Today is the 15th of August - Independence Day...the day everyone suddenly feels patriotic, the feeling that otherwise emerges only on Republic Day or when the Indian cricket team has an important match to play (especially if it is against a particular neighbouring country)...
But then again, there will also be those who will repeat their usual dialogues..."this country is going to the dogs." or "it is doomed." on and on... I hear this kind of dialogues from two categories of people, either from the generation that my dad belongs to, or some of us. And whenever someone says this in front of me, my only retort is, "Thanks to you..."
Why do I say that? Coz we have no right to complain if we ourselves do nothing about it. The same people who say this are the ones who throw garbage here and there on the road, even if there is a dustbin about 2 steps away...yet when in Mauritius or Singapore, they won't do such things, they will marvel at the cleanliness not paying attention to the fact that it is the PEOPLE there who keep it clean...the ones who tell their children (without knowing what an impact it has) that Bengalis or Marwaris or Muslims are dumb, money-minded or untrustworthy...
Isn't it high time we stopped blaming each other and quit fighting amongst ourselves? We blame the government, government blames bureaucracy, bureaucracy blames politicians, brahmins blame the lower castes, Hindus blame Muslims and vice versa... Why fight amongst ourselves when we should actually be fighting against poverty, illiteracy, an ever-growing population and disease?
Every time I hear one of my students say, "He's very sly...coz he's a marwari" or "are u a sardar?" or "i don't like him...he's a Muslim." or "she's a non-vegetarian...she eats meat...she's bad." (and believe me, I hear this just tooo often)..well my blood boils...because I know exactly where they get these ideas from...I've heard their parents say this before...
And then, no matter how young they are...I reason it out with them (coz it's best to get rid of these prejudices when they're still young) and am happy to say that so far I have succeeded in making two strictly vegetarian kids tolerant of their non-veg counterparts (trust me, it IS and achievement..hehe)...and have also got rid of most of the dumb prejudices their folks consciously or unconsciously keep drilling into their minds...
Sometimes I wonder why is it that one of the first question a student asks me is if I am a sardar/marwari/punjabi? Why? Honestly, all my life I have never bothered about it...Just the other day a parent asked me if a particular girl was a marwari and I told him I donno. He said, "Well, u can make out from the surname can't u?" and I replied maybe, but I don't bother to...
That's probably coz my parents never did it either...I've spent many years of my life living with my sister and grandparents in their house, which happens to be located in an area that, in my opinion, is a pretty interesting one...a Christian family to the right, two Muslim neighbouring ones, A Sikh one on the floor above, lots of Bengali families in the same building...and it's a very close-knit community...My nanaji had a Muslim lady as his Rakhi sister and my mom ties one to her sons...
And, well, my sister and I used to keep hopping from one house to another, a Christian lunch, Punjabi snacks and a Muslim dinner...all in the same day (which may explain my present health...
So please, let's make a promise to stop dirtying our country by saying that it's already dirty and please, for God's sake, stop discriminating on the basis of one's belief in God...never ever utter any stereotypes in front of the kids...they are the future...and if we don't stop, they will indeed have to live in the future we are already cursing...
Happy Independence Day...
Comments