My name is Khan and all the controversy around it is all over the internet. Reading all that I thought I should share the fun of living in america with a muslim name.
I came to this country in 2000, my first "H1B" client was in Virginia. I was all prepared to report to the office on day 1. An artificially smiling american lady welcomed me , the conversation went like this.
"Hello, how may I help you?"
"I am good, thank you, I am reporting here for work, my first day here"
"Good. Welcome to ....., are you a full time?"
"No I am through my indian company"
"OK. Let me check the file here, whats your name"
"Nazeer Hussain"
"Jose?" ( Jose is pronounced as Husse in America)
"No ,it is Nazeer Hussain, H U S S A I N, as in Saddam Hussain" I just joked.
"Wow you have the same last names, are you related to him?"
First I thought she was joking too, but the tone was very curious. In 2000, most of the news coverage was about weapons of mass destruction Saddam was supposed to be hiding in Iraq, they didnt' figure out it was the Iraqui people who are really weapons of mass distruction. I didn't know that in America if you have the same last name that means there is a probable family connection. Since Indians usually have only one name, for the passport and US visa purpose most indians make up 3 names using their fathers name and family name (Except some of my Andhra friends, who has one of many parts of their names as Srinivas:).
"Yeah , he is my uncle"
She looked at me and then laughed. I wanted to tell her what does Hussein (note the different spelling, somehow in Kerala mostly the name is spelled Hussain) stand for in Islam, as he is the grandson of Prohet Muhammad and mainly in his name muslims are considered Sunni and Shia ( even though the relegion bars caste) and this division caused the great war between Iran and Iraq where close to 1 Million people died costed 1Trillion USD.
Luckily I didnt' elaborate. Later living in New York for more than 10 years now I figure out that her global means outside Manhattan and history starts with George Washington ( for many it starts now with George Bush, can't go farther than that :). I even worked on a Global mutual fund which was investing only in American companies :)
2009 , Cut to City of Dubai which we visited in December 2009. After seeing the Dubai airport, specially the new Emirates wing, I felt like I came from a third world country (Actually I flew from JFK , New York:).
At the immigration desk, the Arab on the other side of the counter took my sons american passport browsed through it , and stamped the visa. For american citizens no need to pre apply, they stamp the visa at the ariport, minimum checks.
Then he took our passports, verified that we have electronic visa in the system. Asked couple of questions and let us in. We had to apply earlier to get he visior visa and pay around 100USD fee.
I just thought for a moment. For a country like India which had trade links with the middle east for thousands of years we need Visa, but for those who bomb their neighbours for non existing weapons of mass destruction , no problem. Magic of Economica and Politics :).
And the last incident I wanted to share. This was when we had a trip to Las Vegas last year. It was a brillinat trip with all the fun in Vegas , and the breathtaking views of Grand Canyon and Hoover dam, we stopped in Zion national park. Great park and a wonderful drive , some hiking. We stayed at a small family run motel. It was a nice stay. While checking out , the owner , who was an american lady in her 50s, was commenting about my son's name.
"Harris is a typical american name. Did you put that because you live here in US?"
I had to explain her in detail that me and my wife belong to different relegion and we wanted a name from each relegion. Thats how my mother suggested Nitin's name. When our second one was born we wanted a Muslim name and in Kochi Haris is a muslim name. Only later I found that in Tamil Nadu, where my wife is from it is a Christian name etc..
"So you are Muslim?" I could see the expression on her face change when I said yes.
"You are not a terrorist , right?"
This was a real shocker to me. Usually American's don't express their feelings outside , unless they are in their comfortable circle. This was a very explicit racial comment on my face.
"Why do yout think so?" I tried to be find some reason, even though I knew that all media in US is full of Muslim bashing.
"See all these terrorists in Iraq blowing up themselves, killing innocent Americans..."
"But why are you there in the first place? If I ask an Iraqi, they will say America is the terrorist country and all Christians are terrorists, won't that hurt your feelings?"
"We are their to free those people , to implement Democracy , to save those people. I think we should save any more people..."
"Yeah, you really saved Iraq. It was a multi cultural nation where the deputy PM was a christian and now even Sunnis and Shia are fighting each other. Why don't you go and implement democracy Saudi Arabia? "
It was too late for me to continue, but I think from my outbursts she thought I am reallly a terrorist :)
Again my name is Nazeer Hussain,born muslim, I have a Hindu wife and 2 kids who are not old enough to select their religion yet. When they grow up and once they understand meanings of all relegions I am sure they will say every relegion has good and bad. Let us hope they only take good from all.....
