This is a question that I don't hear very often when I travel. In many places, Indians are model immigrants and in many others, they tend to lack cultural sensitivity.
As I got into a motor boat, a friendly pensioner in Kuching picked up a conversation with me when he understood that I was a tourist and not a Malaysian Indian.
We left behind the skyscrapers and the modernity of Kuching to cross over to a simple Malay kampung. Farid invited me for a cup of tea tarik and spoke of his wonderful experiences travelling in Uttar Pradesh! He was a senior engineer that was involved in some construction joint venture in India.
"I'm sad that the Indians have left Kuching," he said. Me: "what Indians?" He talked about those who were in Sarawak during the colonial era and then left when they became old. These men came and worked here for 40 years and even longer, Farid said. Their wish was to die in their motherland.
Kuching has a Gurudwara and a small but noisy Sikh community, which celebrated the 50th birthday of a local businessman in the hotel I was staying in. The Bollywood and Bhangra music went on late into the night, making me wonder if I was in Borneo or Karol Bagh!
For Farid, who lives on the other side of the river, the Indians he misses are the colleagues and friends he shared a long bond with.
As I got into a motor boat, a friendly pensioner in Kuching picked up a conversation with me when he understood that I was a tourist and not a Malaysian Indian.
We left behind the skyscrapers and the modernity of Kuching to cross over to a simple Malay kampung. Farid invited me for a cup of tea tarik and spoke of his wonderful experiences travelling in Uttar Pradesh! He was a senior engineer that was involved in some construction joint venture in India.
"I'm sad that the Indians have left Kuching," he said. Me: "what Indians?" He talked about those who were in Sarawak during the colonial era and then left when they became old. These men came and worked here for 40 years and even longer, Farid said. Their wish was to die in their motherland.
Kuching has a Gurudwara and a small but noisy Sikh community, which celebrated the 50th birthday of a local businessman in the hotel I was staying in. The Bollywood and Bhangra music went on late into the night, making me wonder if I was in Borneo or Karol Bagh!
For Farid, who lives on the other side of the river, the Indians he misses are the colleagues and friends he shared a long bond with.
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