Since the day I landed in the United States, I have been regularly addressed three questions regarding my country, India—questions about the dot that the Indian women have on their foreheads; about the cow; and about the caste system in India. I hope this letter clarifies some of the misconceptions.

The “bindi” or the dot used by the Indian women is nothing but a traditional beauty accessory which originated when the wise men of yesteryear found that the nerve-center of humans was at the point at which the dot is placed. In those times men wore the dot too.

The cow, much in contrast to American folklore, does not wander unstopped into the living room of one Indian home, or decides to stop in for dinner at the other.

The cow is a sacred animal for the Hindus and therefore protected, but they have their limits. In fact, there are quite a few beef eaters in India, and some of them are Hindu too.

The caste system in India is mostly an economical problem now. The caste system began as a system of classification of labor back in the Aryan times.

Presently, people of lower castes are given a lot of help from the government in terms of reservations of up to 50% in the educational institutions and offices.

Discrimination occurs mostly in poor townships and villages where the people are uneducated, which is a far cry from the hypocrisy that I have encountered in the United States.

Here, educated people, going to institutions of higher learning at NIU, foster racist feelings and yet have the gall to deride me about the caste system in India.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not categorizing all Americans as racist. I do have quite a few very good American friends and have lived with a couple of them.

I am just letting out my frustrations on some incidents when I was distinctly discriminated against just because I was an Indian. This letter is just to explain to those people who genuinely want to know.

To the other guys who ridicule my country about the caste system I would like to remind them that when you point a finger at anybody, there are four pointing at you.

Chandru Shankar

Graduate student

Industrial Management