Chinese Indians have always been a part of the varied ethnic landscape of India. So sad to see this kind of ignorance on national TV.

Makes it difficult to express any "righteous indignation" for any subtle racism we face here.

I don't know if anyone remembers Deepa Mehta's "Fire". She faced crticism- justified I think - for her portrayal of Chinese Indians in that movie.

Yet despite his appeal, the show is fairly obsessed with reminding us brown people that Chang is (gasp!) not quite one of “us.” Although Chang was born and raised in India, the Indian Idol website promotes him as the “contestant from China.” The show’s co-host first introduced him by stating, “His surname is Chinese, but his heart is Indian.” Even more embarrassing is this condescending exchange between the judges and Chang during the duet round, in which Anu Malik tells him, “You’ve just proven that music knows no language.” Thanks, Indian Idol, I had no idea that Chinese people could actually sing.

Naina, I wouldn't be so harsh. two things, (i) someone Chinese living in India is rare, not like someone South Asian in the US, so without a statement like this people would assume he was not Indian born (ii) this is not an example of reminding people Chang was is not one of "us" as you put it. I have lived in several parts of the country, and I was told my "heart is Bengali", that it is Marathi and what not. I don't see it as an exclusion. In fact, I have been, and even today I always automatically "belong" to those groups at a very intimate level.

There would be an uproar in the US because people here also realize that someone who wishes to exclude an ethnicity from the mainstream would make a similar statement. OTOH, racism in India has not been PC'ed---real racists don't hide it behind statements like the above.

To me, this is similar to the other story on this blog (some stupid channel relayed these images from West Indies which most of you Americans saw as very racist---with the contention that it indicated blackface or something like that). Someone who has grown up in India will realize that neither is meant to be racist. Don't get me wrong, plenty of racists in India of every imaginable variety---but these are not examples of it.

Thanks for posting this, it was great to see. I think you are being a bit rough on the show though, yes brown Indians are actually various ethnicities but someone of Chinese or European background really sticks out and I actually found that the show / comments by most people on YouTube show that Indians overall actually have a kind, tolerant and welcoming attitude. I actually find that way that shows in the US/UK/Canada try to be overly politically correct and act that they see no race is not very convincing and just fake, it's OK to admit someone is a different race, just as long as people are not mean or rude about it. It's just a novelty, if more people from various backgrounds existed in India, it wouldn't such a 'special' case and then they wouldn't mention it. I'm very happy to see that everyone is accepted as an Indian and he certainly should be since his famly has been in India for so many generations.

okay back up defenders of all things indian...

i think the point is that the judges (who are famous upper-crust indian artists, and who should be somewhat intelligent and global in their thinking) are inaccurate in saying that he's "from china" as if he just got off a train in bombay and headed for the indian idol offices. i understand that india does not have the same multicultural history of the US, but if an individual person claims to be something - in this case, an indian - then who are we to disagree and defend ignorant attitudes? meiyan was born and raised in karnataka and speaks fluent hindi...and even though the judges may not be malicious in pointing out how different he is, they are ignorant...

this isn't about indian people being "welcoming and warm," it's about a few judges and a TV show which keep overriding an individual's view of himself and his identity...meiyan is there reprsenting himself, not china...

yeah, it's just indian idol...i know. but ignorance with a smile is still ignorance...go meiyan!

-a "chinese indian"

i'd love to make some intelligent statement here about racism but all i can think is that he's so sweet and his voice is lovely ...

wow, hes really good!

how unfortunate about the racism issue, but i think he will do good.

It's Hard Out There For An Indian Idol

I don't think it is hard out there for Meiyang - unless you want to bring it out by skewed questions. Has anyone watched interviewing tactics by journalists? They see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear.

With more practice, Indians will get better in being politically correct (so horrifying an image). We are more direct and free with our expressions. Pretentious smiles, 'how are you doing', or the even more specific 'how are you doing, today?' does not come naturally. (Once I responded with a detailed description of 'how i am doing today' for a good five minutes, and asking her a few questions as well. The smile went off, as I violated her expectations - that I will also respond with a 'good. thank you' without even bothering AN IOTA about each other's well being.

There is no hatred or condescension here. The yellow is in the jaundiced eye of the observer.

[In your another post on skin color matters, I had tried to explain that skin color is not really important as physical attractiveness. But I am digressing.]

Much respect to two people who did not molest hindi. Javed Akhtar and Meiyang Chang.

I don't usually watch such reality shows, but I watched this one, and must say I really liked Chang's audition and performances. He has it in him to go to the very top, and I wish him all the best. It's embarrassing to see the condescending attitude of the judges, especially Anu Malik's idiotic comment, "Did you come from China?". Just for that, I want Chang to win Indian Idol :-) Why don't people get the fact that he's as Indian as the rest of us?

Very interesting. I suppose a person of Chinese ethnicity in India would stick out more than a person of Indian ancestry in the US, so it's par for the course that Sanjaya's Indian origins were never an issue, but Meiyang's Chinese origins are. That said, I think it's really a reflection of two things: (a) the lack of racial diversity in India (in contrast to linguistic diversity) and (b) the lack of informed/mature discussion on race in India.

I'm reminded of that earlier discussion on SM about Jaime Alter, and how he isn't really perceived as Indian, even though he clearly is.

OT, but I really got a kick out of this (paraphrased) exchange:

Judge: Are you really from China?
Meiyang: I'm Indian.

Go Meiyang!

There is no hatred or condescension here. The yellow is in the jaundiced eye of the observer.

naiverealist,

i understand why you would want to deny any wrongdoing on the part of an indian, i've met thousands of ppl like you. i know exactly how people like you think, and what your motivations are. i have sized up all of your insecurities like a samurai psychologist. people like you have a very high tolerance for stupidity and stupid people. you are an open book.

Xian

bytewords #2, you get it! Very true.

Meiyang is great!! Really good voice.

But I have to give credit to Chang, though — in spite of the ignorant comments, he only smiles and nods, never protesting or showing frustration.

On a side note, quality of singing is far better on Indian Idol than on American Idol.

aw, he's so cute and he sings! I liked his voice, now I will have to go watch the rest of the show...

Pleasant voice. A bit like Udit Narayan.
#8 sounds like cranky Om Prakash from Chupke Chupke, but Hinglish grates on my nerves. Akhtar and Chang managed to keep it relatively angrezee-free.

naiverealist,

i understand why you would want to deny any wrongdoing on the part of an indian, i've met thousands of ppl like you. i know exactly how people like you think, and what your motivations are. i have sized up all of your insecurities like a samurai psychologist. people like you have a very high tolerance for stupidity and stupid people. you are an open book.

