ask the Shiv Sena of Mumbai what they think of the “black-assed” (words taken from forums debating this issue) “superior northern” bhaiyyas from U.P. and Bihar filling up their slums.
Ditto for gujaratis. A running joke in America is the amusing phenomenon of white-washed pictures of bollywood stars plastered all over Patel-run convenience stores presenting a stark contrast to the dark chocolate brown faces of the Apus behind the counter. Thank you, come again 🙂
Thats a pathetic defense of the bollywood message. Yes, Mexico and the Phillipines are also examples where the color and phenotype of their conquerors and colonizers is exalted while the look of the indigenous population is demeaned. Thats not healthy for them either. Its the servile and spineless mentality of defeated races that sees nothing odd in such humiliations. No surprise then that like India both these countries export servants to the developed world and rely heavily on remittances from them. The filipinos and the mexicans cop a superior attitude to indians, seeing them as lower on the color totem pole and coming from a poorer country, but towards whites they have the same inferiority complex. Filipinos being much closer to indians in the deepness of this sense of inferiority.
4 · Amardeep said
A link without subtitles: 1, 2, 3.
98 · boston_mahesh said
I am an egalitarian, who despise Indian race superiority talk(skin color, features – may be; intelligence- not a chance.). Human race did not have ample time to evolve to intellectual classes. However, there are assumed reasons for Kerala to have light and dark skinned people. Kerala had the country’s best natural ports. Lot of merchants from Middle East,Southeast China were trading with locals. Kerala’s history is recorded in travel notes of several travellers from middle east. The travel records of many Christian missionaries from 50-400 AD does not record the presence of Aryans or Brahmins in Kerala during that period. The latest agreements among historians is that Aryans(mostly Brahmins) reached Kerala around 800 AD. However there were recording of the presence of Jains, Jews in that period. The natives ( who can be called native?, there are no natives ) were dark skinned, the travellers have brought their light skin, the aryans brought the light skin too. There are not many written historical connections with south east chinese. But I have seen so many commonalities in custom, food, language etc. with Malays during my days in Malaysia. I do think there are some credence to the Malay-alam theory from my observations.
Thanks Jyotsna!
The first europeans to visit Kerala were the portuguese, and their written records show that the “aryan” brahmins of Kerala were seen by the portuguese as blacks. I think the differences between indians are exaggerated by indians themselves and exploited by foreigners. It is like the Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda who no one would mistake for anything other than africans; or like the germans and slavs who to outsiders look equally european. Yet in recent memory these african and european ethnicities waged genocide and war on each other based on “racism”. Sheer stupidity.
Similarly there are differences between the northern and southern Han Chinese, that non-chinese may not notice right away, which can lead to harmful divisiveness among the chinese if they exaggerated these small differences. The need of the hour, of any hour, is unity. Desis from all corners of south asia generally have far more in common with each other genetically than with any other race. In any case a superior culture should be able to transcend race or any other biological difference.
129 · Bollyhood said
That is correct. I did not say Europeans, I said Christian missionaries. When Portugese reached Kerala, there were Eastern Orthodox Christians all over Kerala. Portugese, in AD 1498, tried to convert the St. Thomas Christians to western Catholicism.
129 · Bollyhood said
The difference between Hutus and Tutsises was promoted with the ancient pseudo science called Phrenology. This was promoted by Europeans and still referred by a section of afro leadership. That is a good story for Indians to learn from.
bollyhood
Thanx for the egregrious comment on my sanity. Takes one to know one huh? Yeah I think the debate about “dark” Northies and “white” Southies – the exceptions that prove the “rule” apparently- goes only to show how racist indians are. There is this great short story “Bharat changes his name” which plays on the theme of how the Sri Lankan narrator is outraged by Oz racism but is herself very racist towards E Asians. White white face wallahs regards indians as um “black”
I am almost embarrassed to say I like the song and find myself humming it at inappropriate moments. It’s just a literal translation of our now standard Bollywood lyrics which are unimaginative and boring: gore gore gaal, kala kale baal and laal laal honth.Is it a parody of the Hinglish songs now in vogue? I thought it might be except that the other songs in Tashan have liberal doses of English “rap” like all the others that hurt one’s ears these days. What I do like about the discussion is how it has used the song to explore our racism. Incidentally some of our most popular heroines in the not-so-distant past were brown (Kajol, Rekha) but were always referred to as “gori” in songs. There is “sanwli” but no Bollywood girl wants to be described that way I guess.Cept for one KK number.
