SIT DOWN, YOU'RE BROWN
June, 2019
This piece was runner-up in the 2019 SA Writers College Short Story Competition.
The story explores serious themes in a light-hearted manner, such as the various stereotypes different cultural groups have to endure on an ongoing basis.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
WHY
There is always something that irks us; that gets under our skin. As a society we have been trained to hold our tongue or turn the other way when we gaze upon stupid.
In spite of his sheer cynicism and general despondency, our narrator raises a lot of valid points- things we are all thinking but are often too scared to tackle.
WHAT
Our narrator has thoughts as a lonely, disillusioned Indian man in South Africa, who is discontented with his life and more especially with South African society as a whole.
We are given a glimpse of how we views life, when his company celebrates Heritage Day in South Africa- yet another public holiday observed within the nation.
WHERE
This story was originally published on the SA Writers' Colleague website.
It's now available within an anthology which can be downloaded here.
"Could our company be any more nauseating? Oh yes, here we go. Fredrick is up first. He’s the fat guy from HR. Who shits sunbeams when he gets to talk about his German heritage. To me, he’ll always be another guy from Boksburg. There’s no bond uber-strong enough to make me see him any differently. He normally sports that baggy jeans and 90s takkies combo (yes, you know which one) but today he’s come to us in his knee-high socks, short leather trousers with braces and an alpine hat. The fucker didn’t even bring any beer. He doesn’t speak German- not fluently anyway. He has been to the motherland often, however, thanks to the skewing of inherited wealth in this country. He doesn’t even know that Bayern Munich are playing Borussia Dortmund this weekend. I cannot take this tub of lard seriously. "
Narrator