Xian

ha ha ha. Thank you, samurai psychologist.

Does anyone know (off-hand) the % of the Indian population that is of Chinese descent? I wouldn't be surprised if it is comparable to the % of people of desi origin in the U.S. Let's not be too quick to jump to the conclusion that the judges are justified in being ignorant because we assume that folks like Meiyang are rare.

All that said, I like him! I like this season of II better than the first season, also :) Seems like they're doing a better job of hitting their groove.

ok, just to make some points here since the RSS jai jai bharat mahal types are fob'bing at the mouth again

-it's quite easy to say something is "politically correct" - oh NO political correctness run amok! we straightforward indians should NEVER be criticized for saying stupid shit to minorities in india! we are an earnest, earthy bunch who sing songs of monsoons with gusto! FRIENDS, there is a BIIIIIIG ass difference between "political correctness" and "politness" - india has not learned the first, which naiveroti or whatever fears like the apocalypse (let us all sing JANA GANA MANA instead!). basically, it's RUDE to keep insisting someone is something that they insist they are not. that is all. this does not affect the national character of jai jai bharat mahal, nor does it prevent the ambanis from giving bonus checks to their 600 servants.

-runa @ comment number 1 - no, you're wrong. just b/c some fools in india treat a chinese-indian like a total outside doesn't make it wrong for indians in the US to complain about racism. what kind of comparison is that? "indians in india are racist, so we in america have no right to complain when ppl are racist towards us"

aapka overreaction is a hateration.

-YO soy hakka hindustani

It's embarrassing to see the condescending attitude of the judges, especially Anu Malik's idiotic comment, "Did you come from China?". Just for that, I want Chang to win Indian Idol :-) Why don't people get the fact that he's as Indian as the rest of us?

Unlike in the US, entertainment industry (especially Music,Television and Films) in India is dominated by minorities. Non-Indians like Udit Narayan and Adnan Sami are huge stars in India. Meiyang ( or somebody like him) has a better chance of making it big in entertainment industry in India than in the US.

OSN NSO #18:

i don't know why i am responding to your comments. I insist that i am not brown, FOB, macaca, roti or any of your own projections of yourself. I hope you will follow your own standards, and will not obliquely refer to me by those words in future. It seems you have confounded many different categories, and lumped them into one bracket - our national anthem, RSS, Bharat, ambanis, jai jai, and singing songs. Everything is related to everything - if you believe it all started with the big bang - but then, where is the kitchen sink?

I think you are confused.

But then what do I know? I do not see any need to continue this conversation - not only because I have some other things to do - but because I am terrified that I will not be able to argue with you and your intelligence already knows what I will say. Bye.

And unlike on American Idol, the contestants on Indian Idol show extraordinary respect to the judges... In fact, in the second season, one kid was really hauled over the coals for dissing the judges, and he was completely contrite. It's hard to imagine anyone getting in a few digs, however justified they may be.

i understand that india does not have the same multicultural history of the US,

the lack of racial diversity in India (in contrast to linguistic diversity) and (

huh???? brownland has a lack of cultural and racial diversity???? i'm sorry, i'm bengali, and i have aunts that look chinese. one of the old regulars here (saurav) told me how bengalis stereotypicall have "chinky eyes." there are white skinned punjabis and black-skinned tamils.

p.s. yes, browns (from lahor to madras) have more genetically and cuturally than groups outside. but there is a LOT of variation in.

I insist that i am not brown, FOB, macaca, roti or any of your own projections of yourself.

yeah, my point exactly. kind of sucks to keep being mislabeled as something you're not. i could easily say to you, "calm down, you hindu extremist fundamentalist psycho! you're being SOOOOO politically correct!" when in fact all i was doing was disregarding how you see yourself and saying it for you.

just because i have differently shaped eyes than you, does that not mean my heart does not cry out for jai gauri maa? chinese indians, indo-chinese...we are not just some alternative culinary choice for indians out on the town!

i am indian. meiyang is indian. it is rude, not "PC," to expect people to refer to us otherwise. talk about conflation and confusion!

sare jahan se achcha meiyang chang humara humara

-my dil goes hakka noodle for un-PC indians!

huh???? brownland has a lack of cultural and racial diversity????

razib???? i meant to say that india does not have the same history of state-sponsored insistence on multicultural tolerance/acceptance and diversity appreciation that america does. via, you know, public schools, PBS, benneton ads. didn't mean to say that india lacks genetic variability. so sorry???? but that doesn't mean it's not embarassing when reasonably educated and hopefully well traveled celebrities like anu malik et al continue to have orgasms over the fact that meiyang chang is chinese-indian. express surprise once, okay, but stop foaming at the mouth after you learn that he's a third-generation indian!

p.s. yes, browns (from lahor to madras) have more genetically and cuturally than groups outside. but there is a LOT of variation in.

i have no idea what this means. we have more genetically than groups outside???? pls. explain what you really meant

Fortunately India has not yet been over-burdened with political correctness. People are still innocent and can say what they mean sincerely from the heart without it being misconstrued as offensive all the time.

Fortunately India has not yet been over-burdened with political correctness. People are still innocent and can say what they mean sincerely from the heart without it being misconstrued as offensive all the time.

you know, i'm sorry for turning this into a "chinese-indians have a voice too!" thread, but comments like this piss me off. for one, it's usually "mainstream" indians who are saying things like this - those who are in a comfortable majority wherever they may reside in bharat. basically, those people whose "indianness" is rarely questioned.

but growing up chinese in pune was not a lot of fun. oh, there were many nice people, but there were also a lot of rotten eggs who made my school days horrible. "hey chini girl! dekho uski aankhen!" (hey chink, look at those eyes!) better yet was when those lovely, sincere and oh-so-innocent (i prefer to call them idiots) mothers would refer to me as the "chapt" child in front of my parents, who just stared silently at the ground. (for those who are unaware, "chapt" is basically a mainstream way for some indians to refer to chinese people - it means "flat-nosed") anytime anyone disagreed with me the first thing they would point out is that i am chinese, and then add some derogatory words. not just kids. my dad was treated worse, especially when talks of india vs. china would come up, they would whisper as if my dad was selling secrets to chairman mao himself. he was an auto technician.

