Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Denial

Andrew Symonds recently accused Harbhajan Singh of passing a Racist comment. An enquiry found Harbhajan guilty as accused. There was a lot of understandable indignation and anger in the Indian media, as the verdict may have been passed without solid evidence (if media reports are to be believed). India was also denied a victory at Sydney due to very poor umpiring and hence the chance to win a series on Australian soil for the first time. We all know that this team had the ability to win the series and I was devastated on the final day when we lost. I also believe that the judgment against Bhajji was unfair if the evidence was not solid. Being a fanatic fan of the Indian Test cricket team I was very upset and angry as well.

Additionally, in the media, there was a strong sentiment of our National pride being hurt. The argument being, “how can an Indian be accused of being racist, after all, we have suffered Racism for so many years so how can we ever be racist? We are from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and hence none of us can ever be racist”. This was the position that many eminent speakers on talk shows took with much drama and emotion. This emotion was only to be outdone by the “public” that applauded with gusto expressing their agreement.

The Aussie media and some of the so called “evolved” English press in India have responded to this by saying that India has a long history of the caste system and hence are as racist as any one else, so where does the question of National pride being hurt arise? According to me the caste system in India has more or less died in the urban professional India at least. No one has ever asked me what caste I am from and I have never seen or been in any discussion around caste. There may be a metro bias in this, but at least here I can see a change. The intelligentsia of India does not like the caste system, and hence it will die eventually as the free economy comes in fully. But most, including the intelligentsia, do not understand the true nature of racism in India.

I have myself suffered racism several times. I have a point of view on many things and am vocal and persuasive in my arguments, especially when I am in the company of people I consider friends. In such situations, I have often found “friends” referring to my Bihari lineage to make the point that some how my perspective is less valuable. How, I have seethed at famous the joke, “we will give you Kashmir if you take Bihar”. I have heard many stories of “Harry” students being openly ridiculed in Delhi University. Okay -this is my story– so you may not be able to relate to the emotions fully. Let me give you some more instances. Many South Indians in Delhi face racism of the worst type; the “Madrasi” is not man enough, they say, to handle the tough jobs. The ability to handle the tough calls are considered beyond the average Madrasi. North Indians are openly looked down upon in Madras – it is extremely difficult for an unmarried North Indian boy to find a house in Madras, as there is always a question over his moral character. UP Bhaiyyas in Mumbai...I can go on and on. I recently was in the company of some of India’s best-known bloggers and one of them made a comment that “dilliwaala” is an abuse in Bombay – and some how it seemed to amuse this very eminent group. I can assure you this group would have abhorred casteism but yet, found this comment quite funny. Begali's, Tam Brams, Malaylees, Sikhs, Punjabis, Sindhis and people from the North East States are some of the other communities that suffer riducle often in India simply becasue of where they come from. (Of course all in good humour!!). I know that who ever you are and from whichever part of the country you come from, you would have been in at least one situation in your life when you would have been judged (not positively) because of your native state. Do leave a comment on this post if this has not happened to you. It will make me very happy to know that I was wrong.

The point really is that while casteism exists only in a certain demographic group today, regional racism is still very much a part of even the urban modern professional Indian consciousness. The worst part is that this is not even recognized as racism. The argument being that it is done in a very harmless manner and people are only joking when they make comments about where you come from. I say, “Bullshit” - this is complete denial.

In my book you are being racist, if you judge some one negatively because of his race or where he comes from. Not just due to the colour of their skin. All racism, when it starts, starts as a joke. But then slowly it seeps into the thinking of kids as they grow up and then one day it divides society and becomes a menace. Till that point the society is always in denial. There are many examples of this in the modern world history. The worst ramification of racism was the ethnic cleansing of Jews in Hitler’s Germany. Even this started as a joke, then went on to cartoons in newspapers with Jews being depicted as having long noses and funny jokes being made about them. There were many Jews even who also laughed at these jokes being made by their friends – “because if friends are doing it its ok” right? Draw your own parallels.

I am not saying that the situation here is anything close to what it ever was for the Jews and will never be. We are a great nation and we manage our diversity quite well compared to the rest of the world. However, the least we can do is to concede that National pride should not be hurt if an Indian is accused of being Racist. Lets not be in such a large collective denial.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dev,

Excellent post....promise you will send a reply to this post of yours. This post requires some intense thought...I have been guilty of making the "BiHarry jokes" on this blog...plz accept my apologies...those "jokes" were tasteless and juvenile, looking back. However, I need to play Devil's advocate...will give you some perspective on what I see here in N America and how policital correctness has engendered paranoia.....

Sri

Dev said...

Thanks Sri. Thanks a lot.

C'mon there is no need to apologise ! :-)

Rajesh Kumar said...

Excellent post, Dev. I felt this is exceptionally well written, and more so, since the subject is so sensitive.

Dev said...

thanks a lot Rajesh. Coming from you, I will take it as a very big compliment.

Anonymous said...

Nice post. The things you point out are real - however, I'll make a distinction between the very real parochial loathing that you mention (example attitudes to north indians in madras and bombay) and the parochial jokes. Being able to make these jokes (about virtually any group of people) and getting away with it, IMO, is indicative of a society that has matured to an extent. It's not just Biharis - everyone seems to be at the receiving end at some time or the other - you name it. Of course, one wouldn't make jokes to a muslim about their ethnicity - because a real issue does exist there. But with everyone else, I guess people do realise that there *is* no real issue and so everyone is fair game, in a sense.

Dev said...

