Writing POC 101

Sri Lankan Characters - @iridesscent

As a Tamil Sri Lankan, there are many misconceptions of us. Trust me, MANY.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times people have assumed I am Indian. Now, I love Indian food. I love Indian movies. I have Indian friends. I have nothing against India. I know a lot about India but assuming any brown person is Indian is downright ignorant. It annoys me so much.

There are so many brown people out there from different countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Guyana, Fiji, etc.

I know the Sinhalese are the majority. I know about the war. I know about the genocide and frankly, I couldn't have possibly known what those people went through. I've seen it on documentaries and it is scary. It is unfair and hopefully the UN is doing something about it.

Sri Lanka is actually multicultural. I mean, sure the majority are Sinhalese but I have met many types of Sri Lankans.

First, I'll introduce myself. I'm a Tamil Sri Lankan girl born in Australia. Now I was first taught Tamil and then English cos my mum freaked out about school.

English is actually my best subject. I have gotten A's, however, I have been speaking less and less Tamil. My speech is very colloquial. I struggle and when I talk to my relatives I get embarrassed because I'm so dumb.

I used to go to Tamil School on Saturdays to learn my language further (you would obviously need to know Tamil to attend. it would be very hard if you didn't. it's like going to school and not knowing English) anyways like me and unlike me the girls and boys there were either born here in Australia or migrated and let me tell you, most of these girls go to smart ass schools and still achieve like above 90 in their Tamil tests.

Me? I got like 50-60.

And that was them being nice.

Sinhalese is obviously the main language but it would be handy to know Tamil, you know. All my dad's Sinhalese friends know Tamil and my dad knows Sinhalese, so. Most of my family does actually.

I realise that I need a proper structure:

Types of Sri Lankans:

The two main groups of Sri Lanka are evidently the Sinhalese and Tamil however, there are Anglo-Sri Lankans, the resulting offspring of various white people who decided to either stay in Sri Lanka or have kids with Sri Lankan people whilst trying to colonise us since the 1500s :)))

i.e. this one Anglo-Sri Lankan chick is part Portuguese (who came in the 1500s and introduced tomatoes. because of the Portuguese...MY MUM SOMETIMES PUTS TOMATO IN CHICKEN CURRY YAAY (you're not supposed to eat it though lol. it's just for flavour)) and part French.

But overall she's got her Sri Lankan blood so she looks like the rest of us also most Anglo Sri Lankans are British though (thx for tea bcs of you guys my family drink tea like 3 times a day and it's become part of our culture yaay).

I have never been ashamed of my ethnicity and have only encountered minor racial problems. I called my mother, 'Amma' which means mum (also in Korean lol I know) in front of my friends and my friend said to me, 'Why do you call her that???' I gave her a weird look. i said to her, 'cos it means mum duh.'

As a child my mum would pack me barota (rarely actually. she mostly packed sandwiches and pasta). jks. But I have occasionally brought kothu roti or biriyani to school (i haven't in 2 yrs wtf amma).

About Sri Lankan girls:

Ok imma be honest. Sri Lankan girls are always like 95% of the time smart asses and always get into big schools, universities, etc. Sri Lankan girls are almost always extroverts, it actually gets annoying.

Then there are the Sri Lankan girls (especially those who live abroad) and are very badass, they flash skin. My parents brought me up very traditionally so I dress very conservatively except for occasional mid thigh shorts and maybe singlets. But I do get surprised when I see Sri Lankan girls walking around, baring their belly button and wearing bikinis and shit because I almost never see it.

Sri Lankan girls living in Sri Lanka are almost always goody two shoes until they get older and start yelling at their parents all the time. i.e my mother. I'm being serious when she yells at my grandma she yells so fiercely it's like wtf bitch take a seat.

My parents had an arranged marriage yet but marrying for love is common and it is accepted. You're probably like ok if marrying for love is accepted then why would someone want an arranged marriage? I feel like Sri Lankan girls are brought up to be shy well the boys as well actually and most of them simply aren't bothered I guess.

They would much rather get married to someone random with lots of money than chasing a hot dude who's probably got a big problem.

Also I'm being serious if everyone in Sri Lanka married for love, there would be a lot of divorces.

For example, so far only four of my uncles married for love.

Only the males I know. Guess I'll be the first female. But like one of my uncles divorced and married this white chick from Brazil. They converse in Portuguese, the only two are fine I think and my last uncle urgggggh. When they get into fights I'm like why did you two decide to get married?? This ain't even an arranged marriage but it's starting to look like one.

SRI LANKAN BOYS usually think they're swag, are actually smart sometimes *gags* and are actually really lame.

Sri Lankan boys are more likely to date out of their race. I'm being legit. I don't know any Sri Lankan girls who are dating someone who isn't. However I know so many Sri Lankan boys dating girls from other cultures (mostly Asians, the occasional white chick. never seen them date black people).