I don’t think there is a clear category of white skinned North indian Aryans and black skinned South Indians. Compare Mayawati and Jayalalitha or Kariya Munda and Karunanidhi. So another theory was introduced that Dalits all over India are dravidians and original inhabitants whereas fair skinned upper castes are conquering Aryans. Generally, I take all these “theories” with a pinch of salt. It is mostly designed to suit whoever is ruling at that point of time.
Aryan invasion theory was suitable for the Britishers at that time. So it was propagated. If BJP comes to power, it will be Aryans are natives. Right now, In Tamilnadu, the prevailing theory is after 40 years of “Dravidian rule”, Dark skinned sudras are natives whereas white skinned Brahmins are Aryans and need to be driven out. 🙂
If you are a dark colored Indian with talent, you seem to have a better chance in Hollywood than Bollywood. these days. Look at all the Indians who make it in the west – Naveen Andrews, the chick(Parminder NAgra?) from ER and Bend it like Beckham, TOny Kanal from No Doubt, the Indian guy in the Love Guru, Shyamalan(well he does cast himself in his movies), Sarita Chowdhury, the guy from Heroes, Mindy Kaling, and many more. Many of these people do not try to lighten themselves up for a western audience. I wonder if their talents would receive any recognition had they or their parents remained in India.
travel records of many Christian missionaries from 50-400 AD does not record the presence of Aryans or Brahmins in Kerala during that period. The latest agreements among historians is that Aryans(mostly Brahmins) reached Kerala around 800 AD. However there were recording of the presence of Jains, Jews in that period. The natives ( who can be called native?, there are no natives ) were dark skinned, the travellers have brought their light skin, the aryans brought the light skin too.
What? I wasn’t aware that x-tian missionaries would say when landed in Kerala, “no aryans”…you seem to be comflating caste and aryan/nonaryan, which I’m not sure even what aryan means.
Can you give some support for these statements?
The answer is “No”. Mindy Kaling would have gone to St. Stephen’s instead of Dartmouth, been filtered out of the McKinsey-Delhi offc first rounds inspite of her 4.0 “for not being a good fit”. She would have penned a clever comedy screenplay that didn’t involve dancing pygmies that could not find a buyer. She wouldn’t even make the casting couch lest she cast her inauspicious shadow on the rosy cheeked beauties queued outside. She would then head south to Chennai where, broken & despirited, should would accept the role of “Gundumma Rathiri Karuppanadevi”, comedic foil to the heroine “Alahaanakundi Velamma”.
Seriously?? Because of skin color/attractiveness? Does this really happen?
No, I’m sure it doesn’t. But most Indian & Asian employers ask you to attach a photo to your job application…..maybe alternative universe Kaling doesn’t wear the right pantsuit or there are traces of last week’s coconut oil in her hair.
The answer is “No”. Mindy Kaling would have gone to St. Stephen’s instead of Dartmouth, been filtered out of the McKinsey-Delhi offc first rounds inspite of her 4.0 “for not being a good fit”. She would have penned a clever comedy screenplay that didn’t involve dancing pygmies that could not find a buyer. She wouldn’t even make the casting couch lest she cast her inauspicious shadow on the rosy cheeked beauties queued outside. She would then head south to Chennai where, broken & despirited, should would accept the role of “Gundumma Rathiri Karuppanadevi”, comedic foil to the heroine “Alahaanakundi Velamma”.