that is why i am glad i am now in america. oh, i miss india a lot, but at least here the indians are more charmed about my heritage rather than disgusted. people "get" that i can be chinese and indian at the same time, especially when i break out in the mother tongue.

anyway my point is that your heavy sighs of relief that india is not SO PC is not a comfort for me. not that i expect you to care. in the end, you all make india look backwards with your sincere, innocent and oh-so-frank stupidity.

you know, i'm sorry for turning this into a "chinese-indians have a voice too!" thread, but comments like this piss me off. for one, it's usually "mainstream" indians who are saying things like this - those who are in a comfortable majority wherever they may reside in bharat. basically, those people whose "indianness" is rarely questioned.

but growing up chinese in pune was not a lot of fun. oh, there were many nice people, but there were also a lot of rotten eggs who made my school days horrible. "hey chini girl! dekho uski aankhen!" (hey chink, look at those eyes!) better yet was when those lovely, sincere and oh-so-innocent (i prefer to call them idiots) mothers would refer to me as the "chapt" child in front of my parents, who just stared silently at the ground. (for those who are unaware, "chapt" is basically a mainstream way for some indians to refer to chinese people - it means "flat-nosed") anytime anyone disagreed with me the first thing they would point out is that i am chinese, and then add some derogatory words. not just kids. my dad was treated worse, especially when talks of india vs. china would come up, they would whisper as if my dad was selling secrets to chairman mao himself. he was an auto technician.

that is why i am glad i am now in america. oh, i miss india a lot, but at least here the indians are more charmed about my heritage rather than disgusted. people "get" that i can be chinese and indian at the same time, especially when i break out in the mother tongue.

anyway my point is that your heavy sighs of relief that india is not SO PC is not a comfort for me. not that i expect you to care. in the end, you all make india look backwards with your sincere, innocent and oh-so-frank stupidity.

I'm giving the Indos the benefit of the doubt. For almost a decade I struggled with their name calling and other forms of harrassment but having taken a break from that country/culture, looking back I'm tempted to say, "it wasn't all that bad, they just didn't know any better", "it was done out of innocence/ignorance", etc.

Maybe I'm being too kind?

hey chini girl! dekho uski aankhen

i'm bengali, and i have aunts that look chinese

Did no one ever think that you could be from the northeast?

They use "chinky" for the Northeast people too.

I'm giving the Indos the benefit of the doubt. For almost a decade I struggled with their name calling and other forms of harrassment but having taken a break from that country/culture, looking back I'm tempted to say, "it wasn't all that bad, they just didn't know any better", "it was done out of innocence/ignorance", etc.

Maybe I'm being too kind?

i don't know.

Did no one ever think that you could be from the northeast?

no...they weren't confused as to my origins, they were just simply attacking me and making fun of my eyes. but yes, some people did initially think i was from nepal or assam. when i told them my family is from china the coversation would either go sour or pleasant.

anyway i'm not a curmudgeon or depressed by life. i mean, in college her i am still "the chinese girl who does bhangra well" but it's a different type of treatment. indians here take a shorter time understanding that i am chinese-indian and don't have such issues with it. those in india often do. that is why i am anti-FOB and pro-ABCD even though i am a FOB!

Dipanjan,

Rest assured, OSN is no chinese girl. She is creating a ruckus for nothing, and is trying to instigate me. Really, I had to see this to know how confused people can be. But she has a history of making mountains out of molehills (ref: posts on Holi, skin color etc.). I hope many others reading this thread can get the drift.

Uff, I think I have been drawn into some made up crisis situation. now, somebody please come to her rescue, or ban me. I am loving this. Get the popcorn.

#19 indianoguy, while it is true that there is a significant minority representation in India's entertainment industry, Meiyang does not conform to the image most people have of a 'typical Indian'. So, while India generally accepts minorities in the entertainment field, I wonder whether Meiyang would be as easily accepted as say Udit Narayan or somebody. Still, I think he has it in him to go a long way.

#32: Maybe my Firefox search function is screwed, but I couldn't find OSN's comments in the posts you link to...

This Meiyang Chang is gorgeous! He certainly speaks and sings in Hindi much better than I ever could. He's a third gen Desi! I don't think the judges were being harsh or discriminatory, though--in fact they just seemed pleased that he is Indian, and just found out more about how he came to be so fluent, as it is pretty unusual. Maybe there is xenophobia about Chinese people i India, but I don;t think it's systematic. Simon Cowell, who is not American, was much more discriminatory towards Sanjaya, not to mention plain rude, even by his standards. Even if his language (Simon's) was pc, he set off a real furor of hate for Sanjaya by leading with his bad attitude and when things were going a bit too well for Sanjaya anyway, he and the other producers just set the dial to country where they knew Sanjaya couldn't make it, refused him his blues song, all on purpose to eliminate him I'm sure, then realized their mistake and backpedaled.

I hate the name Indian Idol-- sucks!

张的很好的声音。印度人和中国人象兄弟一样
在印度偶像方面的祝您好运变化

can you say "cognitive dissonance"?

Well, I think there are two issues at hand when it comes to shoddy treatment of people who are not perceived as mainstream Indian. When people use terms like Chinky and Kallu, a lot of times they just use it without realizing that it could be offensive to the people they are referring too. This comes from a lack of a melting pot kind of culture that we see here. Thus this lack of exposure to non brown people results in a form of ignorance of things PC and people don't realize the offense in the terms they use. The other is plain racism which (as I have also previously mentioned) is quite prevalent in India when the opportunity so presents itself - seen a lot more in colleges and places where there is a sizable foreign and/or non brown population. As also, OSNs comments here show (I will give her the benefit of doubt since the links from Naive don't seem to have any postings from her, or maybe it really is a firefox search issue) . This again stems from the fact that there is not enough awareness about xenophobia and thus the base human nature of discriminating against people different from us comes out unbridled. And while I don't offer this as a justification of such things, it does give me hope that as the number of people outside of the mainstream increases in India (as we enter more and more into the global economy) we as a nation will become more exposed to such issues and gradually become more accepting. I would say OSN that what you have experienced is indeed unfair, but if you talked about this and raised awareness to the issue without being bitter, you probably will have a better chance of getting people to listen and understanding the importance of these issues.

First, excellent post Naina!
I thought the same thing about Meiyang and the judges when that conversation happened...and then again...and again!! It's definitely not cool for the judges who ARE well-traveled and should really be required to be global in their outlook. Nor is it fair for the rest, for the judges to be continually besotted with his "exoticness", wth!! He's Indian. His ancestors were Chinese. Can we get to his singing now for its quality alone???

