Well, of late there has been several news headlines centered around Indians from the North East part of India subjected to racial profiling in the rest of India because of their oriental looks. The North Eastern Indians form about 3% of the Indian population and a good chunk of them have oriental features and they are often taunted as "Chinkies" in the rest of India. The latest brouhaha occurred during the last assembly election in Delhi when the ruling party in center (the federal government) addressed the North Eastern residents in Delhi as "immigrants".
I have spent a good deal of time in various parts of India away from the North East India -- and luckily I have never been subjected to any kind of racial profiling. Even during my long stay in the United States of America - I have not encountered any racial prejudice.
Well, except perhaps one incident - which I am not sure if you can call a case of racial profiling.
Way back in our early days at New Jersey - before we were blessed with our kids - we (me and my wife Malabika) used to reside in an apartment complex in Plainsboro, New Jersey. We both used to work in New York city and used to take the train from Princeton Junction.
We used to park our car in the train station at Princeton Junction and we used to meet up at the station in the evening and would share a ride home, We were quite party animals and every Friday evening we would directly head out to party (after meeting up at the station) and return home at the wee hours of the morning and wake up really late in the afternoon on Saturdays.
On one of such Saturday's - we woke up with a rather forceful knock on the door.
"Who on earth could dare to sabotage our blissful slumber of a lazy Saturday morning" - crossed my mind before I consulted my watch which showed 11:00 AM.
As I waddled through the unkempt apartment rubbing my sleepy eyes - the knock only got stronger and when I opened the door -- saw this police officer from the township at the door.
"May I help you officer" - I inquired with a distinct annoyance which I am sure was difficult to hide.
"May I come in" - he demanded.
"Sure of course" -- well, did I have a choice (?)
"Do you go to New York for work?" - he inquired.
"Yes. Me and my wife we both commute to New York for work."
"Did you take a cab in New York yesterday? May be you dropped something in the cab?"
"Well, I did not take a cab in New York yesterday. But my wife did. She was late catching the train and rather than the usual subway to the New York Penn station, she hired a cab from her work to the Penn Station. Do you want to talk to her?"
"No. I am asking YOU" - the officer replied.
The officer continued - "See someone hired a cab from New York to this apartment complex last night and reached around 1:30 AM in the morning. He said he needs to pick up money from his apartment and told the cabbie to wait. He came towards this apartment and disappeared. Then the cabbie called us. The description of the passenger matched yours."
"And what might that description be?" - I demanded.
"A guy in mid twenties from India who goes to New York for work and lives in this side of the apartment complex. We asked your neighbor if any Indian lives in this part of the complex and he pointed that a young Indian couple lives in this apartment who commute to New York. We came and knocked at the door but no one opened."
"Of course we did not open the door only because we were out partying and did not return home till 3:30 AM in the morning."
The officer realized he did not have much ground to pursue the allegation and left.
And we continued with our daily routine until the next Wednesday. When we reached home and checked the voicemail in our answering machine of the phone, there was a message from the township detective and the message was quite threatening.
"Mr. Brahma - we do not want to embarrass you by coming to your apartment. But we believe we have strong evidence against you for jumping the fare with the cabbie and you better comedown to the township police station".
We immediately rushed to the township police station and the detective took me to the interrogation room. He basically asked me the same question over and over again and stated - "Look Mr. Brahma, it is just a matter of 150-200 dollars of cab fare and if you admit, we can end the matter right here. You are in mid 20s, an Indian, go to New York to work and live in that section of the apartment complex. That is too much of a coincidence."
And I kept on repeating the same statement I had been making - "No it wasn't me and why should I admit. I was at my friends place at the party and you can check with my host. I might even be in the recordings of his new camcorder where you will see me doing some wild dance moves at the party. "
Then he said - "Let me take a mug shot of you and show it to the cabbie - who happens to be a Pakistani." and took my mug shot.
That's when I got little scared. I wouldn't recognize the mug shot of the cabbie I had hitched a ride the next day if it was shown to me. What if the cabbie forgets the face of the passenger and says it might have been me ?
The next day I did not go to work but contacted a lawyer just in case. I spoke to my friends with whom we partied on the fateful night and requested them to come to my deference should the necessity arise. I also spoke to my neighbor Mike who had told the police the apartment (ours) where an Indian couple that commute to New York reside.
Any how, the detective was kind enough to call a few days later and declared I was off the hook.
He said -- " We had shown your mug shot to the Pakistani cabbie and on seeing your face -- he remarked - 'Come on officer. I told you he was an Indian. THIS GENTLEMAN IN THE PICTURE IS A CHINESE'".
Postlude:
After a few days - the gentleman(??) tried the same trick once again. This time my neighbor Mike was outside his apartment smoking a cigarette, He noticed a young Indian man of mid 20s getting out of the cab, making the cab wait and heading towards my apartment. He had become a little suspicious and since he knew what had happened earlier, decided to peek where the gentleman was headed. The gentleman headed towards my apartment, but changed course and headed to an apartment in another section of the complex. The cabbie again waited in vain and called the police. Only this time, my neighbor Mike led the cabbie and the police to the "right" apartment and the gentleman was caught red handed.
