Cast, Creed and What not ?
Caste, Creed and What not!!! Indian
Stereotypes
I am proud to be an Indian and I love my
Thanks to Dad’s transferable job and I have
been to many places in India. I met people from all wakes of life during my
school and college days.
At the outset, we say that India depicts
unity in diversity. The stereotypes portrays vice versa.
Indians hate Indians for different reasons -
regions, caste, creed, gender, languages, dialects, religions, colour and what
not. Every factor of diversity breaks us and breeds hatred. But, Indians love
India more than anything else and that’s what unites us.
When I was young, I never knew that KGF
(Kolar Gold Field – my birthplace) is in Karnataka as all of them speak in
Tamizh. Earlier, I didn’t know the difference between Tamizh and Kannada script.
For me, everything written in other languages except Hindi and English seemed
to be Jalebi. My mother tongue is Tamizh, so I believed that KGF was in Tamil
Nadu and everyone called me Madrasi. In North India (North/East/West), all the
South Indians (Tamil, Telugu, Kannadiga, Malayali) are Madrasi.
I completed my schooling till 10th
Standard from Rajasthan. When I went to Jadugoda (Jharkhand), people used to laugh
and make fun of my Hindi. Not because it was worst, but because it was in its purest
form - imported from Rajasthan. People said why the hell you say ‘mein mein’
like goat. They say ‘hum’ for ‘mein’. ‘Mein’ in Hindi means I and hum means
‘we’. I cried almost everyday and wished to go back to Rajasthan or anywhere
else in the world. I love to talk and when I wasn’t allowed to speak much
because of my own Hindi, I used to get depressed.
Now I think, suppose if I was brought up in
Jharkhand and then, went to Rajasthan. There are ample chances that people
might not have accept me as one among them because of different slang of Hindi.
In Jharkhand I had no one to speak with me
in Tamizh except Maa and Dada (Mum and Dad). My best friend was Telugu. So in
school, bus or wherever we met, we used to speak in Telugu. My school friends
never knew that I am Tamizhan. They were all aghast when I revealed that I am
not Telugu. They were like – why did you learn Telugu when its not your mother
tongue and how can you leave Tamil and choose Telugu to converse. In India, you
have to love to communicate in your mother tongue alone.
Wherever I went, I had to explain people
that I learnt Telugu from my neighbors in Rajasthan and improvised by
conversing with Telugu friends
At some point in time, Hindi became my
mother tongue as I was brought up in North India.
When I spoke in Telugu outside Andhra,
people immediately connected and loved to have long conversation. When I did
the same in Andhra, they mocked. The same is for Tamil. I am surviving without
mockery mostly with Hindi and English J
Due to this. Sometimes I stick only to
Hindi or English to converse. When I did this in Andhra, people said she is so
arrogant. Even if she knows Telugu, she’ll not talk in Telugu ….Tamilians are
just like that…blah blah
This mockery hinders a person to openly
learn other Indian languages.
Moving on to the next factor – Food.
In Jharkhand, there is another word for
South Indians i.e Khatta for boy and Khatti for girl. In Hindi Khatta or Khatti
means sour. South Indians love tangy or slightly sour taste in their food. People
in Jharkhand assumed that only sour tasting food is consumed or prepared by
South Indians. Hence, the name khatta/khatti.
Rajasthani and Andhrites like more chilli
in their food. Tamil Nadu people prefer slightly bland taste. Punjabis love
spice and so on. North Indians prefer roti (Indian bread) and South Indians
prefer rice. So its natural that if a person from one state has to stay in
another place for long and has to depend upon local food, he/she may starve or
curse the food.
In India whosoever you may be, people will
like you if you are fair as we believe fair means beautiful and good. Even if
people don’t know you, they’ll at least talk to you.
Muslim, Hindu or Christian whosoever that
may be, we mingle with everyone for namesake mostly. When it comes to real
bonding, we still stay aloof. An Indian Hindu family will never ever agree
happily for their offspring’s marriage with a person belonging to another religion.
People are ready to do honour killing or force the couple to stay away from
their community.
On the contrary, one of my friend, who was
very much proud to belong to Reddy caste (A Hindu caste of Andhrites), finally
ended up in loving a Muslim guy. Love makes people to forget anything.
There is one thing common among us is that
we never mind our business. We love to connect with people and make them one
among us. How someone talks, wears a dress, follows a religion – we mind everything
and get annoyed by everyone who does it.
The only thing that stops us from this is unavailability
of time. Nowadays, in cities hardly anyone bothers. In a way, its good that in
cities people don’t give importance to trivial issues and have broad mind. In
another way, the very essence of rural
People in India are always interested in
your background - religion, caste,
professional career of parents/spouse, children, salary and so on. Your merits
might come last.
If mudaliyar (Its a Tamil caste) meets
Mudaliar in Tamilnadu, they are happier than meeting any other caste. If any
Tamil person of any other caste meets in other state or country, they are the
happiest people. This is the same case with any other caste of people in any
part of
In India, there is different treatment,
rule, tradition etc for a girl and a boy. For example, many people believe that
a girl should only wear an ethnic dress (sarees or salwar-kamiz), especially
after marriage. Whereas a boy can wear anything he pleases. The situation is
pathetic for a transgender as many people don’t even accept them as human
beings.
There are similar stereotypes or prejudices
or sexism or racism in other countries.
I often wonder why we can’t just see the
other person as a human being. I don’t even like the differentiation between
human beings from different countries or wherever.
In my opinion, it’s enough to differentiate
a human from an animal. Rather being judgmental and effecting others with
negativity. A positive aura can be created with peace and happiness.
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