Send them my way!!!

Pakistan/Afghanistan have some of the most beautiful women on Earth…their societies are just too conservative for most of them to enter Miss World, etc. You’re right that women from your area can be very gorgeous too.

Anyway, whenever I’ve been mistaken for Pakistani by other Indians or by Pakistanis (not a frequent occurance but it happens now and then) I’ve never minded…because in general I think they’re good-looking people.

@bytewords: “it is very unlikely someone mistakes for pakistani, so when it happens, it is more amusing than annoying.”

My wife (South Indian) has other Indians assume she’s Pakistani all the time and she is deeply offended by it.

@amitabh: no no, my statement had nothing to do with looks. for one, i personally think girls from my region (konkan/so karnataka) are the beshtest in looks. statistically speaking, it is true—more miss world/universes than pakistan! so there.

the point is, i want to know if people are offended to be mistaken for pakistani. i am not, but ag’s wife is. for most people who don’t care, i don’t think the issue is that we somehow think pakistanis are better looking. in fact, i am not really sure how pakistanis are supposed to look either.

Depending on whether you think Pakistanis are better looking (on average) than Indians, it can be considered a compliment. I guess your wife doesn’t feel that way.

I feel like there is a lot of pressure within the Second-gen south asian community to give up our traditional, regional cultures and embrace the pan-North Indian mish mash that the West considers to be “Indian culture”. I personally feel like this would be a huge loss for all of us who come from families that took the time and effort to pass on their local cultures.

You’re right. But for those ABDs who know little to nothing of their original regional culture (i.e from those families that did NOT take the time and effort to pass that on), and happen to stumble upon the generic pan-North Indian mish mash during their college years or whatever, I think it’s better than nothing. But I could be wrong, especially if it leads them to feel badly about their own original regional culture or somehow consider it uncool or something.

@bytewords: “it is very unlikely someone mistakes for pakistani, so when it happens, it is more amusing than annoying.”

My wife (South Indian) has other Indians assume she’s Pakistani all the time and she is deeply offended by it.

In preschool I moved to New Orleans and discovered a new question: “What are you?” To which the only acceptable answers were Catholic, Protestant, or (sometimes) Jewish. I got asked this every day and usually ran off pouting, unable to answer.

A few years later, we moved to New Jersey, and discovered another new question: “Where are you from?” Now you would assume (I did) the answer to this when asked of the new kid was “New Orleans.” But instead I got, “Are you Italian, Polish, or Jewish?”

Ethnically I’m an almost-stereotypical WASP mush, who grew up in a non-religious (not just non-practicing) family.

My point is that, while many times WAYF does mean, “Well I can see your not American, so where are you from?” at other times – even from “white” people, it just means “Everyone’s from somewhere – where are you from?” You’re perfectly right to be upset at the first, but you should be open to – or at least tolerant of – the second.