The Danger of a Single Story A single story creates stereo types. The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete. The experience of Chimamanda Adichie, while she was a student in the USA, proves the point. Her American roommate was surprised to hear Adichie speak English so well and she liked the songs of Mariah Carey. The American roommate could never imagine that a girl from Nigeria would speak English or listen to singers like Mariah Carey. Many British, Canadians or Australians feel surprised when Indians speak fluent English because they think that Indians can’t speak English well.

misinform and misguide people. They had a servant, whose name was Fide. Her mother always talked about the poverty of Fide. Adichie once visited Fide’s home and found his brother was a fine craftsman who could make beautifully patterned baskets. But she knew only of their poverty and not their artistic skills. This is what happens to many of us. We hear just one thing about a person or about a country. We don’t hear other things about him or the country. And so our opinion about the person and the country remains prejudiced. In India there are many street magicians an snake charmers. Many people in Africa and Europe think that all Indians know magic and they can handle snakes like Vava Suresh.

We all have heard the story of six blind men going to ‘see’ the elephant. Each of them felt with their hands a different hart of the elephant. The person who felt the leg of the elephant said that an elephant is like a pillar. The one who felt the ear said that an elephant is like a hand-fan. To the one who felt the tail an elephant was like a stick! They all were right in their own limited way, but they were all wrong about their concept of the elephant.

So before coming to conclusions we should hear not a single story about something, but different stories about it. Otherwise we will remain prejudiced like the blind men in the story.