Racism in Kuwait

This is a letter i typed to a close friend and i think it reflects my feelings only too well.

"So i reached this country , Kuwait. The desert that is pretending to be an oasis , i suppose. I am here after a gap of 8 long years , but i still remember a few bits. I felt a vague familiarity when we drove along some roads. On the way to Farwaniya , which is where my dad stays , i saw lots of huge palatial villas in which the kuwaitis stay and for some reason i felt a vague hostility.

I reached here at about 8 pm kuwait time , that must be 10:30 pm in india and even when i met dad at the arrivals lounge , my blood had not stopped boiling. The reason for this was two young looking kuwaitees , wearing cheap clothes and even cheaper huge jazzy sunglasses smoking a cigarette. They were travelling along with us , from sharjah. In the aircraft , they sat a few rows ahead of us , and i noticed them instantly because of their imperious manner and cheap loud voices.

After we arrived at the airport , we piled into the bus that would take us to the arrivals lounge. When we entered the bus , only the last row was empty except for the above mentioned loud-mouthed , uncivilised animals. My mom sat near to them , and me next to my mom. The two started getting fidgety and started screaming in arabic , crinkling their faces and acting as if we were worms sittting adjacent to them. My mom asked me if we should get up from our places , the suggestion that i immediately refused to abide to , for we had paid as much money as them for this flight. I fixed my eyes on them and i think all my loathing reflected in it.

An old lady , probably visiting her son in kuwait , entered , and sat near us , next to one of the guys. The guy instantly started yelling in arabic and pinching his nose and crinkling his face at her , to indicate that she was a smelly worm , not worthy to sit beside his highness. They proceeded to make a few very insulting gestures and started speaking in rapid arabic pointing and laughing. A few portly old looking arabs looked sympathitically at me , when he saw that insulted , humiliated and angry fire in my eyes.

The two made a few more loud comments in arabic and stood up from their places shifting to another location , all the while screaming at us . The old lady looked flustered and glanced warily at my mother and me. Frankly , i wished to take the next flight out of the country.

Uneducated , uncivilised , loud-mouthed bastards. Of course , they're all fair skinned and bright eyed , but no better than frogs in a well. Having seen no world outside the arabian gulf , they imagine themselves in a much exalted position , failing to see their true selves. They think themselves to be all high and mighty , insulting visitors to their own country, thus tainting the image of every kuwaitee in my eyes. They have infact , insulted their own nation and blacked its image.

I pity them and their world , and stare in shock and disbelief at their tiny little minds. I bet they do not know to speak a word in english , leave alone reading the books that teach virtues of humanity. Education apart , these boys do not even have the basic human value to respect somebody thrice their age ...isnt that something which is a matter of culture and not of education ?

Moreover , why didnt the other arabs in the bus not react , other than sympathetically looking at us in a kindly manner ? Why didnt they utter a single word and allow us to be insulted by these two wily things ?

These crude , ignorant and unbelievably foolish and culture-less boys was my first taste of this country.

I saw them smirking at me at the baggage counter , smoking , in public , under the very sign that warns people of smoking and fire hazard involved with it in an air-conditioned space like an airport.

I am very sorry that i am on the same earth as this scum , and i am sorry for the country of kuwait if this is the quality of its future citizens. I sincerely hope that they make a trip to india and witness for themselves the amount of respect and culture in our nation. Though i doubt if it will rub off on them...they are too coarse for anything as subtle as culture.

You two , fair faced , coarse arabs , i hope your car has an accident , you dont deserve to be citizens of the world. "

I suppose all my bittterness is reflected in that letter. And all you young people reading this , dont ever think of going to some arab country for work , you may get money , but i sincerely doubt the safety of your dignity and self respect.

No amount of money can substitute for that.