2 days ago
Ignorance
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The world is chock full of ignorance.
Ignorance in that everybody has a lot of assumptions about a lot of things, but never really bother to check their facts. Ignorance is also contagious, and here, you can read ignorance as gullibility. There's no word such as "gullible" in the dictionary, believe me.
To make sense of this, let me tell you a little bit about who I am. First off, my name is Bharat, I'm an Indian, and I currently reside in London, United Kingdom. I say currently because I never stay in the same place for more than three years, and this is because my father works in the Indian Air Force, and has been posted to London for (you guessed it) 3 years as a diplomat.
Being a diplomat, it has to be second nature for us to interact with people from different backgrounds, ethnic origins, languages, parts of the world etc. This is all well, since most of the people I meet from other countries are extremely interested in my country and its customs, and I am quite interested in a lot of things about their respective countries. We're destroying ignorance, and learning some very useful things about each other. For most part it's very enjoyable.
Now let's get to the point. I study in sixth form at a college here, and take a Mathematics GCSE with my regular studies. There's this guy in my math class who, well, gets on everybody's nerves, and about a week ago, he asked me if it was true that there were chickens in Indian airports. That's right, he said "chickens". Now I don't know how everybody else in the world looks at India, but chickens in any airport is just taking it too goddamn far. I explained to him that there were no chickens in the airports, and in fact, the chickens were all in the rural areas, thank you very much, but he just wouldn't listen. It just gets to me how mule-headed people can be about countries and sentiments of people in those countries. (If you're thinking that he was just taking the mickey out of me, then that's not true either, he was honestly that stupid.)
This got me thinking about how many other people he'd probably convinced that there were chickens in Indian airports, well, no not exactly that, but how many other people had completely idiotic beliefs about what my country is really like. So, I've decided to try and make a difference with my blog, and I'm going to put up a series of blogs that let you know all about India.
Well, I'd be happy to receive any questions from you about India that you would like answered, and I'll do my best to give you the whole, unpolished-by-tourism-agency truth about India. Fire away people :) and be enlightened. You can either put the questions in comments, or just mail them to me (my email address is in my profile).
There are really no chickens in the airports...
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Hello Bharat!
I just wanted to let you know that I read a bit of your blog... well I read this post.. and skimmed over the rest. But basically I like the way you write. I think you're interesting and intend to read more once I've finished complimenting you.
http://dublingirl2008.blogspot.com/ <-- it's worth reading I swear
S x
"gullible - adj. naive and easily deceived or tricked;"
haha found it in the dictionary :P
any who, i think he got that "chicken" idea from the movie "Borat", which was kind of funny but too exaggerating (i think.. i'm not too knowledgeable of the country from where he was from XD)
either way, i'd be glad to hear all about india, since i didn't even KNOW you were originally from india hahaha i guess now i'm interested :D
Gosh, I have come across a few people like that in my, somewhat less wide, travels. Annoying people are still people, I suppose, so it was nice that you just didn't call him an idiot and go on your way.
dude I lived in saudi arabia eastern europe and the usa I have spent most of my life traveling a lot like you, now i'm the youngest white cab driver in a red neck city full of racists, i'm lucky cause I am a minority in my field of work, most people open up to me because they are racist (white people), cultural ignorance is very common because most humans have never left home,they never will. Canadians are so ignorant its funny cause they think they are better then americans, we are all the same, unless you can't read then you're a dumb ass, hahaha kidding no I love people who can't read they help the world go round and round right into a ditch kidding sorry i got an arrogant brand of humor but i don't care about the color of your skin I care about what you know, diplomat, cool,
ps
Ignorant people don't feel bad cause they don't why they should so teach them or nothing will change, a good lesson is usually scary or painful at least in the real world
I am a global citizen so are you did you know that? most world travelers do not know who they are because of all the crap they go through. global citizenship spread the word. oh and a tourists can't learn anything about cultures. residing in a new nation once or several times is the only way to become a global citizen. not just a vacation, screw cheesy tourists. just a rant that I could write in two other languages, but there might be some spelling mistakes.
i am the only global citizen on blog spot yes, the rest must be ignorant
Bharat my friend, I know the feeling man, the cure to ignorance is education so teach my brother but I fear the one's who listen need not take the lesson....
Nonetheless stay encouraged and represent proudly who you are
Really? No chickens in India? I coudld've sworn...No, I'm kidding. I didn't know you were from India. Please post about your country. It's always good to know more about other people. That's mainly the reason why I want to travel. I want to get a bumper sticker saying, "Stupid people shouldn't breed"
I had a friend back in junior year of high school that was from India. I used to ask him all the time to tell me what it was like (don't worry i never though about crazy stuff like the chickens) and he would never share.
so i am deeply excited that you are going to share what it is like in your country.
i can't wait to read it!
dude how much i miss you!:(this incessant blogging on your part used to keep me going most days! taht along with our daily conversations,more than one on some occasions, all your lectures to me on planes and computer programming and you testing my psycholoical capabilities and "relationship analysing quotient"! let me know when you come online! we'll catch up, its been far too long!
great read this one too, brought back waves of nostalgia!~:)ill comment on the actual blog in private, cant do so here without being arrested for cyber racist comments and disrupting communal harmony!
afterall you still have to maintain a social life there right?? cant have a vague indian girl ruining that!
much louve
from India? really? never known anyone from India, but interested in learning.
There are alota steriotypes about Indian and Indians, even here in the middle-east.
I have many Indians friends online and I've come to know alot about India and the way the live and such.
So very interesting.
Where are you from in India? I hope I know the city. :)
tc
I feel your pain. I'm American but I lived in Northern Ireland for a year. When I came back to the states, I got asked if they had books in Ireland.
Sad stuff.
Looking forward to reading your series on life in India!
T Rose
hehe..this reminds me of the time this american dude asked me in an airport where i was from..i said i was indian and he said 'wow! they speak english there?!'...and he was genuinely surprised..and then he says , 'so can you also speak indian?'
well..enough said..
oh by the way this is tanu :)hehe i'm too lazy to create a blog for myself..and plus the idea of random ppl reading what i write creeps me out..lol..