ARE WE RACIST???

The word racist is defined as "prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities. Racism includes the belief that genetic or inherited differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of one race over another ". Now ask any Indian you know the question, are a racist???And you will get a resounding no!! With some supporting adjectives such as “obviously not”, "are you mad" and so on.

I have till recently felt the same. In my mind racism was something to be associated with the color of skin. Demeaning people based on their color was mostly what was engraved in my mind. Thus I was very assured that this does not exist in India. Especially now considering, you can change your color using some cosmetic products. Basically it felt in India being fair was desirable but dark was also acceptable and that was about it.

But then when I thought about things like untouchability, caste system and regionalism I was not so sure any more. And then reading the headlines of papers these days where one can see politicians such as Raj Thackery and Modi make statements that openly lay siege to the very fabric of secular India. One cannot be at fault for wondering if it were true?? In case of the politicians what scares me is the fact that, such people are endorsed by our society due to a sense of misplaced communal pride.

I have experienced this communal divide first hand, during my first year in college I was ragged but I came in for special treatment from my seniors for the fact that my friend circle consisted of people who were not telugu speaking people. Absurd would you not agree?? Here comes the best part in my college which has students from all over the country, ragging was strictly community based that a telugu would rag a telugu , a mallu to a mallu and so on….

I am not free of such a charge either, I seem to harbor a sense dislike for certain communities too… which is wrong I know but it seems to have been inbred in to me. I am now in College Station, Texas. Sadly enough even here we seem to find ways to distinguish between ourselves. For example in the local cricket league here teams are named “Made in Andhra”, “Tamil Twisters” and so on…. Unfortunately I must confess in this season I played in the “Made in Andhra”. No disrespect to my teammates all fine people, I have decided not be a part of such communal symbolism in the future if it even means me not playing cricket.

We are biased in more ways than we accept but hey nobody’s perfect right. May be we are not at racism as such but we are not far from it either… The days of caste system may or may not be upon us anymore but I am sure communal sentiments and extreme feelings about religion are things we can do without. It definitely good to be proud of who you are and your culture but so as long as it not at the expense of the other. We have enough reasons to fight among ourselves … we do not need another.

HISTORY BEING MADE:

On the 4th of November 2008 Barack Obama became the 44th president elect of the United States of America. For many people in the USA of it was day they had been waiting for from time immemorial. People rejoiced in the streets with celebrations, the likes of which one had never seen before. The tears flowed from the eyes of one and all irrespective of the background. The walls of old had been torn down. And yes!! Then there was the victory speech that gave even the most uninterested person a Goosebumps or two...

At the risk of sounding very dead.... I would say was this not expected?? Ok i Guess there is a lot of difference between expecting and happening. But still why were there people in Italy, France, India and other corners of the world celebrating?? It was not like they had got a new president right?? Not like their lives were going to undergo a drastic change. Basically you get the picture.

May be just may be for those few hours.. The people of the world forgot about differences brought about by flags and history. It was like the world had united for one cause, to weed out the division of race. It did not mean that from that moment on we would not have racism anywhere in the world. It just said we can change one small step at a time in the right direction. Was he the right choice for office? Is he the one that will steer America through its toughest times in nearly a century...? Only time will tell. But for now let us rejoice in the fact that all challenges that face human nature and our deepest darkest evils can be overcome.

I was fortunate enough to hear Obama's victory speech live (thank you BBC) and at every single moment of that speech I felt history was being made. I have not been a witness to much history being made in my time and what I have been witness to has only been the worst that can be brought out in man. From assassination of the prime minister of my country, to riots that have shook the very fundamental principles of my nation, the birth and rise of terrorism. I have also seen good but it has always been overshadowed by the bad and the ugly. But that speech and what had transpired before it has proven to me things can change and will change but everything needs time and effort.





So maybe I am... Sorry let me correct that... I know am not wrong in thinking of India's moment of change is coming too. Hope is very integral to our cause and we should never lose sight of it.

