I’ve always wondered why most westerners turn paranoid with an Arab working amidst them or even with wrongly caught Indian Sikhs at airports on suspicions of terrorism without actually confirming their intentions. Sometimes, I see these Arab comedians who talk about how stigmatised it is to live the life of an Arab in these western countries as westerners themselves. I’ve felt bad for the Arabs for this. But when news such as this shows up every now and then, it makes me think – maybe they’re not wrong for being so paranoid.
It is difficult to see who’s a terrorist and who’s not. I know, you’d tell me to understand the Arab culture first and then you won’t have such trouble (or something along those lines). But, no, it’s not that simple. Once stung, you’ll want to take lesser chances, unless you’re this guy who was with us until last year ;/
We have these orange coloured wasps here which are pretty actively roaming around looking for human prey to sting. They usually settle in humble places such as AC switches or the Library’s nook and corners. My policy with these little guys is to not aggravate them or bother with them. Even if they’re in my room, I just let them fly around and lead them out of the room if possible. Rahul Saraf, on the other hand, always found it amusing or I-don’t-know-what to go and slap these AC switches whenever he walks past them. And out come these wasps and bite his cheeks :D. Funny part is, he doesn’t get it. He’s done that thrice and has been stung on the same spot thrice ;/
Some of my other pals just squash them at sight. I’ve told them not to do that and also proposed a theory to them which goes like “these wasps remember you by smell, they’ll haunt you if you happen to harm them even once. If you leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone too”. Holds true for me, at least the second part does. I’ve even woken up without any stings on my body with these little ones flying around in my room all night. (Yes, I’m a nature-person. Er, don’t ask me about the geckos now ;v)
So, coming back to what I started off with. Even if you understood the Islamic people well, in places such as Britain, which is a place where Islamic people from different parts of the world are settled for quite some time now, it’s still difficult to pick the odd one out. Some suspect that the Islamic locals “protect” these potential terrorists until they say good bye during a suicide bombing session. In such scenarios, I’d probably be just as paranoid.
I’ll dream of world peace, as I lie down to sleep now, in the CSE lab.