The amazing stories of Chinese Indians |Sylvia Ku | TEDxNUS

Sylvia Ku is Chinese, and she is also Indian. She grew up in Kolkata in India's only Chinatown. She talks about her childhood in Chinatown, and how she eventually moved out and explored India. She became Chinese, Indian, and a world citizen in heart. This is her story.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Last year, my family and I
decided to go to the Taj Mahal.

The journey was great,

and it's always fun
to go somewhere with your family.

And especially when family
don't get together that often -

we live in different parts of the world.

We passed through a lot of forts
and old buildings, and it was great.

We stopped by some of them,

and we took in the atmosphere,

enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.

It was like a gradual build-up.

And finally when we reached the Taj Mahal,
we were very excited to go in.

So we quickly queued up,

and when we reached the counter,

the guy quoted a price
which didn't seem right to me.

When questioned,
he just pointed at the rate card.

And then, I said to him,

(Hindi) "Brother, I am an Indian.

Why are you overcharging me,
thinking I am a foreigner?"

(Laughter)

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
my name is Sylvia, and I am Indian.

I'm here to tell you a couple
of stories about my childhood,

and how it was for me growing up in India.

These are my stories.

These are stories of, maybe,
another 12,000 people like me -

Chinese Indian, growing up in India.

Chinatown, where I grew up, is in India,

is not like any other
Chinatown that you will find

because that, yes, it has its own share
of restaurants and little Chinese shops,

but predominantly,
it is [an] industrial town.

Lots of tanneries everywhere,
and if you've been to a tannery,

you would know that the smell
of salt-preserved rawhide

is not the greatest,

but that stench is home to me.

Tangra, that's the name of my Chinatown.

It not only processes rawhide,

but also manufactures leather
for shoes, belts, jackets, aprons.

So

someday, if you see me in some shoe shop,

carrying a shoe, holding it close to me,
caressing it, and smelling it,

it simply means that I'm home safe
and nothing else.

(Laughter)

Okay, growing up in India,
the Chinatown had a school inside.

That's where I studied.

So most of the students
in the school were Chinese.

So most of my friends were Chinese.

Well, actually I only had
Chinese as friends

until I passed out -
finished my junior college.

Then came university, and I had
to travel out of my Chinatown,

out of my protective bubble.

And that's where I made a lot
of friends, non-Chinese friends.

And, there was this girl
who became a very good friend of mine,

my best buddy,
my first non-Chinese friend.

So she invited me to her house.

She sent a car to pick me up.

When I reached her house,

which was like on the other
side of Calcutta,

she took me to the living room,
sat me down, gave me a glass of juice,

and ran away.

I found it really strange that - okay I'm
here alone, what am I supposed to do?

Then I could hear some commotion outside,

and I heard her
speaking in Bengali saying,

"Hey aunts, hurry up! There is
a Chinese girl in the living room.

You have to see her."

(Laughter)

And very soon, there
were these three aunts,

big, formidable, came into the room.

I was a bit scared,

but they came, sat next to me,
started to caress me arms,

and then they said to each other,
"Oh, she's like a porcelain doll."

(Laughter)

I don't know exactly how I felt back then.

It was kind of interesting
because I enjoyed the attention,

so I was really happy.

But at the same time,
I felt a little bit disappointed

because I realized

that I was just a trophy friend for her.

So, but it's not that bad.

I have my share of perks
being Chinese in India:

People mistake me
for foreigner all the time,

so I can stand in a shorter queue
at post office, train station,

and sometimes even
at the immigration checkpoint.

They just hurry me past
because I'm a foreigner.

But it's not that bad.

I am Chinese, I'm Indian, I'm a person,

so I can't really be reduced to a label:

Chinese, Indian, Chindian, Rojak.

I'm Sylvia.

And hey! Between my Hindi
and my Mandarin,

I can speak to half
the population of this world.

(Laughter)

Thank you so much.

(Applause)