I am a member of a network board - where an Indian described the Chinese Government as Chinks and the Japanese Government as Japs. Caused a bit of furore with some of the more politically correct bandwagon who descended on him and called the poster a rascist bigot. He is a bigot that’s for sure. but his bigotory is not race. It is like most other people in India - caste and religion.

Our slurs are not based on colour - calling some one a Bengali Bastard or a Tamil fucker doesn’t have the same implications as calling some one a white bitch or a black bastard.

In India slurs are more associated with caste and religion rather than race. So an “action” slur would be to leave a dead pig outside a mosque or a dead cow outside a temple. Not really advisable - because you will cause a riot.

A “verbal” slur could be the term “pariah” that is used a lot in the west. We don’t really use that term - because it has different connotations here. or a ‘papaan’ - derogatory term for a Brahmin in Tamil Nadu. or a chamaar. You wont’ call a Catholic a Papist, a Muslim a dog, or a Hindu a heathen. Terms that don’t really offend the west - but can cause a fair amount of grief here.

Then there are the morality slurs.

if i asked a Brit friend of mine - what his mother was doing last night. he would laugh and probably say - downing a few pints at the local pub. If i ask a Bihari the same question - i am asking for trouble.

YOu won’t call a man you don’t know very well a bastard - that is a slur - because you are implying that his mother has loose morals - and men here are very touchy about such “slurs”. You won’t, for example, ask an unmarried woman in India - whether she has kids - definitely considered a “slur”.

In a culture where everyone has a colour - from pink to golden, from wheatish to dusky from chocoalte brown to dark chocolate - where eyes are round, or large or chinky - where hair is straight, crinkly. - it is a bit difficult to understand the concept of a racial slur.

But as the world becomes a smaller place - people here will have to become more sensitive to the sensibilities of the rest of the world. The question is whether there would be reciprocity.

Tags: Culture, Society