But Shodan, I completely agree with you on his Hindi skills. Enough with the spoken-language illiteracy!! And Javed Sa'ab is a treat to listen to if you enjoy dealing with Hindi-Urdu or Hindustani. He truly is an artist of language. He brings a level of finesse to the discussion that is hard to imagine without his presence.

In the show's intro the co-host introduced him in Hindi as somone whose surname is Chinese, but has Indian heart, blood, and 'Jazbaad'. (this basically means he is Indian).

If an Indian guy went on Chinese Idol and they by saying he has an Indian last name but your heart, blood and attitude are Chinese, I wouldn't find that offensive as all.

Anu Malik's first language isn't English and kinda came of sounding like an idiot while trying to say something philosophical. Leaving that aside he seems to genuinely like Meiyang's singing, so I guess his main fault is that he is unaccustomed to speaking proper PC english.

Meiyang probably had far more than his share of rude comments growing up, the people on Indian Idol are actually trying to be nice.

I wonder what the fuss is all about. Growing up in Calcutta I was well aware of the huge chinese-indian population there. In fact we have a Chinatown as well, which serves delicious Indianised Chinese food and is massively popular with the Kolkata population. Anyone been there ?

He has an accent in Hindi.

Its also rather comical to see a bunch of visible minorities lamenting about PCness in the US society.

#43 "He has an accent in Hindi."
You are so right. He is from Dhanbad in Bihar. That's the accent of a Bihari attempting to speak "good" Hindi. I am a Bihari, too. I can do a Delhi accent pretty well because that used to be my home a long time ago, but my all-guards-down Hindi is pure Bihari.

The Chinese settled in the Eastern part of India, mainly Bengal and Bihar. Interestingly, most of them were either shoemakers or dentists if not restaurant owners. Dentistry in India in the early part of the 20th century did not require any education. Painkillers and a set of pliers were all you needed to set up your practice. Somehow dentistry in the Chinese community has been handed down from one generation to the next. I know several third-generation Chinese-Indian dentists who, of course, are all college trained.

India has always been politically correct on national forums such as television. Every two-bit "neta" starts his speech with the ingratiating opener, "hindu-muslim-sikh-isai." This episode of Indian Idol was not typical. Shan would not have made the rookie mistake this host did.

#42 "Anyone been there ?"
Oh yeah. Many times.

By the way, the Indian music shows are getting a lot of NRI contestants. Check our Mouli Dave from Houston on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, specially her rendition of Maiya, Maiya from Guru. It's on Youtube.

He has a wonderful talent and voice. He must be the next winner of Indian Idol!

there are white skinned punjabis and black-skinned tamils.

razib:

I know that you're more of an expert on race, genotype, etc., but what I really meant was that I don't think of white skinned punjabis and dark-skinned tamils as being of different races (although I admit ignorance on that score)...or maybe it's just a case of some "racial" types being more common in India than others. Again, I don't know the actual breakdown of numbers.

I saw this clip from link on Manish's blog couple of weeks back, and I must admit that I was moved. I am a fan of Meiyang Chang from that point on. He is Desi just like Tom Alter's kid is Desi and that makes Des great and that makes me feel good. Go Meiyang !!!

And Naina, when the host said that his surname is Chinese he doesnt mean it in a way that he is Chinese and not Indian, but in a way that we call someone Gujarati or Bihari or Tamil or Kashmiri. The host just tried to assign him to an ethnic group, IMO.

And unlike on American Idol, the contestants on Indian Idol show extraordinary respect to the judges...

i think this has much to do with the culture of learning music in india - mata pita guru devo. the difference between a teacher and a guru is vast, and anybody who has learned desi classical singing or dance knows how deferential you are supposed to be to your guru. by contrast, there is decidedly less deference in an academic setting.

He has an accent in Hindi.

well, he is from kolkata. but seriously, his hindi is good - and quite shudh, going by his diction. many people in bombay would not only have a worse accent, but they would be mixing in a lot more slang or english words. also, the accent was not obvious when he sang, which is often the case with most singers. i might have to start watching indian idol now - it's really rare to see such a talented and likeable contestant on these types of shows.

great post, naina!

And Naina, when the host said that his surname is Chinese he doesnt mean it in a way that he is Chinese and not Indian, but in a way that we call someone Gujarati or Bihari or Tamil or Kashmiri. The host just tried to assign him to an ethnic group, IMO.

I think so too. By "chinese" I dont think they mean the nationality. They refer to the Mongoloid race. No other insinuation.

OSN: its more likely you belong to the group "dissers of all things indian" than the possibility that the people who pointed this view are "defenders of all things indian".

Less ANNA, more NAINA please!

Oh, that's cute. And it's so persuasive, I will immediately cease posting and Naina will pick up the slack.

Each of us posts what our schedules will allow. Earlier this year, I went on an unintended hiatus for a few months. Right now, several of us are away and I am the only "full-time" mutineer in the bunker, so you won't be getting your wish anytime soon. Beyond that, bloggers are like DJs...they hate when people bump the table in order to request something.

For years, Abhi was the "main" blogger here and when he posted at the exact same rate I currently am, he didn't have to put up with nearly as much negativity. I guess familiarity breeds selective contempt.

Check our Mouli Dave from Houston on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, specially her rendition of Maiya, Maiya from Guru. It's on Youtube.

Amazing!! Thanks, Floridian. Mouli is going to go places. Lovely voice and range.

According to this, ethnic Chinese make up 0.02% of the Indian population. That's less than the percentage population of South Asians in the US, by the way.

I give much respect to the host. Ryan Seacrest would never kiss another guy on the cheek.

Seeker,
I've had the pleasure of working w/ Javed Sa’ab many years ago. He’s a real gentleman, speaks lovely, unpretentious urdu and has a great collection of kurtas.

OSN: its more likely you belong to the group "dissers of all things indian" than the possibility that the people who pointed this view are "defenders of all things indian".

You see immigrants come to the US for the state provided comforts, more than the people (that's a guess, though; you may disagree). And people look to India for her people, despite the state. I am okay with dissing (especially of the state), but when the dissing is misplaced and completely made up (and has the audacity of an escalating commitment) it only reveals who gets it who doesn't (but thinks she does).

Less ANNA, more NAINA please!

