The Perception of Indians

I think we've come along way when it comes to the perception of Indians. At one point we were the smelly weird people, that ate monkey brains (Thanks to Amrish Puri, and Indiana Jones - the Temple of Doom), and then we became the doctors and math geeks, and now thanks to Kumar (from Harold & Kumar), we are the pot heads. Its quite a remarkable evolution if you think about it. I mean, once you are accepted into the pot realm, I think you've thoroughly been embraced by the Western Culture. Oh sure, occasionally we'll get mixed up for a terrorist, but once they know your a fan of chicken tikka, the guards come right down.

I find it amazing how perceptions of entire cultures can change thanks to the actions of a few. More and more I see Indian people blending into Western or in my case American society. Everyone from Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN to the crazy Indian guy in the movie Beerfest are a part of main stream media. We have a senator in the South (who would've guessed that one), and we have Upen Patel in Bollywood. However, the one thing that convinced me that Indians have invaded the western culture, and they are here to stay was when I saw a Punjabi dude, and a Sardhar dancing to Michael Jackson on Britain's got talent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yZYt5EzWPQ). I mean if we're doing the moon walk and dancing to Michael and in the same song throwing in some "Hadi-pas!" we're definately a part of main stream media in Western Culture.

I think Simon says it all when he says "We weren't expecting that", although he was talking about the two guys on stage, it almost seems metaphoric in terms of what Indians are doing in the world today. You gotta love a culture that brought you microfinancing and a character who would literally have sex with a bag of weed.