We live in a cosmopolitan and heartland combined society, coupled with many many expatriates due to the call for foreign talent all the time. However, it is interesting to note that local Chinese seldom get along with China Chinese [workers and students alike] and same goes for local Indians and India Indians. We don't really see such a divide between the Malay population in Singapore and that too has us stumped.
But, since we're Yindians. Sometimes, our close cousins from the sub-continent really manage to rile us up. Maybe due to no fault of theirs, maybe they actually know what they're doing. Anyway, here's Nal who works in the technological industry and sometimes deals with her share of smirking foreigners.
Recent events have gotten me so riled against this particular group of people that I have to give vent to my feelings here, before I explode and say something I might regret to their faces.
Dear Indian Expat,
1) You are not smarter than me. Sure, you may have a whole string of alphabets behind your name that your father bought from whichever corrupt university you call your Alma Mater, but that doesn't make you smarter. The only reason you were hired for the job is because no self respecting Singaporean will do that kind of work for that little. In case you didn't know, even peanuts in Singapore is 6 figures per annum.
And as for you "better-than-you" Indian expats that I met at the Comex show - you may think you are all computer geniuses or rocket scientists, and so can't bring yourself to ask an Indian woman for technical specs. What will that do to your barely held-together self respect? Even if she is trained Canon staff. I own this product. I rule this sphere. Geddit?
2) Keep your food morality to yourself. I am really not interested in hearing how meat is bad for you, and how the rancid curd rice your wife packs for you in the morning is so much healthier than food at the hawker centre. In fact we are actually happy you prefer your meals packed in stainless steel "Tiffin" carriers so that we don't have to jostle with you for space during lunch. You might also like to know we actually call them "Tingkat" in Singapore.
3) Teach your children some manners. Granted, children only ape the way their parents behave, and we all know what petulant brats some of you are. But it is NOT acceptable for your kids to be running into people while playing on the train while their mothers sit there and compare the designs on one another's jewellery, or stare daggers at other women who work for a living i.e. me.
4) Singaporean women are not dying to meet Indian expat men. So stop looking at us like we are. We like our men strong, physically fit, independent and manly, the way Singaporean men who have been through NS are. We're not interested in soft in the middle, pansy walking, limp wristed men who lived with their mother and a retinue of servants till they got married.
5) Singaporean Indians have risen above petty differentiators like religion, sect, caste and clan. It is no longer an acceptable conversation starter. So don't think we should fall down and worship you just because you know which caste you belong to. People who cling to age old clan and caste traditions are people who have such low self esteem that they have to hold on to whatever history they can find to validate their existence. Singaporeans are a lot more secure than that. We validate our existence with our bank balances and which secondary schools our kids got into.
Of course, I acknowledge that there are Indian expats who do not deserve this rant and are actually decent human beings. You are hence tasked to teach your countrymen the dos and donts of living in someone else's country. Please. Do us all a favour. Or e-mail us, we can get you some dirt-cheap airfares to return to bustling Bombay.
Editor's Note: Recently, I worked as a BBQ chef part-time. Of all the nationalities at the party, including Germans, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch etc. , only the Indian nationals gave us that sneering, "wait till I tell my son to study hard so he will not have to slave by that hot charcoal pit" look. It's sad really, when they had to put their faces down when at the end of it all the host explained to them we were in fact undergraduates.
Kaps of Sambhar Mafia has left a brilliant counter-comment for this post. Do take the time to read it. This is the kind of two way discussion we hope to promote, instead of plain passive reading of the posts we put up.
expatriates, india, singapore
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