Oh, that's cute. And it's so persuasive, I will immediately cease posting and Naina will pick up the slack.

ANNA, please write more and do not pay any attention to haters and posers(and those who think they know everything despite their poor knowledge and preconceived notions).

Speaking of reality shows, there's a desi girl finalist on Steven Spielberg's "On THe Lot". Her short piece on Indian gay comedian Vidur Kapur will air this Tuesday, June 5th, on FOX. We'll have a chance to vote for it afterwards. There's a blog about her here: http://ourvoicesinmedia.blogspot.com/

but growing up chinese in pune was not a lot of fun. oh, there were many nice people, but there were also a lot of rotten eggs who made my school days horrible. "hey chini girl! dekho uski aankhen!" (hey chink, look at those eyes!) better yet was when those lovely, sincere and oh-so-innocent (i prefer to call them idiots) mothers would refer to me as the "chapt" child in front of my parents, who just stared silently at the ground. (for those who are unaware, "chapt" is basically a mainstream way for some indians to refer to chinese people - it means "flat-nosed") anytime anyone disagreed with me the first thing they would point out is that i am chinese, and then add some derogatory words.

Sure try growing up Indian in Chinese singapore. Being called Abu neh neh,kelengkia starts pretty much in kindergarten.

Oh and racism here is institutionalized.Nobody talks about it least of all the press there is only one opinion, which is everything is perfect.Below is an example when a jackass slips up, there are many more just need to google.

“One evening, I drove to Little India and it was pitch dark but not because there was no light, but because there were too many Indians around." -PAP(Ruling party since independence) Member of Parliment, Mr Choo Wee Khiang, made the remarks in Mandarin in a speech in parliament in 1992.

Indians make up about 7% of the population.

Anyways the story is about a dude who can really sing well and just happens to be chinese and judges on idol are not brightest people around. So stop making this into your own personal tale of growing up as a minority, I think a lot of people here can relate to it.

I suppose it doesn't make too much of a difference that Meiyang calls his own future kids 'chinki'?

http://buddhasoliloques.blogspot.com/2007/01/wonder-years.html

So stop making this into your own personal tale of growing up as a minority, I think a lot of people here can relate to it.

What kind of logic is that? Just because a lot of us have known discrimination, if someone wants to talk about his/her experience of being discriminated in India, they should not? Or that since it happens to brown Indians in Singapore, attention should not be brought to discrimination of minorities in India.

Anyways the story is about a dude who can really sing well and just happens to be chinese and judges on idol are not brightest people around.

Maybe so, but that again does not mean you ignore that prevalent ignorance. The judges are definitely not more ignorant than the average man on the streets.

I taught English for a year in Taiwan - very non-pc as well. I really felt for the Indonesians and Phillipinos who were there mostly working as domestic servants or construction.

It was really an interesting in that --- I have never been to a place where I got so many compliments, people would tell me all the time how pretty I was. I'd always get "I want your eyes and nose". In my school my fellow teachers and students called me "beauty". And at the same time, I'd often encounter, "oh beautiful" and then rubbing their skin on their arm and they would intimate that my skin color was no good. Funny....I felt I was ready for this b/c I got the same crap among non-pc Indians.

I was protected from a lot of outright racism b/c I was an American citizen and an English teacher...; I think it would have been very difficult, whatever anyone thought about my looks, if I wasn't an American citizen and dark-skinned. Certainly I heard rude comments (maybe how some Americans make rude comments about working-class Latinos here) about the Phillipinos and Indonesians that came there to work mostly as domestic servants or construction.

Taiwan has a long way to go in immigrant rights.

Despite all this, of course I am sorry for any Chinese-Indian to face the same crap. Or Indian-Singaporeans or any minority that faces prejudice in any country. Runa's statement:

Makes it difficult to express any "righteous indignation" for any subtle racism we face here.

is not what we should take away from the Chinese-Indian idol's experience. I will definitely complain when someone is racist to me in the US, as anyone should. As my Chinese-American friends should, as anyone should.

My experiences traveling, have actually made me really grateful for the US's own laws and long history of dealing with immigrants and racial minorities. Most countries in the world haven't had to contend with that and what would seem as flagrant civil rights/hr violations for minorities in the US, go completely accepted in other parts of the world.

According to this, ethnic Chinese make up 0.02% of the Indian population. That's less than the percentage population of South Asians in the US, by the way.

I'm seriously baffled by the huge amounts of hateration towards ANNA. 90% of the time it doesn't even make sense in the context of the post/comment thread. I'm also curious as to how many times this happens with "fly by" commenters. Maybe there's more of an impetus to be an asshole when you aren't "accountable" to the group you're posting with?

ANNA, I say do your thing!

I give much respect to the host. Ryan Seacrest would never kiss another guy on the cheek.

Ryan Seacrest kissing a guy on the cheek? I've never seen him do anything remotely. as for Italian guy doing it, isn't that just like shaking hands over there? I don't know I've never been.

As for haterade on Anna, I haven't been around long enough, but I think people just feel left out if they don't have an opinion. Personally I don't get all the discussion eitherway. She's just a person.

On another note, what's the purpose of Indian Idol? If you win, you get to have some no-talent guy with the last name Khan lipsynch over your lyrics?

razib:

I know that you're more of an expert on race, genotype, etc., but what I really meant was that I don't think of white skinned punjabis and dark-skinned tamils as being of different races (although I admit ignorance on that score)...or maybe it's just a case of some "racial" types being more common in India than others. Again, I don't know the actual breakdown of numbers.

I don't either - and most people I know speak of different cultures or ethnicities but not races in India. Especially considering that most Indian families whether in Tamil or UP or kashmir, have a wide range of phenotypes, which include dark and light skin.

This is why I say that Indians preference for light skin, isn't racism - b/c it's not between "races" - at least the social construct of how race is perceived in the US. Hope I'm not threadjacking here - if so I'm sure someone will crack down on me - but what do others think?

Rest assured, OSN is no chinese girl. She is creating a ruckus for nothing, and is trying to instigate me. Really, I had to see this to know how confused people can be. But she has a history of making mountains out of molehills (ref: posts on Holi, skin color etc.). I hope many others reading this thread can get the drift.

I'm so glad you posted this Naina. I actuall saw, purely by chance, the episode where Anu Malik made the stupid comment and I was fuming. Why can't they just see him as an Indian? It's like white people who are surprised that Korean adoptees raised in America can speak such good English or something. The guy is INDIAN. Seems like a nice guy, good singer. I hope he wins, it would be great PR for India, and it would help negate some of the racism I'm sure he's experienced.

