ESSAY: ‘Heart doesn’t have a color’
Contributed by: Praveen Tata, business major
Black has always been the color of gloom and bad omen. But is it really so?
Before leaving India and after reaching the USA for my Master’s studies, people kept telling me, “Beware of the BLACK PEOPLE”. Although I never paid heed to them and believed that people cannot be good or bad just because of their religion or color, everyone still kept telling me the same. People back in India don’t know how it is in the USA, but the Indians who are in the USA, do [But many just don’t want to admit].
Having just arrived in the USA, me and my roommates were planning to get a sim card, so t
hat we can call our families in India. With absolutely no public transport in Houston-Clear Lake City, we were left with no option but to walk 3 miles to the mobile store. The Houston sun dies at around 8:30 PM, so it was fairly sunny when we started at 7:30 PM. With a steady pace, it took us 45 minutes to reach the store. Two of us already had a sim card and we were planning to add 2 of our roommates to our mobile family plan.
As soon as we reached the store, we asked to be assisted by Adam, who previously helped us in getting our sim cards. But to our chagrin, Adam left for the day. So we were assigned another representative named James. He is a tall, hefty person and yes, he is BLACK.
Just a day before, a black guy mugged a student in our apartment premises, that incident was fresh on our minds. Everyone here suggests not to leave the apartments alone during the night time.
With the clock ticking, it was almost time for the store to close. James came to our table and asked for our needs. James looked in a hurry to finish the day and a bit irritated as he was simultaneously assisting another customer. We told him that we are students, just arrived from India and need new sim cards. He used his fingers ferociously on his iPad to get our details and disappeared for some time with our passports. Few minutes later, he came back and told us the situation, “Man, you people will have to pay a $500 deposit to add your friends to your mobile family plan”. This added to our agony of the long walk. Being students, we could not afford this and we had to walk home empty handed. Our minds started racing with thought of walking back 3 miles, without a sim card. Had we got the sim card, the pain would have subsided by making a call home and talking with family.
In the meanwhile, a senior from our university entered the store with his friend, a female friend. Also the sun bid goodbye and it was dark by now.
James was still hitting the iPad screen with the same intensity and making few adjustments to our account. We got chatting with him and he
asked about our whereabouts. We told him that we are from India and walked all the way. Listening to this he said, “Man, I can never walk that far” and his mood swirled towards jaunty. James told our senior, who was in the store, that we need help going back. He did not pay any heed.
As we were in the light talks and a bit of bantering now, I asked him, “Where do you stay?” He said, “I stay the opposite direction Man, South-West, near downtown.” He paused for a moment, raised his attention from the iPad and said, “Man, if you need a ride, I will drop you guys to your apartments”. We were shy at first but we hesitantly accepted the favor. He asked us to wait by his car. As we were waiting, we watched our senior drive by with his friend. He did not even look at us.
After few minutes, James arrived and dropped us to our apartment.
Although my friends are still wary about Black people, James’ act strengthened my belief even more, that humanity is the only religion on this earth. Humility is something we can choose, not color and religion. I see James in every Black person and have a soft corner for black people who are assumed to be delinquent and knave.
I texted James after few days to say thanks again. He said, “Man, your text made my day”. But in reality he made our lifetime.
We were helped by a stranger and deserted by an Indian who knew us. Do I need to say anything else?
