The Iraqi experience

You know the riding a cab can be boring. It can be exciting if you talk to the drivers as you learn about new ideas around language, culture, religion, philosophy and life in general.

May 16th - The Iraqi experience

The night was chilly, the cabbie looked like he could from some country in the Middle East and didn't look to be in the mood to talk. I started the conversation like the usual Canadian way. :)

Me - "Man, its chilly tonight considering it was so hot yesterday."
Cabbie - "Ya"

Me - "I miss the heat sometimes you know. The heat makes me feel alive sometimes like the sun hitting my face. "
Cabbie - "Ya man. I love the heat too. That is why I am wearing a jacket. This is too cold."

At this point, I knew he would like to talk.

Me - "You know back in India, it is pretty hot. It is really nice when it is not too hot. The breeze, the rain and the heat are simply amazing. "
Cabbie - "ya ya. I don't know about about India. Back home, it is very very hot. So hot that you can't step out. You can cook eggs in the sun."

Me - "Wooah, that's crazy."
Cabbie - "I've seen women put their pan out and cook. They would put the eggs in these ceramic pots and it  would cook in 5 minutes."

Me - "That's insane. Super hot! Where are you from?"
Cabbie - "Me man, I am from Iraq."

Me - "Cool. I want to travel to the Middle East and experience the culture."
Cabbie - "Culture was born there, my friend. All you see here is a derivative of one way or the other from there. The traditions and culture over there hasn't changed for thousands of years. Even buildings, you see stadiums 4000 years old and still being used. But don't go to UAE and countries like that. There they have lost the culture.

If you want real experience, then you need go to the interior of Middle East like Iraq, Egypt, Syria - the cultural hubs. Now that Syria has a civil war like in Iraq, don't go there. Iraq was good before the war. So was Syria. Your best bet is Jordan. It is the safest country in the Middle East. No problem."

We almost missed my street and I corrected him.

Me - "Thanks for the tips man. It was good talking to you."
Cabbie - "No problem. You don't look like the other Indians here. You look like the Indians I've seen back home.  You are dark. "

Me - "Yeah, the Indians here are usually from the north. Lighter skinned."
Cabbie -"What is the colour of the original Indians?"

I thought about it:
1. Does he know that the notion of Indian identity is relatively new? For most of the Indian history, I don't believe that there was a single definition of an Indian.
2. 'Original' - does he want to know about the first inhabitants of India? Or in a cultural sense?

Me - "My colour."

I said that citing the controversial Aryan Invasion theory but there is an interesting documentary about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWVJS4jOjdI .

Gave him $15 and got out.

After the conversation, I realized a few things. First of all, most Indians who work in the Arab countries are from the South India, dark, and do menial jobs. I've heard that these Indians don't get treated well and are  often the among the lowest of social order; Royals, Caucasian, Arabs, Muslims from countries other than India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Muslims from these countries, Non-Muslims from these countries and the Africans.

So it must have been a new experience for this cab driver to see a relatively successful Indian of my colour.  Second of all, his nostalgic stories about 'back home' had an underlying reason. I could sense that he was not being treated like an equal in this soceity. He was pointing out that his culture was older and took a pride in it. The Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islan, Judiasm) originate from the Middle-east and the majority of the people around the world follow derivatives of these religions. Since religions had the most impact on culture, he had a point. But it does not mean that a culture is older and influential on another is the better one. It would be benefit for the Western society to appreciate that its culture was indeed influenced by the Middle East. I wonder how many westerners know this. Similarly, the people of non-Western society need to understand and agree on the core values of the Canadian culture. We should have cross-cultural educational programs to promote mutual respect would allow the citizens to live peacefully in a conflict-ridden world.