I remember reading an article a few years back about the Indian diaspora, and thinking ya, Indians are EVERYWHERE! A significant percentage of the Malaysia and Singapore population is made up of Indians, but of course, these are Indians whose ancestors had come to Malaya a long, long time ago. More recently though, you get lots of Indian nationals in the region… y’know, like the I.T. guys you see at work who hang out in the corner sipping tea and chatting. Then you go to London, they’re there! Amsterdam, there! New York, there!
When I was training at SIA, there were just 6 of us girls from Malaysia, 1 girl from Indonesia, and the rest (like about 20 of them) were from India. I have nothing against Indians of course. Our instructor actually made me some sort of Chinese-Indian liaison ‘cos there was hissing and scratching between the Indian and Chinese girls from Day One. The Indian girls kept saying we spoke funny and made fun of the way we said “lah”, “aiya” and “can, can”. They believed they did not have an accent ‘cos they spoke “Queen’s English”. The Chinese girls kept complaining that the Indian girls were so ‘how lian’ and ‘sombong’. To make things worse, all of us, new to Singapore, had no idea what the heck people meant when they mentioned “P.I.E., E.C.P., C.B.D.” and how to pronounce Tampines without sounding vulgar.
Anyway, back to Indians. I think it was my brother Jeremy who mentioned before that we seem to find really good friends in Indians. My grandfather’s best friend was an Indian. My dad has some really good Indian friends whom he’s known since his university days. My brothers have some pretty close buddies who are Indian too. And me, well, let’s just say I’m so un-Chinese that I actually respond if someone on the street shouts “Hey, macha!” You can thank my INDIAN friend, Jamie for that. You can also thank the ‘mats’ back home for that since I especially don’t respond to “Ah Moi”.
For my brothers and I, I guess a big reason why we have as many Indian, Malay, Eurasian and ‘lain-lain’ friends as Chinese ones is probably ‘cos we don’t speak Chinese! So in school, we either hung out with the non-Chinese or other un-Chinese Chinese like us. My brother, Andrew, is so ‘angmoh-fied’ that when he was young, he’d fill in “English” under the “Race” field in forms.
Now, here in Dubai, Indians everywhere too. My first few ‘friends’ in Dubai are from India. Ben laughs each time I say “my friend” ‘cos they’re actually the bus drivers lah. First there was the small, short guy who drove the shuttle from Ewan to the nearby shops. Actually, he’s from Nepal. I guess the drivers see me so often ‘cos I’m always at home, taking the same shuttle every other day, and not many people take the shuttle in the afternoons. So after a while, my Nepalese ‘friend’ recognises me and waves or nods when he sees me. Ben thinks it’s hilarious how we nod to each other like, “Ay, macha…” Anyway, my Nepalese friend disappeared one day and was replaced with a different driver, from Bangalore. He’s my new ‘friend’ now and we nod n wave too! Sometimes we chat – about casual stuff… like the ‘veather’.
Guide to the friendly nod n wave:
Nod head upwards = “Ay”.
Return with 2 nods, pausing between each nod = “Ay. Whazzup”.
Tilt head left, then right, followed by nod = “Ok lah. You?”
Tilt head left, then right, then wave.
(Note #1: Quick tilt = Good. Normal tilt = Ok. Slow tilt = So, so lah)
(Note #2: If you’re too lazy to nod, raising your eyebrows works too)
My other friend is one of the drivers on the Ewan-Gardens route. His name’s Subriano and he’s from Goa. He’s my favourite driver ‘cos he drops me off right outside Ibn Battuta Mall so I don’t have to make the long walk there from Gardens. Among all the drivers, he speaks the best English, so if I’m taking his bus I usually sit in front so we can chat. We chat about lots of stuff lah… How’s my job hunt getting along… Friday Mass at the church in Jebel Ali… Christmas in Dubai… His family back in India… Life in Singapore……
Angmohs speak English so why don’t I have a whole lot of mat salleh friends? I just realised that I still find it difficult to be ‘buddy-buddy’ with Caucasians probably ‘cos I just can’t do the kiss-the-cheek thing without feeling terribly uncomfortable. It’s like so muah-muah. And here, it’s done three times so muah-muah-muah. Ugh… Maybe it’s ‘cos I’m not sure if I should go left cheek or right cheek first? Or most probably it’s ‘cos it’s difficult when short Asian has to tiptoe to reach tall mat salleh’s cheek. Some just do it cheek to cheek but some actually kiss each cheek and actually verbalise the “muah”. And sometimes you meet someone who’s quite a good friend by now, and so you think it’s gonna be a hug, but you get the cheek-to-cheek thing instead as you’re reaching out for a hug, and it just ends up really messy and dumb. Ugh…
I know I’m not anyone’s brother-in-law, but next time you see me, just do the wave, nod, “Ay, macha”.