When people use terms like Chinky and Kallu, a lot of times they just use it without realizing that it could be offensive to the people they are referring too.

That was my point. For the first couple of years in India I was SHOCKED at how rude and un-pc the locals were in my hood. Shopkeepers referring to customers as "motu", "kallu", etc, etc,. Then it just dawned on me that this was their culture and they don't mean it in a mean way, it's more of a "teasing".

That is one thing that westerners in India find very hard to deal with --- the jokes and teasing at their own expense. Over here it would be a big NO NO to call someone you love "fatso". In India it's not. Alot of westerners get offended until they come to understand the dynamics of it all.

Whenever I get a "lal bandar", they get a "kala bandar" right back coz two can play that game -- some like to dish it out but can't take it when it's dished to them though, but most take it in stride - just like they expect me to.

Name calling by physical attributes is a strict No No at school and is used a classic example in school to teahc children the value of empathy (which is a different discussion - disabled people should not be made fun at but helped). Although as adults its used in sly and among peer groups, I find it incredible that shopkeepers would call customers Kala/Lal Bandar to their face - maybe you got too cosy and earned it.

This is why I say that Indians preference for light skin, isn't racism - b/c it's not between "races" - at least the social construct of how race is perceived in the US.

I actually agree. I think of India's preference more in the realm of beauty, rather than self worth. You may find "light skins" gracing all the magazines, however, will you necessarily find all of them owning most of the companies, disproportionately getting leniency in the judicial system, getting preference in job and housing markets, etc..?

You see immigrants come to the US for the state provided comforts, more than the people (that's a guess, though; you may disagree). And people look to India for her people, despite the state. I am okay with dissing (especially of the state), but when the dissing is misplaced and completely made up (and has the audacity of an escalating commitment) it only reveals who gets it who doesn't (but thinks she does).

Speak for yourself only please.

The immigrants I know who came to US came also for the social and cultural freedoms in addition to state provided comforts (by that I guess you mean good roads and highways, which, are provided by the people through taxes. I've yet to see the US "state" give me anything for free yet!)

By social and cultural freedoms I do not mean that Indians in India are not free to move about and what-not. In many ways they are way freer than US citizens in terms of some of the behaviour accepted there and what they are allowed to get away with in public spaces. But in US there is a respect for personal space and privacy which you don't generally get in India, and which the lack of can drive some people crazy. Everyone seems to be in your business over there, even if you aren't Indian.

I would say tourists and Indo-philes go to India more for her history and culture than for the individuals that currently make up the citizenship of that nation. Of course, it's the people of India which create her culture, so in that aspect, I guess you could be right that people go there for the people. But it's also the ways of the people that drive alot of tourists, religionists and Indo-philes out of India -- especially women, in my experience.

The dance, music, art, architecture, literature, etc of India are all amazingly beautiful. However, it's the attitudes and behaviours of the people that I had to wade through to get to all these things that drove me batty. Especially attitudes towards women. If India could change that one thing really fast, I'd be back there in a second. Since it can't, I'm taking a long hiatus, appreciating it's culture from a distance in my own private "space", where I can breath and buy a kilo of bananas without someone staring and commenting about it.

PG, do you feel that living away from india has given you some sense of love for the people? i grew up in the states, so i don't have the same experience as you, and while i do share some of your viewpoints, i think even that extra level of involvement has its benefits. in many ways, i feel that it explains why many relationships in india - parents-children, friends, siblings/cousins - are often far more deeper than their western equivalents. and the only reason i have to explain is the lack of space. here, we are for more individualized, which has its benefits, certainly, but sometimes something is lost. that's one of the things that i look forward to whenever i visit india - the inquisitiveness. and one more thing - as conservative as indians can be, there is also a simultaneous sense of 'chalta hai' - anything goes. recently, there was an article about how a boeing aircraft was abandoned in the streets of a usy mumbai suburb - and while people were curious. not many were very bothered. shit like this happens only in india, and you have to appreciate that.

You see immigrants come to the US for the state provided comforts, more than the people (that's a guess, though; you may disagree). And people look to India for her people, despite the state. I am okay with dissing (especially of the state), but when the dissing is misplaced and completely made up (and has the audacity of an escalating commitment) it only reveals who gets it who doesn't (but thinks she does).

Naiverealist, I looked at your blog and you're obviously a Hindu fundamentalist nutcase. We all know that you are the one trolling ANNA and the one who has an issue with women speaking their mind. My family actually left India to escape the people and came to America for both the people and better infrastructure. And no, you can't stand dissing of the Indian state...b/c you are so weak and insecure that you start making dangerous insinuations when someone criticizes it. Oh good one, me and Naina are the same...yeah, in fact, me, Naina, ANNA, Camille, anyone with a female name - all the same! Ever heard of IP addresses, moron?

So stop making this into your own personal tale of growing up as a minority, I think a lot of people here can relate to it.

Vivek, I wish you a thousand anal probes at an Israeli airline's "random" screening.

I think the problem on here is that you have a bunch of American-based desis who do experience racism from time to time, and want to talk about it. And then the right-wing nutjobs in India and elsewhere like naiverealist, Vivek, clueless, et al. come in and obviously don't get it. Because they fear white men, and fear power - b/c they worship it and are very insecure themselves - and lash out when anyone - especially a woman - speaks her mind. They are the types on here who always lash out at anyone describing a racist, sexist, etc. experience - you know, how if a Sikh woman is beaten up, it's really not the white skinheads' fault, it's the fault of the 9-11 hijackers. They're the ones who are always ready to silence anyone who dares speak of oppression, b/c they'd rather sit around like naiverealist and post stupid shit about Jana Gana Mana and bhojpuri music.

Hey, you all got personal first by claiming I'm not who I say I am. Remind you of a recent clueless incident?

Again, hilarious that this much hatred towards women and minority voices is coming from a bunch of INdians. Really, wake up.

please disregard the tone of my last post, even though i did mean most of what i said. i was just pissed at the constant ignorance of trolls like naiverealist, etc.

