Identity of a foreigner

By editor on Sunday, 24 February , 2008 - 12:29 am

Ahmedabad Mirror article by Pascal Chazot:
‘Firang’, ‘pardesi’, ‘dhodi chamedi’, ‘foreigner’… during my stay in India, different appellations have been used for me. Yet, my understanding of the term ‘foreigner’ has undergone a sea change. It started from the notion of my being an outsider from a different land. In a remarkably short time I was accepted and appreciated because of my being a Sanskritist and my deep interest in Indian studies and scriptures. Later, as I married an Indian and someone born in Gujarat, I became ‘one of them’.

This binary opposition of ‘us and them’ governs much of our notions of identity, nationhood and belonging. The lines can be racial, ideological, geographical, social, political or one that results from common interests.

Either way, as a French citizen, my first brush with a newly acquired identity came with my becoming a ‘person of Indian origin’ or a PIO. When I flaunted my PIO card proudly to Indian friends, they looked on amused. I received more enthusiastic reactions from my French compatriots for whom it represented the exotic distant ‘elsewhere’ no doubt with images of mystic India playing in their minds. My vegetarianism (I also don’t eat onion or garlic) also created sympathetic links with Gujarati friends. The walls of ‘us’ and ‘them’ were also broken whenever I spoke Hindi. I never get the practice I desire as most Indians start off by practicing their English on me!
However, being in India, notions of identity and ‘foreigner’ have changed as I mentioned earlier. This is because, Indians themselves can be treated as foreigners in their own land at times. That an Indian could experience an ‘elsewhere’ within India goes to India’s credit. When my wife and I traveled to the South, both of us were equally at sea as she does not speak any of the south Indian languages. We both enjoy the delicious local cuisines and get by using a mixture of English and sign languages.

As recent events in Mumbai demonstrate, the definition of being a ‘foreigner’ has been extended to other Indians. It is sad and dangerous that a sense of identity is being forged on the principles of exclusion and fear of ‘the other’. It is then this fear of the unknown ‘other’ that brings one kind of people together. Unfortunately, Europe has known the ramifications of exclusion and hatred during the holocaust. I react to such situations sharply as I come from a family that, through not Jew, fought for protecting the Jews during the persecution by the Nazis. My maternal aunt who was a young girl of 20, became the first woman lieutenant to fight in the French resistance. She saved many lives of children and women, risking her own. Today, she is above 90, has been honoured with awards and continues to be feisty.
India is the land that received so many people, it gave the idea of ‘vasudev kutumbhakam’ to the world. Here, it is difficult to truly categorise people into binary opposites as its diversity has shades of different colours that even while being distinct, go well together and make a rich fabric. One colour can be defined better by the presence of another colour. So we need the ‘other’ even if we are in the framework of a manicheaen duality!

Category: Blog

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