“Looking” Muslim

A funny thing happened to me on the way home yesterday. Well, it was not really funny, but I managed to laugh at it anyway.

I was taking the train back home and it was quite late (around 11:40pm.) I was also busy texting messages to a couple of friends with my cellphone while sitting at a window. The guy sitting next to me kept looking at me each time I removed my phone or looked at it. Apparently he was keeping a good watch on me, since even when he leaned back and shut his eyes and I removed the phone, he sat up very quickly and glanced at me again.

Terribly annoying but I guess tolerable. But not what he did next…

As the train neared my station, I picked up my umbrella which was beside me and got up to leave. The guy sits up, stares at me and then stares quickly at overhead luggage rack before settling back into his seat!

I couldn’t help but to laugh out loud and shake my head, but it didn’t seem to bother him much.

All of this reminds me of an exchange I had with an Indian when I was riding a bus in Michigan. Once again it was late at night and so we were the only two people on the bus. The conversation went roughly like this:

Him: “Are you a Pakistani?” (Yes, that was his opener)
Me: “Nope. I’m Indian”
Him: (after a pause) “But you’re a Muslim, right?”
Me: (a little surprised) “Nope.”

A long pause and then,

Him: “Ok.”
Me: “Why do you ask? Is it because I have a beard?”
Him: “No! No! I just asked. It’s not because you have a beard.”

Once again I couldn’t help but to smile at that.