Dr. Raj Koothrappali

"Raj: Of course you feel terrible. You completely screwed up your karma, dude Sheldon: You don't really believe in that superstition, do you Raj: It's not superstition. It's practically Newtonian. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Leonard pretends to be a friend and acts like a two-faced. Therefore he is reborn as a banana slug. It's actually a very elegant system. You know, what goes around comes around"

- Raj discussing Karma by comparing it with Newtonian, with Sheldon

Rajesh Koothrappali is one of the main central characters of the hit comedy sitcom, The Big Bang Theory along with his closest friend, engineer Howard Wolowitz, theoretical physicist, Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper. Though he was originally from India he moved to America to fulfil his dream of becoming an astrophysicist and find a nice life however he has selected mutism, and he can't even speak to women unless he's drunk. This vanished after the six series.

He was portrayed by Kunal Nayyar

Personality
Raj is easily one of the most socially inept of the group (second behind Sheldon). He is normally shy and timid, and had a nervous bladder, meaning whenever he was stressed in a situation it caused him to urinate, similar to a puppy however he was prone to overconfidence, a specific would be when he was granted a dedication in Times magazine and became self-absorbed and extremely pompous, flouting his achievements to his friends and arrogantly flirting with Penny however he was also drunk so it wasn't completely his fault. He is clueless to American idioms however he seems to understand metaphors such as creating his own sexual poem after he fell in love with Howard's girlfriend "oh, Bernadette, please play me clarinet" (clarinet being a metaphor for his penis; which he defends as being "a beautiful penis metaphor." Though naive and gullible Raj is the most financially secure of the group however his parents actually pay his finances as the Koothrappali's were "vastly wealthy", including his own housekeeper and new BMW but he was forced to pay for his won seat warmers, indicating he can be quite spoiled.

Raj is also a hypocrite at times. He is incredibly sensitive about racism and his culture as a Hindu being offended, however he calls his native land "Ghandi-ville" which he defends as when he says it it's not offensive. Whenever he gets homesick, Raj would rent "Bombay Badonkadonks" and do a mock classical Indian dance, which he classified as being "so offensive." Raj is the most open-minded of the group. He believes in Karma and describes it as being "practically Newtonian" to Sheldon and is also open-minded to the Hindu Belief of Reincarnation. Similar to Howard he doesn't hold his kosher in a high regard, though he views cows as "sacred" he is ok with eating beef as he defends this by saying "an animal can be sacred and delicious."

Raj was also characterised by extreme loneliness, he had difficulty in trying to hold a relationship with a woman even after being cured of his selective mutism and whenever he was lonely he had a tendency to eat junk food, such as devouring an entire pie and cheesecake by himself. He was also ignorant