Discrimination.

I have wanted to write about this topic for such a long time. And after seeing what priya had written , About racism in India, I thought there would not be much that I could add to it, But I think I might. And here it goes.

I would like to begin with the comment I have made on his post. "humans by nature ,discriminate. we group similar things,we divide dissimilar things. we don't even realize that we are doing that. if it ends there then we would be a much more intelligent society"

Yes, if it ends there we would be a much more intelligent society. What this basic instinct , to categorize everything around us, becomes is very interesting. It begins out as a simple distinction, (self) recognition. The concept of I (or ME. Which basically sets us humans apart from most of the animals) invariantly develops into , someone like me. And then perhaps mutates into the concept of US, and eventually the concept someone UNLIKE US.

And I guess there is also another instinct in us , which rejects anything different from the regular. And combine this with the concept of us and them, we now have a scenario where people begin to reject (and perhaps hate ?) the dissimilarities between them; Sowing seeds for the Discrimination as we know it.

Discrimination.

Probably a word associated mostly with the west. Where, racial discrimination is most evident. More evident probably because of sheer variety of the people living together. Yes there are people who foul mouth anyone who is not white. Some wish they were dead. Some, willing to do that(kill) themselves. But the topic of discrimination in the west has been discussed lots of times and probably read by millions of people dozens of times in their life. I just want to point out something that is evident in India, but never talked about.

India, as a country is truly great. A cultural melting pot of a billion people belonging to many different religions, different cultures, different languages, traditions and geographical locations. We have lived in reasonable harmony for 60 years (since our freedom in 1947). But what about Indians, as the people of the great country that is India ? I believe we are probably the most racist (using it for a lack of a better word, I want to say discriminists but the spell check says there is no word like that) people in the world.

Discrimination probably starts back at home for some, when a male child is preferred to a female one. (and in some rare cases , the other way round.) It continues at school where teachers with narrowed view of education prefer students who fit that profile. It continues to be visible at the village (perhaps lesser in the cities) where the caste of a fellow man interferes with both the simplest routines and also the most personal issues in his life. It is probably more evident in the case of religion, where people fight and kill each other for something that might or might not be true.It is probably masked at the national level where politicians are epitomes for regionalism.

It goes unnoticed when we (Indians) criticize the people of different countries, without even knowing or even caring for the facts. But when there is one comment made against us , we unite. We unite to fight against the evil that has been spoken up against us. Make the whole world know that you don't mess with us Indians, Because we stand united. And mess with one of us, You mess with us all. That may be the right message.

But what would happen if someone came up with a video where some guys makes a statement saying that "all American women are sluts" or "woh kallu log sab chor hote hain" . perhaps a comment about one of our own. degrading a particular religion or caste. Or someone from North India asking someone from south (or a madrasi as he would call him) to go and eat his idli sambhar. or even someone from south India calling a dude from the north a stubborn pig?. Would that matter ? or should the question be, would you notice it in the first place ?

whats my point ? my point is "Discrimination is everywhere. Yes even in your backyard. So don't be fucking Hypocritical about it."

The answer to end discrimination is not clear. But what is clear is that it exists everywhere. Yes even in our holy nation of India. So the next time when someone make a scathing remark about our beautiful country , learn tolerance towards unreasonable criticism; Because facts do not change because of words, And if you are not tolerant , then probably you are more intolerant towards something more close to home. Shut up before you are called a Hypocrite. As being labeled a hypocrite is far worse than being called a discriminator. Learn to live with it.

If you find that offending, then please tell me, When you have learned to live with discrimination back home(and in all probability affects you), why can't you learn to live with the same thing that is happening thousands of kilometers away (and probably doesn't affect you) ?

If you cant stand either one, then in all probability you are one among a very few number of people. Live to know that you will be lonely for the remainder of your life. But live knowing that you are doing the right thing.

Unity is strength.
But uniting for something unnecessary is foolish.
Not uniting for something necessary is definitely a weakness.

So choose to be weak or foolish. Its up to you.

p.s. : Sorry for the nonsense in patches. I had to take a break for so many times while writing it. After all criticizing ones own country is not a easy thing to do. But I have tried my best to make sense. Sorry once again if there is any loss of continuity in the post.