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8/2/11

My Ethnicity ~ FAQ (Childhood & Honeymoon Photos)

"What is your ethnicity?" If I had a nickel for everytime I've been asked this question....

I thought it's about time I explain why I don't look conventionally "Indian". But first, let me share with you some of the assumptions people make:

-  "Are you from Nepal?" This is partly my fault coz I used to wear nose rings and some bling on my eyes & forehead haha.
-   Some random girl in my hometown stopped me on the road and said "Hi, are you a Rajput?"  I didn't even know what it really meant! 
-  Southeast Asian
-  Filipino. 
-  Kashmiri
-  Punjabi. Most people in my hometown assume I'm Punjabi coz of my long nose, I guess. Hey, I married a Punjabi so now I'm Punjabi hehe.

People from other Asian countries NEVER believe I'm Indian. I'm so tired of convincing them. One hairstylist in Singapore refused to believe it. He was like, "No you are not, and that's that", so I didn't tip him. That will make him believe, no? Haha... where's Russel Peters?

The truth:
  1. I'm a Khasi, from a small town in the North-East part of India. Quote Wikipedia: "The general belief is that the khasis were the first of the Mongolians to have migrated to India." So I guess I'm part Mongolian if that's true.
  2. My great grandfather (maternal) was English of Scottish origin, so you can say I'm 1/4th Scottish. Sometimes my hubby pulls my leg and calls me "Lassie" >.<

Here's a very old photo from the past (I don't know who carved it like that. It looks like something I would do lol...but it wasn't me- I hope.)


That's me with my only sibling/elder brother & late grandfather. See my brother was born blonde. He was so cute! Of course, his hair is dark now. Oh, the dog kissing me is Rocky & the other one is Browny. They were really good dogs. Rocky died when he got old, and Browny was stabbed on a New Year's day morning by some drunk (who's probably already in hell by now.)
My grandfather was the best! Everybody loved him, he had such a lively personality. I still miss him everyday. He used to talk constantly about Scotland, and how he'd love to go there someday but sadly, he didn't live long enough.

When my hubby asked me to pick any place for our honeymoon, I picked Scotland :). Of course we also stopped by in London & Newcastle for a few days. Here are some pics...

Edinburgh Castle. Please ignore my bald forehead =D. It was so windy....and cold


The countryside is so beautiful!

So, that explains my cool skin tone, light eyes and a few freckles (sigh, I just wish I could swap the freckles for the light brown hair now.) 
Apart from all that, I'm simply Indian...and proud of it! :)


P.S: I'm going to get that childhood photo redone/resized into a proper photo. Hope I'll find somebody who'll do a good job. That is the only photo I have of my childhood apart from one of me on my first birthday (I don't have it with me now). I don't know why there are no photos of me when I was younger than 8-10 years old. It's so ironic that now I have over a thousand of photos of myself, thanks to this blog :)

♥ Cynthia Z ^.^

34 comments:

  1. thanks for clearing it up! :P
    yu look adorable in all th pics...

    nd btw, I knw I haven't really dropped a note in ur vanity... bu I check it out everyday!! :)
    keep up th good work!!

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  2. hi cynthia ,i am a silent reader of ur blog.today you brought back memories of my childhood too. am from shillong too but havent gone back since 2006.i miss shillong and especially the shoes... its only there i can effortlessly get 3/36 sizes. in delhi i have to wear out a pair visiting shops before i can get a half decent pair. keep up the good work girl.so proud of you

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  3. oh wow! one heck of a complexed ethnicity you have Cynthia! I always thought you were Nepali for some reason lol.

    I had a friend called Michelle whilst I was in India and she looked quite a bit like you and everyone would call her Chinese and never speak in Hindi in front of her assuming she did not understand hehe.

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  4. Oh I meant 'always' speak in Hindi taking the mickey!

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  5. Such cuteeeee pic of your childhood!! <3 <3 <3 <3 Loved reading this post Cynthia!! :) :)

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  6. Well I believe you when you say you're Indian, I guessed as well you were from the Northern part of India since my mom always said the northern indians are fairer. And you had the beautiful features of one; Nose, eyes

    :D

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  7. It was lovely to see your childhood pic! Now I know why you don't have the conventional Indian looks! xoxo

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  8. Hahaha!! even i thought u were from Singapore!!! :P :P :P

    But boy you have a complex ethinicity..I would love to be a mix of such great ethinicities!!

    Love the pics!! Someday i wish to go to europe (*ahem*on a honeymoon*ahem*) too!!!

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  9. Wow !
    You look so cute <3
    Would love to see your childhood photos :)

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  10. That is so interesting CZ! You have inherited the best of both worlds :D... gorgeous pics & you look very nice :D

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  11. Hi Cynthia

    I always thought that you have some European blodd. I guess it right. ha ha.. You are so beautiful!

