A bit clumsy and a bit crazy (actually, not sure about 'a bit' part), I'm your average Environmental Engineer working in US, looking for better opportunities while enjoying the east Asian culture.
Yes, I very am. What? Can’t I like people from that part of the world? People from India do have boyfriends and girlfriends from Western parts of the world.
Anyways, this is one question I face almost everyday. Being a typical Indian girl from middle class family, I am not allowed to have a boyfriend. (I don’t have a problem with that. Is a boyfriend absolute necessity to live this life?) So, when my friends ask me if they should set me up with someone (they even find guys who are anime freak like me, such good friends they are TT_TT ) or if they see me with some guy and start teasing me, I am not left with a choice. The easiest way to tackle the problem is to say “I am not interested in Indian guys. “ Period.
Then they ask what I like about the ones “I’m interested in” and their eyes are so small and blah blah blah. Why? When you can go crazy over actors and singers from American series, why can’t I go wild about people from East? Is it a crime to be a little different in your choice? And what’s with small eyes. Does that even matter?
At first, it just started as a joke but after being asked from a lot of people why I don’t settle in East Asia only, I have seriously started considering the possibility. So let’s just say, “middle class” and “Indian girl” labels – Go To Hell!
That being said, here is another song from Super Junior :
This is the story about how my love (or obsession?) for East Asia bloomed.
This all started when, one day, one of my classmates back in my school (I think it was 6th class) suddenly said that I looked Chinese. I mean, come on. Having small slanted eyes doesn’t mean you’re Chinese (no offence to anyone). But let it be!
Around the same time, a variety of anime started on Cartoon Network. Cardcaptor Sakura was one of the first anime I watched. After that came Pokemon, Beyblade, Captain Tsubasa, Ranma 1/2, UFO Baby etc. etc. and then started Naruto and One Piece. (Me and my sister used to get up at 6 on Sunday mornings to watch One Piece at 7 am!) Their old houses, falling sakura leaves and martial arts used to intrigue me as a child. I was so amused by their culture that I made it my aim to go to Japan once I grow up.
Later, I found a Japanese language learning book in my school’s library (It was due to envy towards my best friend who got French learning book from her brother as a gift but that is another story) and it was the final blow. I couldn’t get it photocopied because it was quite thick and I was afraid of my parents (Of course, it was my 10th class and if you are a good student, your parents would like you to concentrate on studies rather than “wasting” your time on such things). I used to copy the book in a diary myself during the time my mother used to go for her walk ( hehehehe ^w^). They still don’t know I have such a copied book!
Then my college. Now BITS Pilani is a place where, once you get your laptop (I got mine in 2nd sem as most of the people did here), you get access to vast variety of media. A lot of downloaders (I thank such people from the “bottom of my heart”) download movies, series and ANIME (and much more as you can expect and guess!). The old series which I could not complete because they stopped airing and some series I wanted to revisit, were all there. Now, my most enjoyable time started. (I did screw my grades due to that)
And then I was introduced to manga. After that, I started devoting around 16 hours(!!! <My poor Roomie>) to these things (f*** studies) and my curiosity and love for Japanese language and culture (and people especially handsome guys appearing in J-Dramas) kept increasing. I started listening to Japanese songs (OSTs) and learning the language. It was fun.
Now since there is manga, manhwa and manhua (Korean and Chinese versions of manga respectively) can’t be left and it takes some time for a beginner to figure out which is which. So before I read manga, I read manhwa. Then came webtoons, K-dramas and ultimately K-pop! Chinese was almost the same too.
Its amazing how these things keep introducing you to other related things and you keep getting absorbed. Now I am all into K-pop and considering how their songs are copied in India, it increases my interest more (I am totally against it. These people just ruin the songs!). I think I should add frustration in the name of the blog……
I have written a lot more than I had planned to but it can’t be helped. Once I start on this topic, I can’t stop (I am the same with my friends here and they are now irritated >:-) ) In due course, I’ll keep posting J and K-pop songs and may be some of my fandrawings. Now that I have introduced you to my story, I can start for real from my next post. (I still haven’t figured out what specific things I would write – maybe reviews and more stories?)
Thank you, Gomawo, Arigatou, Xie Xie for reading this and here is a song from one of my favorite boy group, Super Junior (I found it yesterday and I am totally hooked to the song) :
The Joys and Worries of an East Asia Lover 