Time magazine apologises to Indian-Americans

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jul 7 (PTI) The prestigious 'Time' magazine
has apologised to Indian-Americans following the publication
of a column by journalist Joel Stein which offended and
outraged the large community, especially those in New Jersey.
"We sincerely regret that any of our readers were
upset by Joel Stein's recent humour column 'My Own Private
India.' It was in no way intended to cause offence," the Time
magazine said after large number of Indian-Americans demanded
an apology from the magazine and the columnist.
"I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many
people," responded Stein, who in his column 'My Own Private
India' gave his own impression of how his home town of Edison
in New Jersey has changed over the years with the desi influx.
Nearly one in every five resident of this New Jersey
city are Indian Americans; thus making it one of the few such
cities in the United States.
"For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses.
Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over
their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about
the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants
brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to
understand why India is so damn poor," Stein wrote in the
issue dated July 5.
"Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to
change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started
calling the new Edisonians 'dot heads'. One kid I knew in high
school drove down an Indian-dense street yelling for its
residents to 'go home to India'," Stein wrote.
"Sometime after I left, the town became a maze of
charmless Indian strip malls and housing developments.
Whenever I go back, I feel what people in Arizona talk about:
a sense of loss and anomie and disbelief that anyone can eat
food that spicy," he wrote.
The article outraged many Indian-Americans.
"...I always thought it was hilarious when I'd get the
crap kicked out of me by kids like Stein who would yell 'go
back to India, dothead!' I was always ROTFLMAO when people
would assume that I wasn't American. He really captured the
brilliant humour in that one too!" wrote Kal Penn, the popular
Indian-American actor.
Indian-Americans also launched an online petition
demanding Time and CNN to remove the article from their online
edition.
"Such prestigious magazine like Time should not have
allowed such an article to be published in the first place. We
respectfully request Time magazine to remove the article from
the web and have Mr. Joel Stein write an apology letter that
shows some remorse," the petition said.
Regretting that his article hurt the feelings of so
many Indian Americans, Stein wrote: "I was trying to explain
how, as someone who believes that immigration has enriched
American life and my hometown in particular, I was shocked
that I could feel a tiny bit uncomfortable with my changing
town when I went to visit it. If we could understand that
reaction, we'd be better equipped to debate people on the
other side of the immigration issue." PTI