Learning to Love the Spice

In a post last week, FPA blogger, David Karl, wrote about the growing influence and stature of the Indian American community.

Certainly, this is the year of the high-profile Indian American. Whether its in politics (Nikki Haley, Bobby Jindal), government (USAID’s Rajiv Shah) or Hollywood (Aziz Ansari), seeing an Indian America on TV (or more surprising, MTV) just isn’t such a big deal anymore.

However, it would seem that at least one person is a little less than pleased with Indians in America (or at least the ones in New Jersey.) Columnist Joel Stein’s recent column in Time Magazine bemoans the profusion of “desis” (a colloquial term for Indians) in his once white suburban New Jersey neighborhood.  Laments Stein:

“My town 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….Whenever I go back, I feel what people in Arizona talk about: a sense of loss and anomie and disbelief that anyone can eat food that spicy.”

The humorous (or deeply offensive, depending on the reader’s perspective) column has set off a firestorm of criticism from the Indian community, directed both at Stein and Time.

Prominent Indian Americans have criticized Stein’s column as being “insular and misguided.” His column has spurred several counter columns, all berating the writer for “xenophobia” and “a blasé tone about discrimination and hate crimes.” In a piece for Huffington Post, actor and ex-Obama administration employee, Kal Penn, writes:

“Growing up a few miles from Edison, NJ, I always thought it was hilarious when I’d get the crap kicked out of me by kids like Stein who would yell “go back to India, dothead!” I was always ROTFLMAO when people would assume that I wasn’t American. He really captured the brilliant humor in that one too!”

As an Indian American, I did have a few “raised-eyebrow” moments when first reading Stein’s column. Some parts of it are offensive, and it’s hard to find humor in it if you’ve been the subject of slurs like “dothead.”

That said, I was a little surprised by the vehemence of the criticism. If we are America’s “new Jews,” then it stands to reason that like the Jewish community, we will be the subject of some unfortunate jokes and opinions. Prominence begets attention; you can hardly expect to be given a seat at the table and not expect anyone to notice that you’ve taken someone else’s place.

Furthermore, all of us, not just Stein, want to go back to the way things were at some point in our lives. Growing up, I used to be annoyed by Indian Americans who would cluck disapprovingly at how India had changed and how it wasn’t rustic and innocent as before. Today, when I go back, I find myself missing the India of 10 years ago. I miss the (slightly) slower pace and that little grocery store next to my house where a big, jazzy 10-story apartment complex now stands. I don’t expect my Indian friends to feel any sympathy for my nostalgia – they live there now, and they like it just the way it is.

If I do find fault with Stein’s column, its because his entire rant is based on an illogical premise that Edison is still “his town.” He left the city a while back for the shiny new lights of New York.  Edison now belongs to all those Indian families who’ve actively made this town their home. According to the New York Times, “Indians make up from 20 to 25 percent of the population, and they have spearheaded the transformation of Edison — an overwhelmingly blue-collar and middle-class white community a generation ago — into a town with a decidedly Asian flavor.”

That Stein finds this change uncomfortable is hardly an indication of his “xenophobia.” 20 years from now, if Edison is suddenly taken over by Puerto Ricans, some Indian kid is going to write nostalgically about his neighborhood curry joint that’s been replaced by one selling rice and beans.

Yes, I realize there’s only a thin line separating nostalgia and discrimination. However, as we justfiably congratulate ourselves on our achievements, we must have the humility to understand that success comes at a price. In this case, its being the subject of a native’s tirade.

Plus, I have to admit feeling just a little bit sorry for Stein. He can lament to his heart’s content, but it’s a lost cause. At least in Edison, his only path forward is to suck it up and learn to love the spicy food…