When Time Magazine Apologized To Indians in New Jersey…

As India gets increasingly trumpted overseas as an “almost” superpower, the sensitivity of some people from this big Asian country who have now settled abroad has risen in a seemingly direct proportion. So when Joel Stein wrote a recent humor column “My Own Private India”, the Time magazine had to print an apology to assuage the “hurt” among some readers, and explained that “it was in no way intended to cause offense.”

I quite agree with the author of the humor column, Joel Stein, when he responded by saying: “I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many people. I was trying to explain how, as someone who believes that immigration has enriched American life and my hometown in particular, I was shocked that I could feel a tiny bit uncomfortable with my changing town when I went to visit it. If we could understand that reaction, we’d be better equipped to debate people on the other side of the immigration issue.”

I wonder what type of Indians have objected to Joel Stein’s wonderful and hilarious article. India is such a vast country and has a diverse population with a different approach to life. An average Indian in India, thank god, does still laugh at himself/herself. But some Indians who arrive in Europe, US and Australia take themselves, and other people’s reactions to them, rather seriously, and lose their sense of humour in their onward march to increase their bank balance and acccumulate worldly things.

Joel Stein has movingly described how his old New Jersey hometown has changed. And I quote him: “My town (Edison) is totally unfamiliar to me. The Pizza Hut where my busboy friends stole pies for our drunken parties is now an Indian sweets shop with a completely inappropriate roof. The A&P I shoplifted from is now an Indian grocery. The multiplex where we snuck into R-rated movies now shows only Bollywood films and serves samosas. The Italian restaurant that my friends stole cash from as waiters is now Moghul, one of the most famous Indian restaurants in the country. There is an entire generation of white children in Edison who have nowhere to learn crime…”

Please read the full article and judge for yourself. I had a hearty laugh, and also became a bit sentimental because all old hometowns in the world undergo changes that, at times, one rues More here…

I would like to conclude by saying that those people who so easily feel hurt by an article should instead give a humorous and matching reply in the same magazine instead of sulking in public. After all both India and America have a good tradition of a spirited discussion in the media!!!