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  12. u luk gorgeous Cynthia :D ANd I loved readin tis interesting piece :)

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  13. Scottish Mongolian Indian? Whoa!Now that's exotic!In a great way! And I loved your childhood pic, so darn cute! but felt terrible after reading what happened to Browny..seriously that drunk must be rotting in hell! *smile on my face* after reading this sweet lil post :)

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  14. wowww nostalgia :) loved the pics :)

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  15. I knew it.i have too many khasi with scottish/welsh/irish root friends.Was always so envious of them in school! lol..

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  16. Someone STABBED ur dog. WTF!! what a bastard!
    I love these tags you do! do the husband tag!

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  17. Sorry to hear of what happened in Singapore...that's so shameful! He should know better! We advertise and speak of the diversity of our people and yet he "refuses" to believe. That's sad. Unfortunately my dear, tipping is not a common thing here so he may not have noticed!

    I never thought you were anything but Indian! Oh well, us asians have lots of other things in us, you are very beautiful!

    I have cousins that are half scottish/half chinese but to me...they can easily pass off as 100% white Scottish! Only when you see their mum with them, the asian similarities are very obvious!

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  18. Were you brought up in Meghalaya? I was born in shillong :)....This was such a sweet post and felt so bad reading about your dogs :(

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  19. It is so heartwarming to get to know you better.

    <3

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  20. I believe you! No one believes me when I say I'm Filipino either so I know how you feel.

    Thanks for this post dear. It's always good to know more about the bloggers that I follow. ^__^

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  21. xD People don't believe me when I say i'm NOT Filipino. Ethnicity is one of those curious things. It's hard to pin down exactly.

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  22. Ankita- Thanks for dropping a note :)

    banani- Oh hi, that's nice to know! I know, smal sizes are so hard to find here. Thank u :)

    GG- haha....

    Cali- thank u

    hevn- hehe...thanks. Actually you'll find fair-skinned Indians in every part of India as well

    fathima- really? lol. Hope u'll get to go to Europe on yr honeymoon gir :)

    Palak- I don't have much :)

    ♥xx♥

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  23. Tanveer- aww...thanks

    lavender- haha...u guess right

    kbb- Thank u. Ya, I get so mad when I think about that...grrr.

    kindy- lol...

    cnf- Exactly! Will do it sometime

    blackmentos- Oh, I didn't know that hehe. Nah, I was more funny than offensive.

    Laksh- YES! It's so good to hear u are from Shillong too! :))

    adaa- glad u liked <3

    ss- that's good :)

    eden- yes it can get pretty confusing sometimes

    ♥xx♥

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  24. Yay! My family live in Newcastle but I study in Aberdeen, Scotland :D Originally from Kerala though. What an interesting post!

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  25. dat was soo nicee..n such a cuteee pic..rocky n browny r super cute too..:))

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  26. If it makes you feel any better - even I got asked for Filipino once (by a Filipino) I was like HUH, random much? lol

    You are so lucky to have such a diverse DNA (your kid will be luckier). And yes to me, you are simply Indian. Isn't it cool we have so many different ethnicities in India?
    And LOL @ Are you RAJPUT????? HAHAHA that makes me laugh so hard.

    HOW CUTE WERE YOU AS A KID. I just want to pull your cheeks. lol

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  27. Girl....u look so cutie in that childhood pic..chubby cheeks n all :-)) Of course, the grown up pics are cute too...just loved the way you cleared up the ethnicity doubt..heheh was fun reading it

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  28. hi cynthia, blog is nice.. Please share your wedding Pics.. and expalin the makeup u had.

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  29. Hey Cynthia!!
    Loved to see your bachpan ki photos..and yes even I did not believe at first that you are Indian :P

    And I have one more request...I would love to know how you and your hubby met and who proposed ;) :P and oh yes..your wedding pics =)

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  30. well, India is the melting pot... isn't it... and you ended up with such fantastic features :)

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  31. Hey Cynthia! :)

    I wanted to tell you that I like your blog. I am myself an Indian girl (from South India, Tamil Nadu :D), born living and raised in France. I am happy to see there indian beauty blogs like yours!

    I too tought did the mistake to think your are from Nepal :s . And yeah I believe when you say you are indian. You look so pretty <3

    And your pics are so cute!

    A bientôt ^^

    Sophie

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I ♥ finding little notes in my Vanity Case, so do drop one. I read all of them & I try my best to reply to each & every one of them [check back in 2-3 days =D] but most times it's physically impossible! Either way, I love to hear from you & really appreciate you taking the time out to share your thoughts <3

Thank you for reading! :)

♥xx♥