Friday, September 4, 2009

Where do we belong?

Recently I lost my bag and to have a duplicate DL, I had to file a police complaint. Since I cannot speak Kannada but can very well understand, I heard things like “Most of the cases are of these north-Indians only” being said, instead of doing what they are really supposed to do. They are not only being paid for the job but they also shamelessly ask for chai-paani amount in the police-station. For what!? Just a sign on a complaint letter. Not even filing an FIR.. huh!
As depicted in Chak de! India, there is surely more preference to the state or community- citizenship one belongs, than to the country-citizenship as such. The main reason I believe is, our customs are way of living and we are so used to it that we are unable to accept the other’s rituals. Soft-Racism happens everywhere and the recipient cannot protest as it is considered to be a joke (even though it really gets too-much sometimes).
I am an Indian at heart and feel this Chinese writer too audacious to write suggestively to split India. Even though to some levels, what is said might change the face of the countries which are now states! To this note I remember an instance that I have personally found racist and lived through. It was in Chandigarh during my childhood where our family was the only one South-Indian in the entire lane and everybody in other lanes also knew us due to our Madrasi status. When I grew up a bit more (around ten years old), I got to know that irrespective of somebody from Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu or Kerala; all of them are Madrasis for north-Indians in general (Kashmir to Maharashtra) and were literally teased. My parents believed in "live like Swiss in Switzerland" policy and did not impose our ritualistic rules on me in the day-to-day life, so I did not have much of teasing problems unlike others as I have seen. During our yearly trips to Kerala, we used to go to "our des" as per them. In another case, a (bank job transfer) "Madrasi" girl's father came to meet the principal requesting that she should be allowed to wear bindi, chain and bangles in school (where none of these were allowed) as it is part of "our" daily rituals. She wasn't allowed to do so due to obvious reasons but this invited lot of unwanted comments from the peers.
Well, all that said, I realized one thing extremely late in my life… :). DD(Delhi Doordarshan) showcased regional movies alphabetically every Sunday afternoon back then and I got to see a Tamil movie. This was when I could understand something in TV by listening and not by perceiving. I was shocked that I could not follow a single dialogue only to understand that the (Palakkad) Tamil we speak is not the actual Tamil. Our community is considered outsider in Kerala due to Tamil origins and now in Tamil Nadu due to Kerala settlement! During marriage alliances they particularly see for Palakkad Iyers. Similar is the case with same-communities in north-India.
I just wonder what would happen to people when they are given a choice of citizenship of a state turned country, in case India is split into 20-30 countries. I am sure there are so many people across generations who would have lived in a strikingly different place than what they would be culturally born with. Personally speaking, I want to settle down in a calm place where I can raise a couple of cows and dogs and work full-time towards environment conservation… but, if I have to make a choice of which country’s passport I should hold.. I will just go mad… :)

5 comments:

  1. good post Meenuji. I still have people asking me which country I belong to after all these years of independence. And some of them happen to be IT professionals.

    Many of my friends are married to people outside the community and I envy them sometimes. They are helping in eradicating caste and race differences.

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  2. @Arunima: Thank you ji :). hehehe.. I think irrespective of being married to same community person or not, the caste, regional or racial gaps will surely reduce in next generations as people like us are increasing, unless these politicians dont mess around too much!

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  3. Good post. I've updated my blog, wrote some poems. Do visit.

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  4. Hee!! Hee !! I have experienced this type of discriminated outlook so too frequently!! Its just all in our human gene we love to divide our self, on the basis of what ever we could find and our society in particular is one place where the word "Homogeneity " has no sense.And by the way they thought u were a north Indian at the police station!! Interestingly u do look lot like that!! Good flow of words!! Bang on!!

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  5. @Surya Kannan: Sure.
    @Karthick: Well! Thanks. and yes, there was this stand up comedian who was talking about his belonging thing, his father is from Texas and mother from california and he was brought up in new jersey and added a lot more to that. Atleast, we are not alone!!!

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