I tell people I have Indian roots. And if you know me, you probably know it’s true even though I look 100 per cent Chinese.
My Indian roots aren’t due to some inter-marriage or something.
My Indian roots come from growing up in a small town like Banting, where we had Indian neighbours on both sides.
My two best pals are Indian – one is a Ceylonese Christian (who hated to be called “Lain-lain” on her IC) and the other is Hindu. Many of my school friends were Indian. That is what real unity is about.
But that is what growing up in the 80s was all about.