Monday, November 19, 2007

Random thoughts during (security) class hours

Who do Indians hate most?
"Americans have no culture" , "British are racist" , "Chinese are self centered" et cetera. This can go on for ever. But its all just pub talk. Why? Say the (most-cultured most-pious )Indian chances upon one of these oh-so-immoral people, their behavior could not be any more hospitable, welcoming and more. But if the Indian meets another Indian (which of course the former does believe is the true nationality of the latter) the animosity is evident from the start. As I'm writing this and you reading, the thought must cross your mind - "how many Indians behave this way!" Well the bitter truth .... It includes you and me!
Let me elaborate with 2 every day events. One : mocking accents. I enjoy it too but No it's not mere teasing. It emanates from superiority (at time inferiority) complex, but mostly from a rather racial complex. "The whites ill-treat the blacks" How true! But there is a stark difference in their physical appearance and way of life. This is not a justification of ill-treatment of any form but a statement of their visibly evident difference. But in India.... there are varous shades of brown and this is compared using .... are u ready for this ?..... a FAIRNESS MEASURING STICK! Fairer implies superior, better, prettier, nicer and a whole lot of other irrelevant aspects. And this crucial stick does not have a wide varying range of hues but the difference can be spotted by the human eye! May be I'm ignorant ... guess there are some with X-ray vision!! And with this super power they set themselves apart and kick start their racist movement.
Now that the visible characteristics are covered we move on to event number 2 involving speech. "Have you heard him speak!?"(Laughs)!
People find it so hard to understand that the regional language (mother tongue) can have a very strong influence on other languages. Of course this misunderstanding applies only to Indians. When the Frenchman says ' i don speekh ze 'nglis' or the Russian "vich vay is itt"... of course we understand... and the explanation - they are French/Russian/any non Indian nationality!
Now the Indian comes along and says 'hov to ga to to haspital?' He is mocked by someone who says 'Gad! Wat aal they arre talking like!' (even before giving the directions to the hospital!)
To conclude i quote the adage"He who sees the mote in the other man's eye must see the beam in his own!"