When I was training at SIA, there were just 6 of us girls from Malaysia, 1 girl from Indonesia, and the rest (like about 20 of them) were from India. I have nothing against Indians of course. Our instructor actually made me some sort of Chinese-Indian liaison ‘cos there was hissing and scratching between the Indian and Chinese girls from Day One. The Indian girls kept saying we spoke funny and made fun of the way we said “lah”, “aiya” and “can, can”. They believed they did not have an accent ‘cos they spoke “Queen’s English”. The Chinese girls kept complaining that the Indian girls were so ‘how lian’ and ‘sombong’. To make things worse, all of us, new to Singapore, had no idea what the heck people meant when they mentioned “P.I.E., E.C.P., C.B.D.” and how to pronounce Tampines without sounding vulgar.
Anyway, back to Indians. I think it was my brother Jeremy who mentioned before that we seem to find really good friends in Indians. My grandfather’s best friend was an Indian. My dad has some really good Indian friends whom he’s known since his university days. My brothers have some pretty close buddies who are Indian too. And me, well, let’s just say I’m so un-Chinese that I actually respond if someone on the street shouts “Hey, macha!” You can thank my INDIAN friend, Jamie for that. You can also thank the ‘mats’ back home for that since I especially don’t respond to “Ah Moi”.
For my brothers and I, I guess a big reason why we have as many Indian, Malay, Eurasian and ‘lain-lain’ friends as Chinese ones is probably ‘cos we don’t speak Chinese! So in school, we either hung out with the non-Chinese or other un-Chinese Chinese like us. My brother, Andrew, is so ‘angmoh-fied’ that when he was young, he’d fill in “English” under the “Race” field in forms.
Now, here in Dubai, Indians everywhere too. My first few ‘friends’ in Dubai are from India. Ben laughs each time I say “my friend” ‘cos they’re actually the bus drivers lah. First there was the small, short guy who drove the shuttle from Ewan to the nearby shops. Actually, he’s from Nepal. I guess the drivers see me so often ‘cos I’m always at home, taking the same shuttle every other day, and not many people take the shuttle in the afternoons. So after a while, my Nepalese ‘friend’ recognises me and waves or nods when he sees me. Ben thinks it’s hilarious how we nod to each other like, “Ay, macha…” Anyway, my Nepalese friend disappeared one day and was replaced with a different driver, from Bangalore. He’s my new ‘friend’ now and we nod n wave too! Sometimes we chat – about casual stuff… like the ‘veather’.
Guide to the friendly nod n wave:
Nod head upwards = “Ay”.
Return with 2 nods, pausing between each nod = “Ay. Whazzup”.
Tilt head left, then right, followed by nod = “Ok lah. You?”
Tilt head left, then right, then wave.
(Note #1: Quick tilt = Good. Normal tilt = Ok. Slow tilt = So, so lah)
(Note #2: If you’re too lazy to nod, raising your eyebrows works too)
My other friend is one of the drivers on the Ewan-Gardens route. His name’s Subriano and he’s from Goa. He’s my favourite driver ‘cos he drops me off right outside Ibn Battuta Mall so I don’t have to make the long walk there from Gardens. Among all the drivers, he speaks the best English, so if I’m taking his bus I usually sit in front so we can chat. We chat about lots of stuff lah… How’s my job hunt getting along… Friday Mass at the church in Jebel Ali… Christmas in Dubai… His family back in India… Life in Singapore……
Angmohs speak English so why don’t I have a whole lot of mat salleh friends? I just realised that I still find it difficult to be ‘buddy-buddy’ with Caucasians probably ‘cos I just can’t do the kiss-the-cheek thing without feeling terribly uncomfortable. It’s like so muah-muah. And here, it’s done three times so muah-muah-muah. Ugh… Maybe it’s ‘cos I’m not sure if I should go left cheek or right cheek first? Or most probably it’s ‘cos it’s difficult when short Asian has to tiptoe to reach tall mat salleh’s cheek. Some just do it cheek to cheek but some actually kiss each cheek and actually verbalise the “muah”. And sometimes you meet someone who’s quite a good friend by now, and so you think it’s gonna be a hug, but you get the cheek-to-cheek thing instead as you’re reaching out for a hug, and it just ends up really messy and dumb. Ugh…
I know I’m not anyone’s brother-in-law, but next time you see me, just do the wave, nod, “Ay, macha”.
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