The Eyes are Upon Me

by Sudha Narasimhan

Yesterday began as a day Iike any other, with the typical errands to run. As I stepped outside to return a surge protector to Radio Shack, however, a strange phenomenon occurred. I call it the Indian Eye. This is the amazing stare that South Asians give one another when they are walking down the street, sitting in the train, or even in line at the movies. And nine times out of ten the looks I get are not looks of longing or attraction- they are looks of judgment or surprise.

So I’m at Radio Shack, approaching the register to return the aforementioned surge protector, when I spy the name tag of the woman behind the counter: "Subalaxmi Chandra Sharma". She is a South Indian, like me. I knew right from that moment I was a goner. The reason? Any middle-aged Indian woman is known as an Auntie- and Aunties spell Trouble. Aunties will look at you up and down and assess your entire self-worth and value in a matter of 5 seconds. I know this because I actually counted. So Auntie opens her mouth, gives me the Indian Eye, and says, without a blink, "Are You Indian?".  I take a deep breath and acknowledge my ethnicity.  

I am very proud to be Indian- I just hate feeling like the poster child for all of India when these situations happen. Auntie immediately starts speaking to me in broken Tamil and English- known as Tamilish. My remedial knowledge of Tamil helps me to understand, but I am very embarrassed to speak back. Then, a barrage of questions fire from her crimson lips- Are you married? Did you grow up here? Do you cook? How many eggs are left in your ovaries? I politely answered her questions, but with a hint of suspicion.  After my return was complete, I start to think about how in 7th grade my Social Studies teacher asked me to talk about India in front of the class. Being a smartass, I asked him if he could talk about Ireland and Italy, since that was where his people were from originally. He gave me detention that day. In conclusion, I left Radio Shack with $40 back in my pocket and a sense that globalization is great for the economy, but not so great for doing errands.