prasad1
Active member
After a year in India, Zaharaddeen Muhammed, 27, knows enough Hindi to understand what bander means. Monkey.
But it isn't even the daily derogatory comments that make him doubt his decision to swap his university in Nigeria for a two-year master's degree programme in chemistry at Noida International University. Nor is it the questions about personal hygiene, the unsolicited touching of his hair or the endless staring. It is his failure to interact with Indian people on a deeper level.
"People often look at me as if I am different, and hard to be trusted," the tall, softly spoken student explains. "I try to be friendly. I speak Hindi and always laugh. But when I offer biscuits to the neighbours' children, they don't accept."
After a year, one of Zaharaddeen's biggest wishes remains unfulfilled: to be invited to an Indian wedding.
"I am a big fan of Bollywood," he explains about why he wanted to come to India. "I did not come for the school because there are enough good universities back home. But I wanted to learn about this other culture and interact with the people here."
While he speaks with his Indian classmates at the university, a 75-acre campus accommodating students from more than 20 countries, and some of them also showed up for an international cultural event he helped to organise, none of these encounters lead to friendships.
"I have never been at an Indian person's home, as a friend. No one has visited me," Zaharaddeen says.http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/06/african-india-demons-160620101135164.html
