Desi diva's 'commuter rage' on NY train sparks backlash

A young woman of Indian origin in the US has become the focus of unflattering attention after a video of her in an embarrassing “rail rage” moment went viral on the Internet. [caption id=“attachment_27621” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“The ‘rail rage’ moment that’s gone viral. Image grabbed from YouTube”]  [/caption] The woman, identified by Dealbreaker as Hermon Raju, was caught on film berating a New York-Connecticut train conductor who told her to keep her voice down and not use profanities while speaking on the mobile phone. On the short amateur video, which has since made it to YouTube ( available here), Raju remonstrates with the conductor,  repeatedly claiming that she was “highly educated”. Those remarks have been picked on by commentators on various forums to pillory her for her “snooty, diva-like behaviour.” Some commentators pointed out that for all her educational background, Raju may have done her career some harm with her indecorous response in a stressful situation that tested her. All the more because employers these days scour even Facebook profiles of candidates they are considering for recruitment. Raju is evidently already feeling the heat of the negative publicity: her LinkedIn profile page has been deleted. The fact that the conductor was a black woman also appeared to feed unwarranted stereotypes about racial prejudices among people of Indian origin directed at black communities. In the video, Raju can be heard telling the conductor: “I was not cursing, excuse me, do you know what schools I’ve been to?” During the conversation, Raju, who is seen to get progressively agitated, also asks the conductor: “Do you think I’m a little hoodlum?” “Do you know how well-educated I am?” At one point during the conversation, Raju reaches  out and perhaps accidentally touches the conductor. When the conductor tells her, politely, not to touch her, Raju tells her: “I don’t need to touch you… Get away from me.” “I am not a crazy person. I am a very well-educated person.” After the episode, Raju storms off. An eyewitness to the incident posted that a minute later, there was an announcement on the train’s public address system asking all passengers not to use profanity on the train, “especially those people who went to Harvard or Yale or are from Westport.” Perhaps a sobering lesson on how to conduct oneself in public in an age where privacy is at a premium. Other responses: On Gawker,  Brian Moylan writes: “Know what’s worse than someone yelling on the train? Someone yelling on the train and making a complete ass of herself. Here is a self-identified “educated” woman yelling at a Metro-North train conductor who told her to pipe down. It’s pretty incredible.” And blogger Popehat derides the “cringeworthy hubris about your educational background, frontal-lobe-damage-indicator sense of entitlement, pathological lack of shame, capacity for maniacal rudeness to strangers, and general insufferability!”