Pig feet and women

Last night I went to an Irish pub with my suite-mate from India and some of his friends. Talk about a mix! One American, one Frenchman, one Chinaman, two Indians, and ten Guinness. (Thanks, I'll have your order at window #1!)

It was a night of cultural clashes, beginning with the discovery of two very obvious pig feet in our kitchen sink. I'm talking toes, skin, bones, the works. My Chinese suit-mate, Run, was getting the feet ready to wok (har har). Run offered me a taste, which I was eager to accept, but I was on my way out. (I really was eager. Pig feet wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever eaten, by a long way).

Cultures from three different continents were represented our table, which was covered in beer glasses, so the conversation got very interesting very fast. Topic #1: Women. We were all guys so what did you expect? Things got a little volatile when the Indians in our group asserted that all women were by nature inferior to men, and then tried to prove it. Their broad statements about a woman's intelligence and emotional stability were so offensive that, at first, I was convinced they were joking. Most of these arguments weren't even scientific. It was strange to see such a prejudice in such intelligent people. These guys develop nano-scale technologies for a living, and then turn around and claim that a new-born boy is inherintly more intelligent than a new-born girl!

It's not the first time I've heard these arguments from people from the sub-continent. I've even heard similar stuff from an Indian woman! It's a little hard to know how to act in these situations. I usually point out people like Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace, Margaret Thatcher, etc.

After women in general came the subject of girlfriends. Of all the people at the table, only I had a girlfriend, sparking an "ah, that's so American" kind of attitude from our beer-table Indian demographic. Our resident Frenchman was also experienced in romance, but rather than discuss it with us, he actually demonstrated by visiting a girl at a nearby table. Ah! The French. (FYI, it was an unsuccessful assay.)

It was an entirely enjoyable night, but I'm always impressed by how different people's opinions can be on fundamental issues. It makes you wonder how your opinions may be "flawed", and who has the "right" opinion in any case.

In my opinion, I'll have another beer.