Palak is the six year old daughter of the Indian couple who run the Citgo where we buy gas, beer, and Powerball tickets. I know it's cliche these days for an Indian couple from India to run a convenience store but Nick and Katie (that's their Americanized names, one day maybe Nick will tell me their real names but I'm not gonna hold my breath) are a nice hardworking couple who are in this country legally and who are trying to live their version of the American dream.
Their daughter Palak is a beautiful little girl, in fact if you ever see her in person she will take your breath away she is so cute. She is a chatter box as well, the only time I have heard her be quiet was when she was eating. When she does her non stop talking she switches back and forth between Hindi and English, she'll say something to her parents, both of whom speak fluent English by the way, in Hindi and then in the next breath she'll start singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a Southern accent. One day when I was in their store she was talking very fast to her exasperated Dad in Hindi and then a policeman who was in the store asked how she was doing. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and she said, "Ahm fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnne." I nearly cracked up.
What I will never be able to wrap my brain around is this: people like Tom Tancredo and Pat Robertson hate people like Nick and Katie and Palak. They hate them even though Nick and his family never did a damn thing to them. Tancredo and Robertson hate them because they have brown skin and they were born outside of this country. They hate beautiful little Palak despite the fact that her parents work their asses off running a small business that pays taxes which go to pay for Tancredo's salary and for Robertson's Social Security and Medicare.
Personally I love Nick, Katie, and Palak. To me they embody the American dream, they wanted something different, something better so they came to America to live and work, and they contribute more to the fabric of this country than either of those old white hate mongers. We need more people like Nick and his family over here and less of the assholes like Robertson and Tancredo.
After no deliberation with anyone I'm naming Palak the official kid of this blog. Congrats Palak!
7 comments:
That is the sweetest most beautiful post. You are so right, Simian. I couldn't agree with you more. It's all about the American dream. Every American's roots are outside of this country. God forbid we celebrate that.
We are all immigrants. Your friends embody the ideals that I thought were celebrated in your country: initiative, hard work, and adaptability. But, oh right, they have brown skin! Stupid politicians.
Palak is adorable and it's about damned time somebody got an official kid on their blog.
Hey thanks for this post-great sentiment! As a Latino, (here legally but still..) I feel somewhat of a target of the racialists whose exploits are found in voluminous amounts on YouTube. Good story and cute girl!
What a cutie! and a "Funyons" fan to boot!
Total cutie, and her parents and others like them (both legal and illegal, both natives and immigrants) are the backbone of this country that's getting royally fucked by republican administrations since Reagan. I wish I understood why those white guys hate non-white people so much, but at this point, it's all I can do to keep my brown head above water.
She likes "funyons" so she must be the bestest girl and so obviously a good choice for official blog child.
What a breathtakingly beautiful young primate! And a very sweet post. We could start a movement to deport Tancredo, Robertson, et al ... but where would they go? Can they be deported straight to Hell? I'd hate to foist them on anyone else.
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