Time apologises to Indian-Americans

Washington, Jul 7: Time Magazine has rendered an apology to the Indian-American community, which was insulted by a column authored by the popular magazine's journalist Joel Stein titled 'My Own Private India'.

"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 magazine said.

In his column, Stein had penned his thoughts on how his home town, New Jersey, had changed due to the influx of Indians.

This sparked off outrage in the desi community and strong cries were heard especially from New Jersey.

"I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many people," Stein is quoted as saying on the row.

The following is an excerpt from the controversial column dated Jul 5:

"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.

"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.

"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."

OneIndia News