I did not think it was worthwhile finding out what happened to that gentleman.
I have spent a good deal of time in various parts of India away from the North East India -- and luckily I have never been subjected to any kind of racial profiling. Even during my long stay in the United States of America - I have not encountered any racial prejudice.
Well, except perhaps one incident - which I am not sure if you can call a case of racial profiling.
Way back in our early days at New Jersey - before we were blessed with our kids - we (me and my wife Malabika) used to reside in an apartment complex in Plainsboro, New Jersey. We both used to work in New York city and used to take the train from Princeton Junction.
We used to park our car in the train station at Princeton Junction and we used to meet up at the station in the evening and would share a ride home, We were quite party animals and every Friday evening we would directly head out to party (after meeting up at the station) and return home at the wee hours of the morning and wake up really late in the afternoon on Saturdays.
On one of such Saturday's - we woke up with a rather forceful knock on the door.
"Who on earth could dare to sabotage our blissful slumber of a lazy Saturday morning" - crossed my mind before I consulted my watch which showed 11:00 AM.
As I waddled through the unkempt apartment rubbing my sleepy eyes - the knock only got stronger and when I opened the door -- saw this police officer from the township at the door.
"May I help you officer" - I inquired with a distinct annoyance which I am sure was difficult to hide.
"May I come in" - he demanded.
"Sure of course" -- well, did I have a choice (?)
"Do you go to New York for work?" - he inquired.
"Yes. Me and my wife we both commute to New York for work."
"Did you take a cab in New York yesterday? May be you dropped something in the cab?"
"Well, I did not take a cab in New York yesterday. But my wife did. She was late catching the train and rather than the usual subway to the New York Penn station, she hired a cab from her work to the Penn Station. Do you want to talk to her?"
"No. I am asking YOU" - the officer replied.
The officer continued - "See someone hired a cab from New York to this apartment complex last night and reached around 1:30 AM in the morning. He said he needs to pick up money from his apartment and told the cabbie to wait. He came towards this apartment and disappeared. Then the cabbie called us. The description of the passenger matched yours."
"And what might that description be?" - I demanded.
"A guy in mid twenties from India who goes to New York for work and lives in this side of the apartment complex. We asked your neighbor if any Indian lives in this part of the complex and he pointed that a young Indian couple lives in this apartment who commute to New York. We came and knocked at the door but no one opened."
"Of course we did not open the door only because we were out partying and did not return home till 3:30 AM in the morning."
The officer realized he did not have much ground to pursue the allegation and left.
And we continued with our daily routine until the next Wednesday. When we reached home and checked the voicemail in our answering machine of the phone, there was a message from the township detective and the message was quite threatening.
"Mr. Brahma - we do not want to embarrass you by coming to your apartment. But we believe we have strong evidence against you for jumping the fare with the cabbie and you better comedown to the township police station".
We immediately rushed to the township police station and the detective took me to the interrogation room. He basically asked me the same question over and over again and stated - "Look Mr. Brahma, it is just a matter of 150-200 dollars of cab fare and if you admit, we can end the matter right here. You are in mid 20s, an Indian, go to New York to work and live in that section of the apartment complex. That is too much of a coincidence."
And I kept on repeating the same statement I had been making - "No it wasn't me and why should I admit. I was at my friends place at the party and you can check with my host. I might even be in the recordings of his new camcorder where you will see me doing some wild dance moves at the party. "
Then he said - "Let me take a mug shot of you and show it to the cabbie - who happens to be a Pakistani." and took my mug shot.
That's when I got little scared. I wouldn't recognize the mug shot of the cabbie I had hitched a ride the next day if it was shown to me. What if the cabbie forgets the face of the passenger and says it might have been me ?
The next day I did not go to work but contacted a lawyer just in case. I spoke to my friends with whom we partied on the fateful night and requested them to come to my deference should the necessity arise. I also spoke to my neighbor Mike who had told the police the apartment (ours) where an Indian couple that commute to New York reside.
Any how, the detective was kind enough to call a few days later and declared I was off the hook.
He said -- " We had shown your mug shot to the Pakistani cabbie and on seeing your face -- he remarked - 'Come on officer. I told you he was an Indian. THIS GENTLEMAN IN THE PICTURE IS A CHINESE'".
Postlude:
After a few days - the gentleman(??) tried the same trick once again. This time my neighbor Mike was outside his apartment smoking a cigarette, He noticed a young Indian man of mid 20s getting out of the cab, making the cab wait and heading towards my apartment. He had become a little suspicious and since he knew what had happened earlier, decided to peek where the gentleman was headed. The gentleman headed towards my apartment, but changed course and headed to an apartment in another section of the complex. The cabbie again waited in vain and called the police. Only this time, my neighbor Mike led the cabbie and the police to the "right" apartment and the gentleman was caught red handed.
I did not think it was worthwhile finding out what happened to that gentleman.