LOL! I guess some of this is tongue in cheek – hope this doesn’t actually happen. I wonder if anyone in India has filed a lawsuit for being discriminated b/c you’re too dark?
Now I haven’t worked in India, but I would think, judging fromt he number of dark indians, that have excellent careers behind the scenes in the entertainment industry that she still would have been sucessful.
oh yes – it does. It is quite common to be weeded out if you are not the “right fit” – God knows what that means. But colour certainly plays a part. Walk into any Bank or any major Multinational in India (back office and front office) and let me know what you think. Standing joke / comment in many B-schools is If you are a pretty girl you get hired by the banks. If you are not – make sure that you have the grades to get into one of the Tech firms. In India, beauty has a high degree of correlation with skin tone.
“The difference between Hutus and Tutsises was promoted with the ancient pseudo science called Phrenology. This was promoted by Europeans and still referred by a section of afro leadership. That is a good story for Indians to learn from.”
Could be, but the Ethiopians and Somalis had been seeing themselves as different from “blacks” for many centuries, and Europeans had no presence there that any of them would have cared about. OTOH, Arabs and Turks had, though I don’t know if you can blame it on them either. It may go back much further. Arab Muslims, however, do have a tendency to give a superior complex to those who become Muslim because they can then mix their blood with the of the Prophet, or that’s how I understood it. There is a very old “difference” politics in the horn of Africa, and the Sahel, where blacks with Arab ancestry think of themselves as Arab no matter what their physical appearance. There it has much less to do with color–everybody is quite brown to black in tone, and more with features and other traits I couldn’t figure out, not being native to the region. A journalist in Mauritania recounted the story of visting the house of an “Arab” slave holder who talked of his affection for his slave, but reasoned that the relationship could never be equal because the slave was “black” and he was “white.” I leave it to your imagination as to what the two really looked. There is actually some evidence, though I don’t have the links right now, that Tutsis did come from among the Nilotic herding people who spoke a Hamitic (related to Semitic language.)
Melbourne Desi: I was joking, I absolutely know it does. I was feeling a bit cowardly, did not want to go off on a limb all by my lonesome. The fact is that in relationship oriented businesses, e.g. I-banking and strat consulting, “fit” is more important than intellect. Ivy Leaguers that can handle case interviews are a dime a dozen, it’s fit that gets you a coveted spot in one of these firms. Before someone shouts “sour grapes”, I’ve had offers in these industries so I am not acting the part of spurned lover
140 · PS said
PS: But why should we be relegated to the back office? Theres a market for us in public facing roles in the US/UK, why not the country of our origin?
The dravidianists and dalitistanis are being silly, or acting cynically for political purposes. No one with a clear vision and a clear head could possibly see brahmins or north indians as “white-skinned”. This phenomenon of indians and africans calling obviously dark-skinned people “whites” needs to studied. Some points to ponder:
Unlike the sudras of Tamilnadu the Jatt Sudras of Punjab do not see themselves as natives of India. They imagine they are scythians from central asia 🙂 A few of them regularly show up here to racially taunt the inferior “natives” of all castes.
Aishwarya Rai who the bollywood-brainwashed drones keep touting as the ideal light-skinned bollywood beauty belongs to a south indian sudra caste.
Jayalalitha the brahmin looks like she could be the daughter of Ambedkar the untouchable.
Chandrasekhar the brahmin Nobel Laureate was treated as a black pariah by white racists in America in the pre-Civil Rights era. Tagore faced similar racist humiliation when he tried to enter California from South America a century ago. He decided not to come into America.
Etc etc.
The british sure succeeded in screwing up many an unintelligent desi mind with their false self-serving equation of caste with skin color.
For the same reason that those with the stereotypical desi look can work as actors and models in the West but not in Bollywood: racial self-loathing.
