The Chindian dilemma

I'm so used to using short messages that you may see them in my blogs and articles and I am sorry about that. You may see them now and then, so do bear with me. I have been forced upon to use a blackberry so u will definitely see it more often. You will also see spelling and grammer errors of which I m very prone to due to my inept typing skills and for that........I don't care.

So wat's all of this about?

When I was in school (no so long ago) and when I started socializing, people were very confused about what i am and how they shld treat me. You see, I look Malay and speak Chinese but am actually an Indian. For those of you who are still guessing, I am part of the latest fad in genetics called Chindians where my parents are of Indian and Chinese descent.

My name is Alwyn David and if from my name you can't guess which of my parent is of which descent, then you need to put your head in an oven and set to grill. When I was in school, my race was very unique and because there was no such race then, I was classified an Indian to follow my dad. That's the Malaysian law. I think people call us Chindian now and it is all the rage. But back then, it could create some confusion and even people ignoring me. They are not rude but just not sure what to say or do.

the people i came across had a variation of treatment for me. I was treated from almost royalty to a sideshow freak. Sometimes I think there is a very fine line between the two. The good news was, most teachers loved me. I was almost always able to get away with blue murder. I think people are not sure how I will react to certain situations as different races react differently. For example, Chinese tend to like Indian jokes and Indians tend to laugh at Chinese jokes. With me, you never know! That's why my friends and acquaintances tend to be more careful around me.

It is same when I go to my neighbourhood market. There are a lot of concerns faces whenever I start walking to the pork section of the market. However, once I start on my Cantonese, you can see many people taking nice relaxed breaths. I speak very good TV Cantonese, English and Malay. Very unfortunately I dont speak any Indian dialects and I would really love to learn Hindi. So I do feel a little left out among my Indian relatives and friends. So much so that as the years go by, I only have 1 very good Indian friend that I can speak of. I speak Malay with an Malay accent which makes it harder for people to believe that I am not Malay.

For the first part of my years, I was stopped whenever I ate in a Malay restaurant during Ramadan. During the school holidays of 1988, I was working as a temp in Jalan Tungku Abdul Rahman and usually bought my lunch from this jovial Malay lady. We got on well and she use to share stories about her kids with me. During Ramadan, I went up to her and ask for my plate. She looked at me sadly and said that I should have strong faith and not give in to temptation. I told her that I am not a Muslim and she said that not only do i not have faith, I have just added lying to my sins!!!! When I finally showed her my IC, i turned into a sideshow freak as she called all the makcik around her stall to come see the Malay looking guy who is not a Malay. I was super embarassed and just stood there smiling waiting for my plate. However, I got a free lunch that day. :-)

Well, this is my first post and I dont want to make it too long. I think it already is. So I will go ahead and end here. The other articles I will write about my experience and give you my opinion on everyday life situations. Hopefully that will give you a better idea of what we Chindians are like. After all, we do have the best of both worlds.