Is it such a crime to be the Indian who skis and prefers pasta to pakora? And why does that make others think, ‘uh-oh coconut’? If you’re new to this cultural cliché, that’s brown on the outside but white on the inside – yep, really. See, I grew up in Essex, away from the tighter-knit Indian communities of northwest London or Leicester and so-called Brit or ‘white’ culture featured heavily in my childhood.
It was cool to hit Romford market on a Saturday morning, munch on crabsticks and shop for legwarmers. It was not cool to spend Sundays eating off partitioned plastic trays at the wedding of your dad’s second cousin’s son who’d last seen you aged three. In my mind, these were just my preferences – and it was fine to prefer the ‘British’ option to the Indian one on occasion.
Coconuts, listen up. Let’s re-define the term. There’s nothing wrong with having cultural preferences which aren’t Indian. Yes, I’d rather watch a cult arthouse flick than a Bollywood one. And I’d rather hit a music festival than a mela. It’s to do with what you like. But while I was listening to indie pop as a kid, my mum still mum played Bollywood tunes and ghazals and I like them. I can even sing a few word-for-word. Hell, I even speak fluent Gujarati. Besides, hanging out in an all-Indian posse and going out to Indian clubs does not an Indian make. Take that, coconut persecutors.
A bona fide ‘coconut’ is one with little interest in their heritage, not someone who sometimes prefers non-Indian activities. I spent three months in India a few years ago. I had a blast and felt a real connection. When I was 18, I remember going to an indie night with friends on a Friday but by Saturday, I was dancing garba and banging sticks at dandia with the local Lohana community in Romford’s Dolphin leisure centre.
Your formative years, and who you spend those with, really do shape you. ‘Coconut’ as a label is way too brown or white. What about the grey areas in between? I propose something more variable. Like coffee. A dark espresso is the Indian who can’t contemplate Sunday without a trip to the jalebee shop while the archetypal ‘coconut’ is a milky latte, some brown stuff at the bottom, but otherwise all milk. I’d place myself somewhere in between. A cappuccino perhaps, and it tastes pretty good.
Meera Dattani is a London-based freelance journalist with a chronic case of itchy feet. She has worked wirelessly and tirelessly from internet cafes and beaches across the globe, from Buenos Aires and Kampala to Melbourne and Ho Chi Minh City. Writing about travel, people, social and cultural trends is what gets her fingers tapping. She’s also a keen tennis player with a brutal backhand, a real foodie and a big fan of all things eco-friendly.
Peta Jinnath Andersen is a freelance and fiction writer. Born in Sydney, Australia, to a Fiji-Indian father and Scottish mother, she’s a bit confused about her background, but loves it all the same. Currently living in the US, she has just had her first child, and is busy studying hard in an effort to learn more about her Indian heritage – including taking Hindi lessons – so she can teach her son about just what it is that makes an NRI special.
on February 14, 2010
at 9:58 pm
Enjoyed your post!
on February 14, 2010
at 10:46 pm
Lol….love the idea of a new “coffee index”! I think my rating changes from a dark espresso to milky latte depending on my mood, company and what country I am in.
on March 13, 2010
at 11:14 am
writing about something that isn’t even an issue that warrants a full stop, you clearly do not understand the responsibilities a writer has; when architects plan out structures they take an array of issues into account, with safety being the primary concern. As someone who clearly feels they are an engineer of words, you are ill trained, perhaps you do not realise it is the 21st century and that cohesion of peoples’ thoughts, behaviour, attitudes on a global scale is not something that can be slotted into a stereotyped, cliche-ridden “I think this…, I think that…, perhaps this…” you’re pathetic!!! Highlighting areas of, what you believe is culture, only serves to divide and segregate further, perhaps that’s your mission. Maybe your next article will be about how in spite of ethnic minorities born and bred here in the UK, they still feel rooted elsewhere as they remain supportive of cricket teams from their motherland’s. Do you not realise by pointing out the obvious you are tearing apart a nation and firmly cementing in a boundary that really didn’t exist before the words in your copy attacks the eyes of readers like myself. You’re not cutting edge, you’re primitive. I’m Indian and I grew up in southall, so I know a thing or two about one or two things you do not know. Perhaps in the future you will think twice before poising your fingers over the keyboard and deciding to defecate with a piece that is so irritating and cringe inducing. Please stop embarrassing yourself.
on May 3, 2010
at 6:56 pm
As the writer of the post, I wanted to reply back to the above comment. My post was written with tongue firmly in cheek, to point out that when Indians refer to fellow Indians as coconuts merely for preferring something Western to something Eastern, this preference does not necessarily make them ‘less Indian’. Where I grew up, this term was bandied quite frequently, and more often than not, inaccurately and with the intention to make people feel they were denying their heritage based on superficial choices. I may have preferred certain so-called Western pursuits at times, but I was no less Indian for it.
on May 3, 2010
at 9:48 pm
Granted, but writing the piece that you have is inflamatory and just reinforces the very status quo that you are attempting to defend, albeit rather weakly. Like I said this is the 21st century and as British Indian-Fijian myself, I do not appreciate anyone positioning themselves so inaccurately as ambassadors for people like me; the NRL website is a good vehicle for things, but certainly elevating yourself as someone who is representative of the masses, especially here in Europe, is quite simply wrong! Whoever taught or mentored you in journalism did a very bad job as you wield your pen like a psychopath who is in possession of a weapon – you have complete disregard for race, colour and cultural diversity, had you any understanding you would not write something so plainly arcane as comparing hot drinks to skin colour. Do you really think Indians are stupid why else would you use such a dumb analogy. I find your patronising to Indians and above all your credentials that you consider amount to journalism are anything but, you don’t make the grade, anyone can write like you, but to write in a way that exudes intelligence and invokes thought, well, you certainly don’t achieve it by writing an insulting and deeply offensive piece such as this. Furthermore, some of my friends are married to white British people, your disregard for evolution and the forging of cultural and racial alliances means your thinking drastically needs to be bought up to contemporary standards. Read some books, get an education, speak to people, all the travelling you’re doing tells me you have only learnt how to comment on the use of coconuts as a metaphor for appearing one way and yet thinking another. Might I suggest when writing you search the soul first and really hone in on those parts of your brain that haven’t been contaminated or polluted with cliches, that way you wont end up offending people like me
on May 3, 2010
at 11:07 pm
I’m sorry if you found it insulting and offensive. However, the post was written as a light and humourous dig at people who freely use the term ‘coconut’ based on a very loose idea of what it means to be Indian, the point being that to be be or feel Indian is not so defineable and is certainly about much more than chosen pursuits.
To clarify, I am NOT seriously advocating we use hot drinks as an alternative term (I’ll also add that nor do I think Indians are stupid that they would adopt this analogy!) That is part of the joke. If people are going to use a food/drink item like a coconut to crudely label people, I’ve come up with one in which at least has a little variety to it – coffee. But it is a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, NOT a genuine proposal to replace one ridiculous label (coconut) for another.
I hope that goes some way to clearing up what you find offensive.
on July 9, 2010
at 12:20 pm
Wonderful post. Maybe the next one could be on acquiring a sense of humour, what say?