Colleen Clemens writes about her experience in grading an Advanced Placement English exam that had students answer questions after reading a passage from Anita Desai’s “Fasting, Feasting”. She is amazed at how distorted the students’ perceptions are about India and Indians.
In fact, Indians live in deserts and are afraid of “woodsy” areas. Inside Arun wouldn’t have to see birds—a scary sight since there are no birds in India. Since India is a primarily urban country, Arun would not know how to be in nature, especially when people in India don’t go on picnics. How could they go on picnics? The women would have to walk behind the men and they would trip over their veils!
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