Those who have seen me would know that no one could have asked me this question. There, I did it. I translated the question to looks. Why does what someone looks like make us judge people or decide where they're from?
One fine day, a random woman, a complete stranger, asked my friend, "Are you from Japan?" You would have guessed by now that my friend might have oriental facial features. If you did, you're absolutely right. She's from our northeastern state Manipur. But is that motivation enough to ask a stranger if she's from Japan? How amusing is that?
This reminds me of another such instance that one of my friends from Darjeeling had experienced. She's a kindergarten teacher. One of her little students called her "China aunty." She told me that she didn't know how to react to this innocent kid's remark.
If you thought it's all in the eyes, I'll have to disappoint you. This is the most recent. One of my Assamese friends had been asked this question, indirectly though. May be the asker didn't have the guts like our stranger who wanted to know if my friend was from Japan. This one wanted to know how does he breathe with small nostrils! Do you have an answer to that?
It may sound funny, but it's far from being funny. This is about ignorance, which will only continue to increase if we don't educate ourselves about our own country. Why judge an individual by how big or small her eyes are? Or nose, for that matter. If curiosity is killing you, how about asking, "Where are you from," instead of "Are you from Japan?"
