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Being African in India: ‘We are seen as demons’

‘I speak Hindi and always laugh. But when I offer biscuits to the neighbours’ children, they don’t accept.’

https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/909167453f74467da8bda131b0132a73_18.jpeg?resize=770%2C513

Zaharaddeen Muhammed, a master's degree student from Nigeria living in India, speaks at the Africa-India Solidarity Forum in New Delhi [Aletta Andre/Al Jazeera]


New Delhi/Greater Noida, India – After a year in India, Zaharaddeen Muhammed, 27, knows enough Hindi to understand what bander means. Monkey.

But it isn’t even the daily derogatory comments that make him doubt his decision to swap his university in Nigeria for a two-year master’s degree programme in chemistry at Noida International University. Nor is it the questions about personal hygiene, the unsolicited touching of his hair or the endless staring. It is his failure to interact with Indian people on a deeper level.

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Django
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