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Yesterday, I was at the India Visa office to collect my passport. As one would expect, the majority of people in the office at the time were Indians and also as expected, everyone was wearing typical winter clothes: down jackets, sport jackets, coats etc. In short, the clothing was typical western winter wear. But there was one lady that was stood out. She was wearing a sari, Indian jewellery like bangles, rings and even had a nose stud that is common in India. There were about 30 people in the office including staff but she was the only one who was not wearing typical western winter attire. But that is not the interesting part. The interesting part is she was a white lady! So, in an India visa office filled with brown people wearing typical western winter wear, there was this one white lady wearing traditional Indian clothes and jewellery. What an inversion!

Friends of mine already know what I think about Kerala and its people, especially Kochi [Cochin]. Its the most beautiful place that I have ever visited. No wonder, someone came up with “God’s own country” as a way to describe this green carpeted state. But its not only the land scape or the natural beauty that is nice about Kerala, its also the people here.

Keralites are mostly honest, civilised and nice people. This I state in comparison to people in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra and a few other states that I know a little bit about. This is an entirely personal opinion [as it always is].

Just last night, on the train from Chennai to Ernakulam [Cochin], the air conditioning in the coach I was in was not working and there was a married couple with a sweet little daughter and the poor child couldn’t tolerate the heat in the air tight AC coach. My other co-passengers were also very uneasy but then, most of the people travelling were from Kerala [most were Malayalis] and so they showed patience and acknowledged the efforts the railway folks were making to fix the AC. I didn’t hear any shouting or abuse, the kind that we can expect from a people from other parts of the country, especially my home state Bengal. I look 100% Chinese [read: foreigner] and in all my stay in Cochin, in hotels, while traveling in auto rickshaws, buying things from shops, I have never come across a person who tried to cheat me or fool me given that I am not a local. Trust me, I would know if they tried it. Contrast this to Chennai, Kolkata. Mumbai and other cities where railway stations are filled with touts and crooks.

I just viewed the short documentary “The Legend of Fat Mama-Stories from Calcutta’s Melting ‘Wok’ “. Its shows the Indian Chinese at Kolkata and covers our food habbits, new year celebrations and also the India-China war of 1962. Its amazing that a small and insignificant community like ours would interest people enough to be aired on BBC World. But I must point something out, in the documentary, it talks a lot of about 1962 war with China and the ill treatment to the Indian Chinese at that time.

To set the records straight, India is amongst one of the world’s best places for anybody to live in. Inspite of the communal problems, its a place where anybody could settle and prosper without any hindrances. Of course, as its a developing country, the ills of corruption and uncivilized conduct of some people will be felt occasionally but then this applies to all Indians and not just to Indian Chinese. I have never really felt any issues arising out of the war on our generation and I am positive it didn’t affect anyone of the generation before me either. As a proof, one only needs to look at the general economic condition of the Indian Chinese. I am proud to be Indian and also proud of my Chinese origins. There is no conflict or problems at all.

Since June 2004, I have been to Kochi[Cochin], Chennai, Bangalore, Dubai [U.A.E] and Ghana and my travels have only reconfirmed my above statements. India is a good place to be in. If people in our community are migrating, its purely because western countries offer better life style [social security, health care, less corruption etc. etc.] and not because we have been ill treated or something. We are migrating for the same reasons as Malayalis going to the Dubai or Sadarjis to Canada.