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In school we woke up early in the morning for physical education...or something to that effect. The extremely strict Ms. Karnik expected us to show up by the dining hall bell at 6:30 am sharp. Now, that word is italicized for a reason. Not a single minute late, not even 10 seconds late, or the entire house and class of the person had to take 3 rounds in the big field (see the one in the picture? That's just half the whole ground, it doesn't fit in the camera frame.). This was such a task especially in the monsoon, because as you can see, all the red dirt transformed to a nice mud paste and our footsteps sounded like pch! pch! pch! I got this punishment once, a girl in red house was late by a few seconds. I was in yellow house, but unfortunately she was in my class and it was horrible luck. Running the entire time, all the girls cursing and complaining under their breath, "It's not my fault! Why must I be punished?!" "What's the point of waking up early if you're going to be taking rounds anyway." "Dammit." "Shut up and run!"

Noone except the single girl was late, and yet everyone was punished for it. Kind of like when I'm in America, and a white man makes a comment about how WE smell. I smell good. Honey dew, or white tea and lilies, or something girly. But, I never say anything when someone says that. Because in that moment, as marvelous as I may smell, I am Indian. I represent the WE. And, I know, we do smell. (So do the White men, but that's a cheap shot.)

It is about time we embrace stereotypes and get a sense of humor about it. The first thing to realize is that stereotypes come about from statistics. The human brain has this amazing quality of learning from experience and this comes about from it's ability to quantify and make quick pie charts and histograms to make us see how a certain action leads to a certain result, how it is necessary to clutch our purses tight in a 'bad' neighborhood, how we should have an umbrella in the car in Houston weather, how we know the DMV will take 6 hours minimum because they're government workers. These distinctions of 'bad', Houston weather, govt snails did not just appear at birth, we know these by experience.

Similarly, stereotypes are formed by experience and the constant charting in the brain. Mr. A ate an apple for lunch. Mr. B ate an apple for lunch. Mr. V ate an apple for lunch. Mr. T ate an apple for lunch. Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. V and Mr. T are.....redheads! Thus, redheads eat apples for lunch.

So then, what I don't understand is why stereotypes have a negative connotation. We all want to be a part of clubs, groups, clicks, and when we are matched to our type without even trying, we think it's insulting. Our individuality is lost. Now, that is just low self-esteem don't you think? When Sunita Rao gets on a spaceship, we're all happy and 'Yay! She's part of us!!!" But, when we steal towels from hotel rooms, and leave shabby tips, 'That's just them. We're not all like that.'

Firstly, our individuality is never lost. It's never ever going to be lost. There are at least a 100 people in everyone's life that know them by first and last name and personality. We cannot all be celebs, or that number would be much higher.
Second, stereotypes would not sting so much if we knew it wasn't true. For instance, if somebody tells me 'Oh, you Indians, all of you are fat." I'll make a confused face and probably shrug. I know skinny Indians, I know fat Indians. That's a dumb statement, not even worth correction.
Third, no matter what you tell them, unless they are willing to listen, India will always remain the land of snake-charmers and elephants walking in the middle of the road. So, the best thing to do is politely ask 'Do you want to know the truth?' before beginning the sermon of "No, no that's Sri Lanka not us! We got cows" :)

So, maybe people point at me and assume I oil my hair, bring a tiffin, am brilliant in computer engineering, wear oriental clothes, pray to the Cow everyday, can cook and eat very spicy food, and have lots of body hair. Less than half of that is true. But, yup! That's me. That's my people. And I love them for it.

It's only fair. Because, I point at them and think they're oh-so-dumb, eat bland food, wear shorts and chew gum all day, stink, sleep around a lot.

Let us all learn to make fun of ourselves. There is no minority and majority from the global perspective. Whoa whoa whoa, did I just find a solution to world peace?!