This is why I say that Indians preference for light skin, isn't racism - b/c it's not between "races" - at least the social construct of how race is perceived in the US.

um, okay racism might not be the best term, but light skin preference is rooted in the same psychology of racism. it's not as if india has had no interaction with the outside world. british imperialism played a sizeable role, amongst other factors, in forming a preference for light skin vs dark skin in the minds of many indians. you see, social conditioning comes in many insidious forms - advertising, history, market forces, etc. which feed constant messages to the individual. the message being, basically, the lighter skin is more attractive and has a more legitimate claim to happiness than darker skin.

i think it affects women more than men, especially when it comes to marriage prospects and other social interactions...and a lot of it comes from other family members. but "colorism" is still rooted in the same psychology as racism, and i think racism is just as appropriate a word for it.

why? well, once you ask yourself that question - why do indians think light skin is more attractive - you get a lot of answers that are similar to why white beauty is still considered premium over black beauty in the united states. if you cut away at the layers, there are still notions that if you have dark skin, you have some immutable characteristics that you make you less of a worthy person than a light-skinned person. ever heard of the doll test in the united states? when little black girls were asked "who is the nice doll?" they almost uniformly chose the black doll. i wouldn't be surprised if a similar test in india revealed that most people think the "nice" doll is the one with light skin.

Naiverealist, I looked at your blog and you're obviously a Hindu fundamentalist nutcase.

OSN, I have tolerated a lot. You have called me many names, and I tried to hold myself back. I am not a Hindu fundamentalist nutcase. If you can cite one instance why I am what you think I am, I will try to see where you are coming from. I just don't understand why I should be labeled a troll while you will continue with your verbiage freely thrown at me. Obviously this blog is private space.

Enough of time wasting.

Naiverealist, you're the one who started out by claiming that OSN is not who she says she is. We don't do that on this board. Then you insinuated that OSN and I are the same person and that we're "out to get you." That's trollish behavior. This is your last warning.

Getting back to the topic in hand - one reason I think Anu Malik asked the stupid question "Are you really Chinese" is because may be he is exposed only to real Chinese and not Chinese Indians. Or he wanted to check if Chang is from Northeast - just an innocent question IMO.

There is flood of Chinese from China to India these days - in Bangalore itself there are dozens of hairdressing, makeup parlours run by Chinese (from China)

And someone mentioned earlier, any medium city in India had Chinese presence for decades - mostly as dentists and restaurant owners. And of course there are Tibet refugees and their descendants everywhere in India now. May be Anu Malik need to go out of his usual Bollywood hangouts - escorted concerts etc.

SMIntern: nice.

maybe he asked to verify citizenship status? i assume each of these contests is only open to legal citizens/residents of the country? otherwise why call it 'indian' or 'american' idol? though there is some other indian singing contest going on right now that has a group of contestants from pakistan, which i think is pretty cool...

First off, Nice post Naina.

Did no one ever think that you could be from the northeast?

I don't know how things are in Kolkata(this is in Andhra), but my classmates from NorthEast were made fun of during undergrad. Admittedly these are not as simple as the kind of nicknames/slurs everyone goes through nor as hardcore as racial slurs brown skinned get from random ppl driving by the road in south, but nevertheless they are serious. Slurs about appearance, ethinicity and national loyalty are not funny.

No, I didn't start. I said that in # 32, after reading OSN's comments in #11, #18 and #24 directed at me (have you read those comments and the insinuations?), and her other comments at #25, #27 and #31.

naive, if you go back and really read my comments, it should be somewhat obvious that i was "labeling" you a hindu fundamentalist, etc. in an attempt to make you see how annoying and frustrating it is when people don't let you speak for your self and define yourself (like meiyang chang). obviously you didn't get that...hello, i was being intentionally over the top. do i really think you're a hindu fundamentalist? i don't know, but you do seem to exhibit a stubborness about admitting that there is racism directed towards chinese in india just like white talk show hosts will find any reason to deny there is racism in america. and your own blog is full of jingoistic nonsense.

anyway i truly hope you stop trolling this site and stop expressing your sexist frustration at female bloggers like anna, naina, etc.

re: my comment about race & culture. first, there were a few comments which implied that india was not multicultural or multiracial. but that's false. yes, there is a broad indian culture and indian race which has more in common with other subsets of the set than with subsets of other sets. but, that is like saying that europe has a shared culture and a shared race. in the broadest sense that is true, but no one would elide the difference between a finn and a spaniard. there's a lot of variation there. the context of comparison was with the united states, which does have many cultures and races. but i don't think india and the USA are that different on this diversity metric. in regards to religion & language india is more diverse than the united states (and europe).

now, i will move quickly to the genetics. yes, someone who is of chinese ancestry is genetically different from someone who is south asian, and all south asians will generally cluster with each other as opposed to the chinese individual. the main exceptions would be the mongoloid tribal peoples of the northeast. but, many assamese and even bengalis would have something in common with the chinese person. in regards to this indian idol contestant i don't have an objection toward surprise as to his familial provenance, but i often get the feeling that south asians have a self-image of themselves which deviates from reality. indian pop culture is filled with "white" looking individuals. there are such individuals within india, but proportionately they are a very small minority. the average indian is a very dark skinned person who isn't reflected in their media. that's fine, and that's a different discussion.

but the attitude toward "mongoloid" people that crops up on these boards on occasion has rubbed me the wrong way precisely because south asians accept and lionize the lighter skinned and "sharp featured" range of their physical diversity so much. when there was a post about s. mitra kalita, a young brown american journalist, some commenters offered that she 'didn't look indian, she looks kind of mongoloid.' wtf?!?! she ethnically assamese. that's not uncommon in assam. in my own extended family i have relatives who look considerably more mongoloid than ms. kalita. but they're bengali, it's just a natural part of the range of appearance amongst many benaglis, especially from areas like chittagong and comilla where the hill tribes occasionally intermarried with the deltic farmers. not that benaglis aren't ignorant when it comes to 'chinese' (by which they mean japanese, koreans and east asians in general). i've had to sit in rooms where relatives of mine make fun of chinese people when they themselves look pretty asian if you ask me. of course, their self-perception is that they look the white-washed pictures of "bengalis" in their school books.

so i guess my comments reflect my opinion that browns should deconstruct their identities a bit, and accept they're a motley diverse bunch and that a "chinamen" isn't really that much of a standout as a deviant in that context. some nations, like south korea, and very ethnically homogenous. it doesn't surprise me that south korean banned mixed-race individuals from serving in the military until recently, they're a monoracial and monolingual nation. but indian (or pakistan) is characterized by a lot of diversity, so perhaps i hold it to a higher standard. additionally, as a 'foreign looking' person in the united states i of course empathized reflexively with this individual. just human nature. finally, of course i don't believe that enlightenment would necessarily be reciprocated. from what i can tell east asians find average (as opposed to bollywood white) browns to be hairy, smelly and black (overall, disgusting). that is not laudable, but it doesn't mean that browns themselves shouldn't strive to be above this sort of small-mindedness.

erm...my forefathers came from bactria so in effect that makes me a chinese jat - now that rocks the big one!

