I grew up in New York City. To me, it was a great place to grow up. The fact that my parents were from India didn’t make me a pariah. My own lack of social skills did that. Others of Asian descent didn’t have that problem. By the time I was in high school, I didn’t have that problem either — I went to Stuyvesant, where I was a geek amongst many and I made friends.
Many of these friends were Jewish. A few wore yarmulkes, just like one of my Sikh friends wore a turban and a Christian friend wore a cross. I had Muslim friends as well, but they didn’t wear the veil.