Discrimination

This post does not intend to offend to anyone.

I love my country. I really do. N I absolutely adore Bangalore. After all home is where the heart is!

N Being away from India for the last 1 yr….has made it possible for me to point out the specifics of what I really like about India and Indians and the things which really annoy me.

Being in the USA…I really yearn for some “Indian stuff”. Like while in India I would not crave Indian food but now I do. I would not get excited about huge get-togethers at home, but now I look forward to it. I was not into watching too many Indian movies, but now I kinda do. I had stopped watching cricket after the match-fixing controversy, but now I’m following the IPL matches pretty closely! I love meeting fellow Indians n talking a dozen about India n this n that …

‘Coz of some experiences I feel I Indians are the biggest discriminators I’ve come across….I’ve listed below some of these experiences and u can feel free to share ur experience.

- During my 1st few weeks in the US, I realized the culture here is to say “Hello , How r u”…to pretty much any1 who crosses ur way. N even back in India I used to keep smiling at strangers..There it was a kind of problem, Here it wasn’t and so I was more than happy to smile at any1 and every1. Now, most Indians have seem to hv learnt this culture. But the problem is they practice it with only the phirangis..not other “fellow” Indians. I don’t get it! What is their problem in smiling at Indians?!?!

- My hubby’s office has mostly Telugu- speaking people. They speak to each other in their language knowing very well that some ppl don’t u’stand it. They don’t care about it and I believe scream across the office to each other in Telugu. Even the Americans don’t like it. All the Telugu-ites lunch together and my hubby is not welcome to this daily lunch routine of theirs. And there have been a few parties to which only he was not invited coz hes not telugu-speaking! Not like he cares! But I find it ridiculous!

- On Jan 1st….we had gone to the temple. It’s a routine..I follow every yr. So while we were eating the yummy food at the temple.. there was this girl n 2 guys sitting opposite us. She was talking in Tamil about some friend of hers (From her conversation I gathered shez from Chennai) n she tells the guys ..”Yeah X is like tht..anywez wat else can u expect from Blr n pune gurls..All of ‘em drink n smoke”! I could have slapped her, really! Not coz I care abt wat she thinks but coz shes sitting in a temple and b***h-ing shamelessly! I think drinking n smoking is okay…but not wat she was doing!

Back in India I hear

- Karnataka and Tamil Nadu continue to fight over water (They have been fighting over it on n off for the last n years!). It won’t take more than a day in Blr for u to realize that Blr has very few kannadigas. The place has Tamils, North-Indians, ppl from Nepal, the north-east and wat not. So the kannadigas(Not all. Mostly the politicians and a few jobless ppl) got insecure. They got smart and said that movies of any other language will be released only 1 mth after its release in the rest of India. They were trying to make ppl watch Kannada movies…For heavensake! Obviously it din’t work. If they send non-kannadigas out of Blr….there won’t be any Blr!

- Shiv sena is trying similar stuff in Mumbai. My friend retaliates…If there were no Gujjus , Mumbai would have no money! I can’t help feeling sad!

These people have truly lost it! Sense of humor is okay…But I’m tired of hearing abt north-Indian(NI), south-Indian(SI). 2 people (1 my friend) who were roomies were arguing…I don’t like NI..coz they eat only roti! The other one says I don’t like SI coz they eat too much rice! Phew! Why can’t people eat what they want and stop categorizing according to language n state!

Isn't Unity in Diversity suppose to be a matter of pride for India?

If each one of us start truly n honestly reflecting on our behavior…we’ll realize, that probably we also discriminate. Sometimes in a subtle manner and at other times quite obviously! Being affectionate towards out hometown, the place we grew up, our mother-tongue is not wrong. But ridiculing all else is most definitely not Right!

I feel sad to say Indians are indeed the biggest Discriminators I’ve come across!