Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Are we (Indian) racist?

Adolf Hitler felt so majestic about his race (ARYAN) that he ordered extermination of millions of fellow Jews. Jews were considered by him a saddled race, responsible for all the ills of that day Germany. Recent attacks in Australia on Indian students are coined as racist, which might be the case. But the bigger question is that are we paid back is same coin? Do our act knowingly or unknowingly are racial in nature.

How many times have girls been rejected for marriage as they were not "fair”. Indians have natural inclination towards GORA with no surprise “fair and lovely”, a cosmetic cream became a rage here. And not only this “fair and handsome” found its space in men dressing table. So it’s make our case weak when GORA (fair and handsome) from Australia insults Indian (dark). Plenty of parents have not allowed their offspring to marry as the other person was from a different religion, caste, or didn't speak the same language. They say it’s not our culture...what a useless argument.

How many times a girl from north east is eve-teased and referred as “CHINKI” on streets of Delhi. Saying chinki can land you in jail in US coz its racist, we use so casually. They also cannot find apartment for rent easily. Jokes on Sardar are so common, those reading this would be having at least one joke in their cell on them even though these are insanely absurd. Even i was very cynical to call men from Bihar and UP as “BHAIYA”, but these are the men who work tirelessly in our factories and farms to make we “PUNJABI” rich. In IT firm Cognizant Technology Solutions, you have fine chance of promotion if you are Tamil.

Critics will say I am raising only petty issues; we are fantastic democracy at work for last 62 years. There is system of representation of every community in our republic. But if our system is so flawless then why north Indian are beaten on streets of Mumbai by Marathi manoos? How many times have there been religious, caste riots and danga just because we are speaking a language different from the State we stay in? Why is there NAXAL problem? These may seem trivial now but are prospective threats to Indian union in future. We first need to learn to respect our fellow Indians before expecting same from others.



disclaimer- by indian or we i mean to say about majority of indians not everyone