What is a 'normal' Indian South African anyway?: iLIVE

Nikita Ramkissoon's 'The Mystical Nature of the Indian South African' is an interesting article that looks into the essentialising that happens across racially/ethnically divided people, something which we as South Africans still are (a challenge of apartheid's legacy).

While I appreciate Ramkissoon opening the debate against essentialising and racial stereotyping, she has managed to fall into the essentialising trap herself when she mentions "Some of us do listen to rock and classical music. Some of us are normal. I promise".

What does she mean by 'normal'? Who decides what is normal? What is important is that every individual is able to exercise choice, even if that choice falls into an essentialised stereotyped box.

So if I am of Indian descent and like Indian food, Indian music, follow a traditional Indian way of life, it does not place me outside of any ethnocentrically determined 'normal'.

What is an Indian way of life anyway? South Indian or North Indian - which part of India reflects this essentialised Indian?

In essence there is no such thing as normal, every person should have the right to live by choice in the way one determines, even if that is a more traditional, eccentric, or even just old-fashioned way. The 'normative' of westernised culture must be challenged.