P.S if you have not watched the speech I suggest you watch it!!!

THINGS IN LIFE: THAT ARE PRICELESS

I seem to be in a very retrospective mood. So here goes...I have done a lot things in life that have been given adjectives such as "stupid", "crazy", "loser" and so on ... you get the idea. Now when I look back at them I regret a few, I laugh at a few, and for some I laugh... then smile and ask myself " WTF was I thinking ". But in some stupid way I am glad because I can say " yeah man I have been there done that " sounds cool right??... but my friends and Jayan and Nitin will tell you with me its more a case of "hey... I was also there re..."

My top moments in no specific order are:

The final of the cricket tournament during my first year of college, played a perfect tourney till the last ball of the final. Opening batsmen... Opening bowler... crucial runs, crucial wickets, good catches I had done it all but... then it all changed within the space of one ball.. the last ball. 1 ball 3 runs to win the batsmen hits the ball in the air straight in to my hands I still remember like it was yesterday ... that too in slow motion. The ball went in and then right out.

During my undergrad days I was in the bad habit of getting a kick ridiculing the so called "popular" girls of the college. This habit of mine came back to bite me in my 2nd year when my really close friends started dating the very girls I made fun of ....( for the record they all found what I said funny... and added to it). And then all of them conveniently dumped the whole thing on me and yours truly was vilified for the remaining years of college.

I also seem to suffer from a disease called “foot in your mouth". Symptoms include saying in the wrong things at the wrong time, not being able to keep your mouth shut on issues that might strike an emotional chord ... you get the picture. When I was in school I had this teacher who a very heavy accent. So once she asked us study for an upcoming exam while she was sitting in class. I was preparing for the exams with my friends and suddenly felt this urge to ridicule her pronunciation, which I did. Only problem being I was sitting on the table on the 1st row with back facing the teacher totally oblivious to her presence at decibel level which give Pavarotti a complex.

I guess I never learnt my lesson. In college I was in the room of one my friends and everyone was looking at snaps of the "popular" girls and again I could not control my urge to say something. So I went on and on about how that girl was over rated. All the time I was oblivious to my roomie kicking me to hint for me to stop, as one of the people present there was her boyfriend. (Thankfully he was a smaller guy so ... i dint get beaten up...)

I once travelled to Bangalore to drop a friend of mine ( the point is the friend was a she... ) I had reservations for my journey to Bangalore but had none for the journey back. Being in college just having been bitten by the travel bug I decided to take general ticket for my return journey, I had travelled general many a time to chennai so how bad could this be?? Oh did I mention that this return journey would happen only after 10 in the night!! Something I forgot even then, to the extent I did not check the name of the train that I would have to take back. So I reached Bangalore at 9 PM dropped my friend back at the station by 9.30. After which my ordeal began first, I asked chaiwalla when the next train was to Vellore was he told me there was one 12.00am and another at 1.30am. Now the problem was what do I do till then?? So I decided to kill time I shall shuttle between Bangalore Cant station and Bangalore city by hoping on to trains that come ( I assumed that all trains will pass through both... thankfully my choices did).

It was time for the 1st train, I walked myself to the backend of the platform to board the general compartment. As the train passed me I felt it was overly packed, that was till I saw the general compartment. It was so packed that the door could not be opened or rather the people in it were not willing to open it. I quickly told myself "let’s just take the other one". As I was waiting for the next train I began to panic what if the next train had similar situation?? My panic was made worse when the cop working the platform told me that I need to get on to this train or leave the station. I had only 150 RS in my pocket so a lodge was out of the question the other station Bangalore city was too far. I prayed to god to somehow get me on the next train. The train pulled in to the station it was pretty crowded but somehow I managed to get myself in to the general compartment rather I was forced in to it by the crowd which had gathered to board the train behind me which I had not realized was quite large. Thus my ordeal began.... The only place that I could find to put my butt down was close to the loo. It seemed to be vacant for a long time so I though damn people are stupid ... quickly rushed over there and sat down. But after 15 minutes or so I realized why it was not taken the smell emanating fro m the loo was just awful. The guy on the opposite had in my opinion not been introduced to the concept of bathing. So I sat there for 5 1/2 hours not being able to move to another place as the only other place was next to the door which was suicidal for me due to a lack of warm clothing (it was late November and yes I feel cold very easily). That was last time Idecided to travel general on a night train.

