As an Indian living in Canada, Ashwyn Singh, explores the immigration experience in his comedy. Ahead of his next show in Germany, he shares his perception of Germans, what he still wants to do in Berlin and more.
As part of his “Wrong Singh to Say” tour, stand-up comedian Ashwyn Singh is set to play a show in Berlin on Friday (March 20th).
The show is Ashwyn’s second in Berlin, and comes with his second ever visit to the German capital.
Ahead of his flight to Europe, The Local caught up with the comedian to talk about his first impressions of Germany, what he’s looking forward to during his coming visit and his perspective on the immigration debate.
The Local: To start, what has been your experience in Germany and Berlin so far?
Ashwyn Singh: Well, I’ve been to Germany once before, and it was a short trip…
I think sometimes when Indians come to a new place they gravitate toward finding other Indians that live in the same place. And my [aim is a] bit different. If I’m travelling, I’m there to learn about all of the things that I don’t really know. So I end up gravitating towards people from other circles…
So the last time I came, I spent most of my time with an Israeli comic who lives in Berlin by the name of Shahak Shapira that I had met when he was visiting Toronto…
It was interesting to be performing comedy in English, but everyone around me was essentially German. And [Shahak] took me to a bar after the show.
I really like bars in Europe. It felt like a small hole in the wall kind of place, and it was quiet enough that you could hear everyone… I found myself wondering like, is that a European thing or a German thing, or was it just that this place happened to be nice.
TL: In your interactions with the audience in Germany, or with Germans around Berlin, did the people meet your expectations or was there anything that surprised you?
Singh: I think people conflate the way people express themselves with their inner feelings. So when people are quiet or speak up less, others may judge them as being unfeeling.
But I think how somebody feels and how they express themselves are actually different… I found the Germans I met spoke a little bit less, but they laughed the same.
When I spoke to them personally, they were maybe less forthcoming with the answers that they were willing to give. But I didn’t feel they disliked me… I was like, ‘oh, that’s just how they talk’.
TL: What stands out in your memory from your last visit to Berlin?
Singh: Last time I flew into the airport and I think it took me half an hour to figure out how to get to the bus.
I couldn’t figure out whether I had to get a ticket before I got on the bus. And then the place that had the tickets had, like, three different kiosks to get the tickets for different things.
In the airport a bunch of things are in English, but then sometimes there are things that aren’t in English. And this was before GPT was popular, so I didn’t have the option to just take a photo and go, ‘what does this mean?’
But then it kind of forces you to talk to people. I just walked up to the nearest German-looking person I could see — and I don’t know what German-looking means really but I found one — and they told me where to buy a ticket and where to catch the bus.
READ ALSO: What’s the best option when buying public transport tickets in Berlin?
Also, I thought the German beds were skinny.
And then I thought the people are skinnier, so that kind of makes sense… But there were two thinner beds side by side, with this crack in the middle. And I thought it felt like a side-effect of a very individualist culture, where they have a bed for two people, but technically they are separate just in case.
TL: Is there anything you want to do during your visit to Berlin this time?
Singh: I’m going to visit for four or five days this time, so I’ve got a short list of things to try now.
I’ve been told I have to go to a nightclub there called Berghain.
TL: Yeah, good luck.
Singh: Two people said ‘go to KitKat’, then two other people said, ‘oh no, don’t go to KitKat’.
I’m also really fascinated to speak with Germans. With the state of the world right now, with democracies crumbling and fascism having its own little ‘we’re coming back’ moment in the US… I want to ask Germans essentially, ‘does this feel similar? Am I wrong to compare this to that?…
Also, I want to see some of the Cold War monuments. I was told to go see Checkpoint Charlie, and I want to see the [Reichstag] building and the Berlin Wall Memorial.
READ ALSO: 12 Berlin travel hacks to make your trip unforgettable
TL: In your comedy you talk about being an Indian immigrant living in Canada, which I imagine might be quite similar to some people’s experience of being an immigrant in Germany. From your perspective, why does this issue become a political fight virtually everywhere around the world?
Singh: I think people forget that immigration at the end of the day is a function of the economic needs of a country.
It’s people sitting down and going, ‘Our country needs something that we’re not able to supply from within, so we have to get it from outside somehow.’ Based on that, a government can either broaden immigration or narrow it down…
It’s not like I asked someone if I could come over, and through the magnanimity and goodness of their hearts they were like, ‘Yeah, come for free!’
[The problem is] instead of talking to their officials, some people end up blaming their next door neighbour, which makes very little sense, right?
In Canada, they have a swiftly declining birth rate and they don’t have as many young people as, for example, a country like India does, which is why they expanded their immigration program to bring a bunch more of those people in. But they didn’t supply enough educational resources to support the extra people coming in.
TL: Sounds familiar.
Singh: Which means that the quality of the education [for immigrants] went down, and then they complained that immigrants are uneducated. And I’m like, ‘Well, whose fault is that? The education they got is from you!’
READ ALSO: ‘Catastrophic effects’ – Why Germany is cutting integration courses for foreigners
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can find more information about Ashwyn’s tour here, and ticket for his Berlin show here.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