I heard (right here actually) that oriental looking girls from the northeast are in great demand in public facing roles in India, including restaurants, because they are seen as much prettier than desi girls.
Obviously the Aryan Invasion Theory was concocted centuries after the portuguese first landed in Kerala. I used the word aryan (in quotes) referring to the terminology used by the poster I was responding to.
Just to be clear, Tagore did enter America a number of times but on that one particular occasion he was mistreated racially and chose not to enter. I am trying to find a link to that incident; will post when I do.
Found a link:
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=051605113928
“an incident from 1929: as a result of the humiliation that he received from U.S. immigration officials, the poet Rabindranath Tagore was forced to cancel his fourth lecture tour. That incident prompted the Nobel laureate to remark that if Jesus Christ himself were to come to America, he would be kicked out of the country – because he was an Asiatic.
Tagore explained his sentiments later by stating, “I arrived at Los Angeles, and I felt something in the air – a cultivated air of suspicion and general incivility towards Asiatics… I felt that I should not stay in a country on sufferance. It was not a question of personal grievance or of ill-treatment from some particular officer. I felt the insult was directed towards all Asiatics, and I made up my mind to leave a country where there was no welcome for ourselves… I have great regard for your people. But I have also my responsibility towards those whom you classify as colored people of whom I am one. I am a representative of Asiatic peoples and I could not remain in a country where Asiatics are not wanted.”
More relevant stuff from the link:
“Another Nobel laureate, astrophysicist Dr. S.Chandrashekar of the University of Chicago, confessed to biographer Kameshwar Wali that he was subjected to humiliating experiences in America because of the color of his skin. Chandrashekhar was born in India, educated in England, and lived all his professional life in the U.S until his death in 1991. In the 1930s Chandrashekar taught, conducted research, and collaborated with the United States War Department on the atomic weapons research project. He became the first nonwhite person to be appointed to the faculty of the University of Chicago. According to Wali, the chairman of the physics department summarily opposed the appointment of Chandrashekhar to the faculty “because he was an Indian, and black”. ” [the racist even refused to shake Chandrasekhar’s hands because he was black]
” President Lyndon Johnson was reported to have said while canceling the visits of the heads of state from India and Pakistan in 1965: “After all, what would Jim Eastland (the conservative senator from Mississippi) say if I brought those two niggers over here.” (Quoted in Richard Goodwin, “The War Within,” The New York Times Magazine, 21 August 1988, P.3. “
“In his path-breaking study of American images of Indians, MIT’s Harold Isaacs reported one respondent who confessed: “skin color causes a certain tension in meetings with Indians.” Another said explicitly: “in dealing with Indians you feel you’re dealing with colored people, the same way you feel in the presence of Negroes…” A third, speaking of people in his circle of friends, said: “The Indian with his darker skin perhaps consciously or unconsciously suggests the Negro in the United States.” A college professor in Texas expressed it openly when he declared: “They’re just damn Niggers to me!” When the same professor was asked what he thought the American man-in-the-street might mentally associate with Indians, the reply was instantaneous: “Nigger!””
“This mythography of “Aryan origins” has wide currency among today’s South Asian immigrants in America, says Mazumder, suggesting that this notion of white (Caucasian or Aryan) origin has led to a confused rejection of the color of their own skin. This leads to an almost paranoid response to even being thought of as black. For example, Bharati Mukherjee, the noted Indian writer, complains: “I am less shocked, less outraged and shaken to my core, by a purse-snatching in New York City in which I lost all of my dowry gold- everything I’d been given by my mother in marriage- than I was by a simple question asked of me in the summer of 1978 by three high-school boys on the Rosedale subway station platform in Toronto. Their question was, ‘Why don’t you go back to Africa?'”
136 · PS said
Brahmin settlement started at a much later stage around AD 7-10 centuries. They came to Kerala from Tulunadu under Kadamba Raja Mayurasharma’s directions and settled in 32 gramams (villages). link
More references on travel records to follow.