NEW DELHI: "I don't understand Hindi but I do understand when I'm being taunted. Many people murmur 'kala' when I'm walking down the street," said Okoronkwo Hyginus Uchenna, a law student at Delhi University and a Nigerian.

He was drawn to Delhi after he saw photographs showing a diverse student body here. He has no complaints from his classmates and professors, but the rest of Delhi makes him wish he had stayed home.

Bangalore has seen it — a techie from an African country living in India for a decade faced a racist attack a week ago — and Delhi's treatment of foreigners, especially Africans, is not very different.

Most people willing to talk about it believe that all is not well in the Delhi Metro. "Everyone stares. Some laugh very loudly," said Daniel, another DU student.

Uchenna deals with it by putting on shades, headphones and "shutting everything out." He says, "People behave as if we are dangerous". And if the staring wasn't bad enough, many curious locals pull out cameras and camcorders to photograph. Uchenna and a Namibian friend had to deal with nosy Delhiites-he describes them as "local champions"-snapping pictures of them without permission at a metro station on their way back from a late-night movie show.

Pursuing a PhD in Delhi, another student who doesn't wish to be named, says that most of his movement is "between school and home," unless a friend or professor takes him around. He is happy in his Mukherjee Nagar house especially because he had a hard time finding any other. "I was staying in a hotel for four months but then had to find a flat. When flat-owners saw my documents and figured I was a Nigerian, they refused."

The problem of finding accommodation is faced by many. "I had gone to search for a house with a Nepalese friend in Lajpat Nagar," says a Rwandan, in Delhi since a year-and-a-half, "The owners were okay with my Nepalese friend but to me they said- no black person in the house." But he adds that he is "open and quick in making friends" and that has helped him survive.

Many are refused entry at parties and houses and confrontations have never helped. "I have confronted people who have taunted or laughed at me. But they say that you are in their country," said Daniel.

"I've stopped accepting any invitations as you never know what might happen. Also I am planning to buy a photocopy machine," says Uchenna, "At most photocopy shops, the workers refuse to copy documents for me. They'll say they are busy even if they are not doing anything," he added.

SOURCE: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-21/india/40707933_1_delhi-metro-delhi-university-metro-station

too bad

victimized at home and abroad! I wonder the misconceptions that goes with being Nigerian.
May God help us