Low Levels of Genetic Divergence across Geographically and Linguistically Diverse Populations from India. lots of charts.

Apropos razib's comments above, I have often wondered (just as a thought experiment) what would happen if nativist (as well as nationalists/statist) subsets from every country end up together in another planet. These people generally create a pretty high stakes (i.e. with very high payoffs) prisoners' dilemma for the rest of us. Their collective attitudes create massive externalities for those of us who do not share their attitudes (a couple of years ago we did some interesting simulations using these two kinds of agents....)

OSN,
Before calling us Indians racist and Hindu Fundamentalist and what not, take a good look at your own race. Indians are called dirty and discriminated against in Singapore by the Chinese-origin people. The same $hit goes on in Hong Kong. Point is we all live in glass houses and its wise not to throw stones.

#87 is an example of what I was talking about. OSN has to suffer because Chinese racists in Singapore make fun of Indians...and then another brown Indian will have to face racism b/c some Chinese racist will claim the OSN faced racism from his/her "own ethnic group"....and so on and so on until some day someone like OSN (or any of us for that matter) start rationally identifying more strongly with an "in group". In fact OSN's comment about being "anti-fob" bothered me precisely because I was aware of this dynamic.

OSN, Before calling us Indians racist and Hindu Fundamentalist and what not, take a good look at your own race. Indians are called dirty and discriminated against in Singapore by the Chinese-origin people. The same $hit goes on in Hong Kong. Point is we all live in glass houses and its wise not to throw stones.

before commenting, it's wise to learn to read. first of all, i never said all indians are racist - in fact, i pointed out that many were very nice. second, i used the hindu fundamentalist ploy to show naiverealist how bad it feels to be defined by others. that obviously went over your head.

i know that indians are discriminated against in singapore and hong kong. but it's an idiotic assertion to then imply that i have no right to speak out against discrimination against chinese people in india. i was born in india, and that is alli know. it would be one thing if i was born and raised in singapore, regularly called indian people "sand niggers" and then one day cried about some indian kid calling me a chink. that would be hypocritical. but what you're saying is like saying that black people in america have no right to complain about racism inflicted by white people because some black africans in uganda hate white people (that was a hypothetical, before you start foaming at the mouth). they have nothing to do with each other, two wrongs don't make a right, etc etc.

you know, i used to speak out a lot about the discrimination brown people in america face at airports, being called terrorists, etc. but now i'm going to think twice after encountering some of the bloody idiots on this board. hey, i look east asian - it's not my problem, right?

na @ comment number 1 - no, you're wrong. just b/c some fools in india treat a chinese-indian like a total outside doesn't make it wrong for indians in the US to complain about racism. what kind of comparison is that? "indians in india are racist, so we in america have no right to complain when ppl are racist towards us"

aapka overreaction is a hateration.

OSN,

Okay I think I need to clarify what I said and meant which was - makes it difficult to express righteous indignation - I never said that we should not complain about racism - just that personally it makes it difficult to feel righteous about it . To clarify, I always thought that the society I was in in India was tolerant. When I hear stuff like this , makes me sad.

I am so sorry to hear that in Pune - my hometown - you had to undergo what you did.

The overreaction is yours - when you say what you did about DBDs.

you know, i used to speak out a lot about the discrimination brown people in america face at airports, being called terrorists, etc. but now i'm going to think twice after encountering some of the bloody idiots on this board.

Naina - you come across mostly as individual who is pissed & angry most of the time.

you know, i used to speak out a lot about the discrimination brown people in america face at airports, being called terrorists, etc. but now i'm going to think twice after encountering some of the bloody idiots on this board. hey, i look east asian - it's not my problem, right?

Hope you don't let hate consume you OSN. Sorry about the crap you experienced in India, but there are racists everywhere. I can understand to a certain extent how you feel - until rationality and frankly the knowledge that we are all individuals come to the forefront.

I remember once flying Thai airways and I was disgusted how horribly the Thai crew treated the South Asians on board. Really pissed me off...I'd never experienced such overt racism in a business setting (thankfully) growing up in the US. I felt the Thai crew were kissing the white people's asses. The Indians, they were oblivious to; And I hate to see any old person disrespected. An uncle who was sitting next to me, had been rebuked when inquiring for a change in the dish served. I looked at him in disbelief and was asked him, "is it always like this?" - He answered me, "oh, yes".

Well just because I met some stupid racists who happened to be Thai doesn't mean I'm going to descend into fuck them attitude.

Unfortunately the attitude you have OSN is only playing into the very Indian racists who belittled you. You continue the pattern.

Wow, this is really long thread...thanks for this post Naina. I saw the other story earlier on your other blog. He seems like a really cool dude and he has a really beautiful voice. :0)

Unfortunately the attitude you have OSN is only playing into the very Indian racists who belittled you. You continue the pattern.

PS, you're right. I overreacted and was just speaking out of ire. I wouldn't want to stoop to that level...

that's horribe that you were mistreated by the thai airline...yes i too see a lot of hatred coming from other asians towards indians (like the hong kong politician who drained his pool b/c he thought it was 'dirty water' after an indian politician or diplomat swam in it). i just wanted to give my perspective, not negate the other one.

all over meiyang - he should be flattered :P

OSN, I was hoping it was just anger getting at you and not how you would really be. :)

Anu Malik tells him, "You've just proven that music knows no language."

To add to # 95..
I believe that Anu Malik has the distinction of being the only music director to lift the same tune for songs in 2 different movies

To add to #96

If I remember right, he has lifed tunes from his own songs too.

#97 should read lifted tunes from...

In any case, I remember watching one of his interviews, it was very much like the Vanilla Ice interview where he tried to point out how his song was original. Except Anu Malik said inspiration stuck in at an airport (Switzerland?) and he immediately wrote the tune down.

Then again this is not new, we (the Indian movie industry) have always copied stuff from the west. Man on fire, one the examples that stands out (if you have not seen it I highly recommend it) was remade as Ek Ajnabi in Hindi. The movie was awesome in English and sucked cajones in Hindi.