[Reader-list] Interesting experience

[Adhimoolam Murugan]

Hi everyone,

I hope that you all are doing well in your respective fields. Here is an interesting experience that I thought of sharing with the list. I was coming out of the Manhattan subway station around 12:10 PM. Those of you who have experienced the subway system of NY would know the distinct and enriching element of such experience. As I was taking the stares, I encountered a man who said in his typical Spanish voice, "excuse me". I stopped for a second and looked at that direction. His next response was: "Are you going to kill us"? How would you imagine your condition in such circumstances? I was totally shocked because I at first couldn't sociologize it for a second. But some how my reflexivity worked very quickly and I pretended after a few second as if I haven't heard him clearly and replied: "Sorry?" He repeated again: "are you going to kill us?" I knew what to respond by now and said: O," Are you going to bomb us?" Now he didn't know what to respond and just to bring situation under normalcy I said: "Don't worry!!! Neither you know how to bomb me, nor I know how to kill you. These are beyond the imagination of ordinary citizens of the world". Then he apologized a couple of times and walked towards his destination. This instants clearly demonstrates the fact that the
state's role in neglecting social history and complexities of social realities play a predominant role in keeping people in a state of ignorance. Not surprisingly, every Asian appears in the eyes of west as dangerous object and Asians in general and Indians in particular don't know about America beyond white American society. It is the responsibility of academicians and social activists to contest such one sided views. Such contestation is the necessary precondition for establishing a prosperous world.

Have a good week-end!!!

Vetri.
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