Muna Al Fuzai

I am not an Indian, but I wish I was one. This article salutes all Indians around the globe, and especially those in Kuwait. Despite being the most hardworking and intelligent community that knows the best way to live and even survive under all kinds of pressures, I'm sorry to say that they don't receive the appreciation they deserve.

I don't mean to sound racist, but the truth is that some Arabs and Kuwaitis mock Indians' way of thinking or their behavior. I would say that old Indian movies are to blame, over the way they used to write the script, combining all drama elements in one film. With an Indian movie, you know in advance that you will see all types of action: drama, comedy, tragedy and sometimes even horror!

These old movies exaggerated the unbelievable action scenes, where two or three cars fly in the sky and one man can beat a group of men with one touch, etc. It is funny, but made some of us wonder what mind could think like that. These scenes have harmed the general image of Indians, and those who have never been to India believe such things. This is ancient history now and Indian film productions have transformed and developed tremendously in the last 10 years. So please people - stop mocking Indians!

Before making fun of any Indians, please remember that India has the 10th most powerful army in the world. An Indian created Hotmail, while the heads of Google, Microsoft and MasterCard are of Indian origin. India has more wealthy people than the entire Arab world. Since ancient times, India was and still is a huge source of many contributions, including manpower and of course technology. They are the best technicians and field operators.

I have seen many Arabs making fun of Indians, but I haven't seen the same by other people, like Europeans. The reason goes back to their background and what they learned at home, school and their societies about respecting human rights and rejecting discrimination against others based on origin or race. Here, including our local children, don't receive any kind of lessons about these issues, and because of the existence of a large number of maids in their houses, they assume that Indians are born to serve, which is a compete lie and undermines the status of a great nation like India.

Indians have adopted a great value called tolerance. In India, there are approximately 180 different ethnicities and religions, and they have accepted each other as they are. This is something we need to learn more here. However, some here are still making fun of Indians. We argue about Sunnis and Shiites and start bloody wars just to make a point!

One wants to be Indian to know what they know and get the ability to bear stress. When Kuwait was poor, old Kuwaitis traveled to India and learned a lot from the Indians about spices, perfumes and fabrics. This is what history says, and it never lies. We have Indians who have been in Kuwait before I was born, and never asked for citizenship or privileges.

For all these reasons, I wish I were Indian...

By Muna Al-Fuzai

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