How did masculinity and colonial nostalgia play into the British practice of "going for an Indian"?
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Masculinity and ‘lad culture’ in Britain, especially amongst adolescents and young men, is a toxic and ignorant mindset which manifests itself in pompous and privileged behaviours. This is highlighted by Buettner as “masculinity was displayed through competing with mates to choke down a vindaloo or “take the piss out of the waiter””. This so-called harmless banter conducted by many men in Britain (even today) is an example of the imperialistic mindest that is so deeply entrenched in British society alongside a double standard for men and women.
These boys “took the piss” because they saw nothing wrong with it. The lack of regard for servers, especially people of colour, comes from the fact that the customers always assume they are better than those serving them. For example “young people used to think, I suppose, they were a bit important, going to a place where the waiters were very servile.” This “servile” nature is interlinked with respect, politeness and hospitality which is very prominent in Indian culture. In British culture it simply is not in the same way. There is no conception of the fact that their ancestors are the reason these waiters are here and serving them to make a living or seek more fiscally beneficial occupations. There is no colonial guilt or sense of responsibility. The masculinity and ‘lad culture’ is posed as just some fun when it actually “might well involve displays of racism’. Additionally, if women were to act in the same way it would be seen as selfish, unladylike and probably less tolerated in a restaurant because it is always easier to tell off a woman than it is a man. This allows boys and young men to act in a disrespectful way again and again because they do not feel any internal guilt nor are they reprimanded for the way the behave. As the phrase goes “boys will be boys” which excuses any racist undertones or maltreatment especially when it is after a drunk night and “going for an Indian” is convenient to them. They would “behave disrespectfully, if not violently (most characteristically by racially abusing the staff), and possibly try to leave without paying.” Which would not be uncommon behaviour even now given the recent anti-immigration movements and racially motived riots across the UK less than 6 months ago.
As for colonial nostalgia “interviewing another British Asian culinary “moderniser”—“dressed in Paul Smith” designer clothing— in 2001, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown quoted him as wanting “to take this business away from Pakis and Banglis who are just junglee peasants with rough habits. We want to appeal to the people who spend money going to the palaces of Rajasthan, bon vivant people. This is about rebranding the food, making it 21st century” sums up the notion that those from places that were colonised are backwards, dirty and need modernising or civilising. This mindset which clearly seeped into second or third generation immigrants who have been fed capitalist, western and imperialistic propaganda whilst growing up in Britain adds to colonial nostalgia. This mindset that came in the years after the “Raj-style décor, reflecting the current of colonial nostalgia apparent elsewhere in British culture” in the 1980s shows that colonial thinking is still present in the UK as the nature of the restaurants when “going for an Indian” are still adhered to the white man’s taste even if it is decedents for those colonised doing it.