I have been meaning to write this for quite a while now. I am sure most of us open our Facebook pages even before we can open our eyes properly early morning. I too do the same, with my Blackberry doing the ninja back flip at times. It's always a happy feeling when you read about happy and pleasant stuff that makes you smile. Who wants to wake up to posts that torment us early morning.
A glimpse at my Facebook wall today and all I can see is the walls people have put up between them. Walls that divide us. Walls that keep us apart. Walls that everyone talks about but no one does anything to break them. Walls that act as barriers. Walls that we all wish weren't there. Walls that maybe one day will go down. Walls that we know by the names of Religion, Caste, Status, Regions, Politics, Corruption, Jihad, and a lot more which I might not be able to think right now.
A song sung by apna Assamese singer in the upcoming movie 'Barfi' made you so happy that you decided to call yourself a proud Assamese rather than a proud Indian. An article on the screening of a movie by a historical figure from Assam sends the state in a state of surface pleasantry. People as young as 24 posts statuses about giving them a separate state and a separate identity and not call them 'Indians'. North Easterns want to return to their homeland to be safe in their own country. Their only plea - not to treat them as 'chinkis' and not to take their promiscuous girls with oriental features as 'sl**s'. Is that too much to ask from their own countrymen?
The Indian Muslim community is caught in a catch-22 situation. If they go against the grain and fully integrate themselves with the mainstream (this is not to say they don’t try; many do) they risk being alienated by their own community. On the other hand, staying with the fold means subjecting themselves to the dogmas of the clergy.
All of us are aware of what happened in Bangalore. It was shocking to see that years, indeed, decades of social harmony was upended by rumours, scary chain mails and smses. We may be mostly good people at heart. However, we are probably the most internally racist nation on earth. Yes, we all stand up for the national anthem. We also cheer for our cricket team and Olympic medalists. When that ends, however, it's almost like we try to find a reason to hate and mistrust one another. And as part of our shallow thinking, one of the first things we discriminate against is someone who looks different from us.
Talk about India divided into parts. Part that support corruption and the part that supports 'Team Anna'. Part that prevents you from being together with people you love (case in point-Ek Tha Tiger) and part that would not mind killing their own daughters and sons if they married outside their own community. Part that requires you to carry an identity card at all times and part where you do not have your own identity. Part where we all stand for the National Anthem and part where we refuse to stand for the old people looking for seats in the trains and buses. Part where the residents of Delhi will not be given a hotel room for security purposes and part where there are no security checks for tenants.
While we defend ourselves against the psy-war being waged on us from outside, let's also guard against the war waged on us from within by our two greatest enemies: the twin demons of Prejudice and Intolerance.
(P.S: The Cabinet is a living example of The Peter Principle, where everyone is elevated to their level of incompetence. Let us, the people of India not allow this great nation to fall apart.)
A glimpse at my Facebook wall today and all I can see is the walls people have put up between them. Walls that divide us. Walls that keep us apart. Walls that everyone talks about but no one does anything to break them. Walls that act as barriers. Walls that we all wish weren't there. Walls that maybe one day will go down. Walls that we know by the names of Religion, Caste, Status, Regions, Politics, Corruption, Jihad, and a lot more which I might not be able to think right now.
A song sung by apna Assamese singer in the upcoming movie 'Barfi' made you so happy that you decided to call yourself a proud Assamese rather than a proud Indian. An article on the screening of a movie by a historical figure from Assam sends the state in a state of surface pleasantry. People as young as 24 posts statuses about giving them a separate state and a separate identity and not call them 'Indians'. North Easterns want to return to their homeland to be safe in their own country. Their only plea - not to treat them as 'chinkis' and not to take their promiscuous girls with oriental features as 'sl**s'. Is that too much to ask from their own countrymen?
The Indian Muslim community is caught in a catch-22 situation. If they go against the grain and fully integrate themselves with the mainstream (this is not to say they don’t try; many do) they risk being alienated by their own community. On the other hand, staying with the fold means subjecting themselves to the dogmas of the clergy.
All of us are aware of what happened in Bangalore. It was shocking to see that years, indeed, decades of social harmony was upended by rumours, scary chain mails and smses. We may be mostly good people at heart. However, we are probably the most internally racist nation on earth. Yes, we all stand up for the national anthem. We also cheer for our cricket team and Olympic medalists. When that ends, however, it's almost like we try to find a reason to hate and mistrust one another. And as part of our shallow thinking, one of the first things we discriminate against is someone who looks different from us.
Talk about India divided into parts. Part that support corruption and the part that supports 'Team Anna'. Part that prevents you from being together with people you love (case in point-Ek Tha Tiger) and part that would not mind killing their own daughters and sons if they married outside their own community. Part that requires you to carry an identity card at all times and part where you do not have your own identity. Part where we all stand for the National Anthem and part where we refuse to stand for the old people looking for seats in the trains and buses. Part where the residents of Delhi will not be given a hotel room for security purposes and part where there are no security checks for tenants.
While we defend ourselves against the psy-war being waged on us from outside, let's also guard against the war waged on us from within by our two greatest enemies: the twin demons of Prejudice and Intolerance.
(P.S: The Cabinet is a living example of The Peter Principle, where everyone is elevated to their level of incompetence. Let us, the people of India not allow this great nation to fall apart.)
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