I entered my apartment building today after a hard day's work down at the cracker factory (I wish!) and came across a small indian family leaving at the same time. This is nothing strange, my apartment building is pretty much swarming with people of Indian descent. The hallways have a faint lingering smell of curry that never quite seems to fade, as if the smell has been baked into the very foundations of the building itself. But the strange thing about passing people, INDIAN people, in the hallways is that they seem to be, well, scared of me. And I can't quite figure out why.

They spotted me coming today in a tight area of the stairwell that required one of us to step aside. I wouldn't have minded, really, but things happened way too fast. The dad caught sight of me and spun around with startling speed, bending down to snatch up a child walking a few steps behind him. The mom, at the same time, flattened herself against the wall and fixed me with a look like I was a lion that escaped from the zoo.

"Don't...move...a muscle. It can't see us if we don't move." The dad whispered, hugging his child tightly against his chest and never taking his eyes off me. A tear trickled down his wife's face.

Awkwardly I walked passed them, glancing up at them and trying to look friendly. Judging by the increased intensity of the mother's agonized wailing I dont think it worked very well.

I wish I had had this power back in my college days, when I'd walk into the school computer lab and couldn't find a seat because of all the indian grad students. Had I been able to strike such mortal terror into their hearts then I suspect I would've been able to get a seat without much hassle at all.