Bottom line even though these things did not turn out too well for me ... I am glad they happened and I actually find them to be priceless.
And yes there are a lot more of them!!! but for now these will do.

POLITICIANS REALLY LOSE THE PLOT AT TIMES!!!!

I got up this morning to read about what is going on in India. I was for the lack of better adjective shocked, to see that jet airways had layed off over 900 employees and more were in offing. It dawned on that the financial mess of western world has implications ven in India. I guess it price of globalisation. But what really shocked me were the headlines that followed it. 

1. Raj Thackery threatens to ground jet airways.

2.Mayawati & Sonia exchange blows

3.RS Mp Kanimozhi submits resignation letter to promote Sri Lankan tamil issue (DMK vociferous about support)

4.Homosexuality should be legalised says Health minister Ramadoss

ok.. I need a moment to let this all sink in. My first reaction was wow a lot can happen in one day.

I never knew that a politican holding no postion of adminstrative power or significance can make claims of grounding a entire ailine fleet. Oops!! I forgot in India it is possible to do so.. or should I say it is possible in Mumbai and West Bengal. This is coming from the same man who said north Indians should be driven out of Mumbai. In my opinion such persecution of an ethnic community makes a man no different from Hitler. But for him to dictate how a private firm operates is also preposterous. And the reason he is able to make such absurd statements is because people like you and me do not ask him to shut up!! So shut up..... and if people feel they have been dealt a bad deal then go to judiciary and not involve politics with it.

Behan Kumari Mayawati ji and Sonia Gandhi need to grow and stop with this game of out doing each other. Please people you represent the nation , this is not the way heads of state behave. I mean you have elections coming up in a few months who ever is not good will go... is that not democracy. You have no need to wash dirty linen in public by banning one from trying to play in in others back yard. I think both of more pressing issues of inflation, hunger & poverty etc to deal with. Please ladies you both have been put on the list of the worlds most powerful women, please do not let your ego get the better of the argument of who should have been ranked higher.

This one is my favourite, politicians here want to support a freedom movement (LTTE) which takes the life of many innocent people. The same organisation that assinated our leader. The question is not if their cause is justified or not but If we did support them how different are we from Pakistan,  who do the same in Kashmir. They apparerenly support the Kashmiri's fight against injustice and for freedom. Again may be, the ruling party in Taml Nadu  DMK should concentrate on issues of the state rather than trying to voice their support for tamils in Sri Lanka. They need to remember that their loyalty lies with Indians and not with cultural background of tamil. The daughter of the party leader resigning her post to voice her discontent with respect to the issue, makes you wonder where this is all going???

And last but not the least our great health minister, after jostling for control over AIIMS  with its vice chancellor, banning smoking on screen, now banning smoking in public,  wanting movie stars to stop drinking on screen and many more ideas which i hae no clue about. The man has finally out done himself. He wants to legalise homosexuality... yes folks it is illegal in India to be gay.

It is not that I am against it but the timing that astounds me. I actually do not know what to say.... if he is right or wrong. Are we mature enough to accept it?? it is one thing to say yes in a flash but in a society,  which is still coming to terms with live in realtionships and so on... The issue homsexuality may be a little more than what we can handle. May be Mr. Ramadoss should deal with increasing trend of AIDS, the fact that more 17 states in the country have alarming conditions of malnutrition and hunger as declared by a recent world report. It went on to say that things in certain states were as bad as the situation in th african country Chad. Government hospitals are no where close to being respectable.

I think these itself are enough food for thought.  

So please my respected country I request to handle more pressing issues that face are nation rather than play to galleries.