So the other day, around 8.30 pm, I was at a bus stop - the wrong one as I had been reading and missed my actual stop near my mum's house - nothing new there really.
I was nearer my own home than my mum's house, so thought I'd head there and wanted to let my mum know.but my phone battery was dead .
There was this other lady at the bus stop that night. She was looking at her phone at what looked like the map of mrt lines or something. She wasn't engrossed in any game, just looking and scrolling down her phone.
so I asked her - Hi, my phone battery is dead, may I borrow your phone for a quick phonecall to my mum to let know that I'm heading home
She looked at me up and down with a sneer on her face, and said, "sorry, no."
I laughed, flabbergasted! She then said - why don't you use the public phone - pointing some vague way off, I knew I'd have to trudge through many blocks to get to a possible pay phone they aren't ubiquitous any more - and I'd likely miss the only bus I could take from there to my home.
so I desisted - but man it bothered me for awhile.
she looked me up and down and then refused.
I was dressed in my work clothes - black pants, red and white sleeveless top, carrying three bags - guess handbag, laptop bag and hushpuppies shoe bag - I mean..
not sure what I triggered in her. She looked only at my face, not at my bags and all the rest
to give her the benefit of the doubt, possibly she had a bad experience before maybe.
that day the intuitive feel I got from her was that I was not to be trusted - and I felt it was due to my being indian or (maybe she perceived me to be among those "distasteful foreigners who are flooding singapore"
or maybe, having read Shanmugam's speech, perhaps she thought I was muslim
in any case, definitely felt it was due to some form of bias or racial/religious/nationalist prejudice against me.
and well. I was miffed of course. but think just think of how much some muslims in various parts of the world must be feeling. and then you have Richard the III saying, "I am determined to prove the villain" , and may as well be hanged for sheep as for a lamb -
good reflection for me, truly.
I was nearer my own home than my mum's house, so thought I'd head there and wanted to let my mum know.but my phone battery was dead .
There was this other lady at the bus stop that night. She was looking at her phone at what looked like the map of mrt lines or something. She wasn't engrossed in any game, just looking and scrolling down her phone.
so I asked her - Hi, my phone battery is dead, may I borrow your phone for a quick phonecall to my mum to let know that I'm heading home
She looked at me up and down with a sneer on her face, and said, "sorry, no."
I laughed, flabbergasted! She then said - why don't you use the public phone - pointing some vague way off, I knew I'd have to trudge through many blocks to get to a possible pay phone they aren't ubiquitous any more - and I'd likely miss the only bus I could take from there to my home.
so I desisted - but man it bothered me for awhile.
she looked me up and down and then refused.
I was dressed in my work clothes - black pants, red and white sleeveless top, carrying three bags - guess handbag, laptop bag and hushpuppies shoe bag - I mean..
not sure what I triggered in her. She looked only at my face, not at my bags and all the rest
to give her the benefit of the doubt, possibly she had a bad experience before maybe.
that day the intuitive feel I got from her was that I was not to be trusted - and I felt it was due to my being indian or (maybe she perceived me to be among those "distasteful foreigners who are flooding singapore"
or maybe, having read Shanmugam's speech, perhaps she thought I was muslim
in any case, definitely felt it was due to some form of bias or racial/religious/nationalist prejudice against me.
and well. I was miffed of course. but think just think of how much some muslims in various parts of the world must be feeling. and then you have Richard the III saying, "I am determined to prove the villain" , and may as well be hanged for sheep as for a lamb -
good reflection for me, truly.
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