AJC and me

Have just finished two books by Meera Syal - "Anita and Me" and "Life is not all ha ha hee hee". I really enjoyed them, not just because she's funny (hello, Smeetha Smitten, Showbiz Kitten) but also because she writes from the position of the Other, but not as "Other". There is a fine distinction I think, because Syal manages to make the Other normal, something which I find lacking in a lot of books potraying Asians, or even written by Asians. I do believe these books panders to an idea of Asians, Asia that can still be catogorized as Other while Syal manages to make her characters a believable Self, a Self that is not white and middle-class.

Even though I am not British Asian, it's remarkable how I much I identify with the narrators. And how many of the jokes I get. I guess, in whatever guise...or colour (hee), racism is the same. This paragraph really got me - "...[T]hey leave us alone because they don't think we are really Indian. "Oh, you're so English, Mrs K!" Like it is a buggering compliment! If I hear that one more time..." Other than the 'har' factor and the 'damn right' factor, it encapsulates my whole problem with friggin' racists in Singapore. It's amazing (but not surprising) to hear "but you're different" i.e. not like the other damn Malays who are lazy etc (eyeroll) comments that I have heard in AJC echoed half a world away. "See, I'm not racist because I have a Malay friend" pretty much falls under the same category. Yes, they don't beat people up, or make loud rude remarks (thank god for that!), but this pitying condenscension is still racism. Not on par with "Go home, Pakis" but is racism. Please don't protest otherwise. In conclusion, grr?