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.