Hullabaloo over Kim’s comments

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Recently reality show star, Kim Kardashian offended Indians on social media with her comment that she finds “Indian food disgusting” in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

The 31-year-old siren prompted a backlash and has to furnish an apology. But this rumpus about a remark by a celeb wasn’t a first one.
Are we Indians unnecessarily touchy about all-things-Indian? Be it a joke about the Father of the Nation by a foreigner, or fun being poked at a politician’s name by an international comedian.
Interestingly Kim later clarified on her blog: “Just Want to Clear Something Up. In NO way was [my comment] intended as an insult to the Indian people or their culture. This is just my own personal taste. There are a lot of foods I don’t like... I hate cilantro [coriander] and peppers, and there are definitely some Armenian foods that I personally find disgusting, but that doesn’t reflect my opinions on other Armenian people or my culture.”
Several agree that it wasn’t a big issue and Indians are being extra-sentimental.
Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar believes Kim apologised because as an international icon, she was worried about bad publicity. “Indians are an intolerant lot”. “We don’t have the confidence to laugh at ourselves. And the reason is that we are low on self esteem,” he says.
Emcee Neesha Singh says that there is a very thin line between being offensive and expressing your opinion. “In a democratic world people are entitled to their opinions. Also, if one is proud of one’s ‘Indianness’ or has faith in something, a casual comment by someone should not corrode it. We also have a problem of unnecessary getting involved in other people’s lives and taking their views seriously. A better idea would be to take a fair look at us,” she says.
Seeking an apology about every trivial thing has become a joke, and one should have enough belief in onself to take a joke says celebrity stylist Sylvie Rogers.
“All she’s talking about is that she does not like Indian food, what’s so insulting about it. Everyone doesn’t like spicy food, and for Indian food in particular, one needs to cultivate a taste from the childhood. I think the hullabaloo over trivia is made by people who don’t have any other meaningful thing to do in life,” Sylvie adds.