Sonul (Dev Abhishek) - you are very right and I understand this. Yes, there is a big difference between loathing of certain communities in certain places vs the "leg pulling" by friends, you arde absolutely right. Also, I agree that if we brand this form of leg pulling as racism then we are looking at a paranoid type of sanitized society that US is becoming - i understand all that. However, what needs some consideration is that this continuous leg pulling and joking leads to impressions being formed at a subliminal level about communities "in general" and here is the big risk. Over time, these harmelss jokes lead to impressions being formed, the impression leads to loathing and loathing leads to hatred and so on. We are still a very young nation and hence we have probably not been through the whole cycle with any one communnity in general (with the exception of the Sikh massacre in 84.But, wont you agree that in world histroy, there are enough examples of chains of hatred development starting with harmless jokes around "enthinicity". What works i guess in our favour is that there are enough of us from various states and you always have the chance of joking back and yes in that sense it become a fair game - but there will always be some one who will be a minority, say some one from the north east. he would not look at it as fair game as in his case it would be him having to joke back to 24 other guys (guys from variuos states in India), who look at him as different from their collective identity.

Anonymous said...

Dev,
I do agree with most of your points but as Abishek rightly pointed out you need to have boundary with you jokes and hurting one's sentiments. I do not agree a joke by your friend in right spirit counts as Racism be it about your region etc. but it has to be within the right boundaries of decancy.
But the same joke or comments from a stranger should not be acceptable.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you Dev. Its easy for people to say its not racism when you are not on the receiving end.

Growing up, as a kid I've had other kids make fun of my ethnicity (to some of the glorified fair skinned North Indians, anyone who is dark skinned is a "Madrasi"). There was a very dark skinned chap in my society, who was nick named Ambrose (and not in the positive sense).
Every now and then you hear digs on Sardarji's, and they are usually considered the simpleton in the joke.
Of course as a grown-up I've seldom heard someone say anything derogatory, probably because as a professional I'm surrounded by the educated and civilized elite. But the scum still remains inside, and usually surfaces when there is a conflict.
A year back in Mumbai, I witnessed an incident in the local train where the party at the receiving said something derogatory about the ethnicity. It shook me to the core, and left me wondering ...are we sitting on the edge of something disastrous?

How do we counter it? When you hear someone crack a joke or make such comments, even if it is in jest, stop it there.

Anonymous said...

Hello Dev,


I have waited for the past couple of days or so, to comment on your post because it is a very deep topic and as one visitor to your blog said, it is a "sensitive" topic. Amen to that. Dev, I do not know where to begin. Let me, first of all, thank you for being very mature but honest in your appraisal of the situation, as you see it. I hope I can do some justice to your uber post, by adding my own two-pence.

1. Dev, we are living in fool's paradise if we say that casteism does not exist (and, by casteism, I do not mean only "lower" caste folks being discriminated against but vice vesa too). I am sorry but it does prevail. The fact is, guys like you and me, have, more or less, interacted and lived in somewhat cosmopolitan environs, wherein caste has never been used as a tool to judge a human being. I lived in that notion till I came to SIT. Since I know Kannada, I got a chance to interact with a lot of people from different parts of Karnataka. The anti-Brahmin feeling that exists was a cataclysmic revelation to me. I had no idea that Brahmins were hated so much. And, this hatred was being spouted by "educated" individuals, who were born in the mid to late 1970's, who never ever faced institutionalized casteism themselves but, unfortunately, had allowed themselves to be brainwashed, without any critical thinking of their own, to regard all Brahmins as bad and evil and so on. I was in the company of some friends here in the US and was shocked beyond belief when they started using phrases like..." typical of those Brahmins"...."they call themselves Brahmins and yet eat meat and drink alcohol"...I could go on and on....the point was say something negative and give vent to their ill-will. With all due respect, Dev, I am glad that you have not encountered such casteist prejudice but, believe me, it exists. You have lived in a bubble that has protected you from casteism. What about the blatant use of caste in our politics, nationwide, Dev? For eg -- our Andhra friends in SIT -- they were always divided on basis of caste -- Kummas, Chowdharys, Reddys, Naidus, etc. What about Tamil Nad? What about Karnataka -- there is tremendous casteism that exists when it comes to Lingayats and Gowdas, for eg. I do not want to mention anything about North India -- it is a cesspool of casteism. You go to some of the smaller urban areas and villages and the way some upper caste people treat some of the lower caste folks makes me wonder if they are still frozen in the 1800s. Dev, you hung out with some very good guys man (Sudham, Ram, Abhi, Dinu, etc). Believe me, you were very lucky that you found these people as buddies. But, they were the exception and not the norm. Casteism may not be institutionalized like before (with exceptions like Mandal Commission) but, boy, are you being idealistic and "cut off" from the realities of the situation! See, we are a country of more than a billion people. You and me may hang out in that part of India that does not care about caste but there is a huge, dark underbelly for whom caste is a BIG deal. It matters in politics, it matters in people getting appointed to positions of responsibility in private and public sectors, it matters in matrimonial decision making, it matters in people clinging own to stereotypes passed on from generation to generation. I am not saying it is good but the fact is it matters (unfortunately). We are still a young country (as you have correctly stated) and we need some generations before the yoke of caste will be loosened (if not completely broken). God willing, we will get there some day, but it will take a lot of time before we get there.

2. On racism, brother, I can unequivocally state that we are a racist bunch. Again, racism is not just prejudice against people of darker skin tones. Look at how we treat the fair skinned people (i.e. Caucasians). You see any Bollywood movie and the whites are always characterized as one with "loose morals" and people who are "available", if you know what I mean. And, I am not even talking of Mr Bharat's Purab aur Paschim. Look at the way our music videos (like Daler Mehndi, for eg) and our Bollywood movies go to foreign locations and have scantily clad young, white women gyrating in skimpy clothes. What message are we sending out? That your average tourist in Kochi or Goa or Rajasthan is a whore?!!! Isn't it a matter of shame that white women tourists (especially when travelling alone) are raped on the streets of India -- whatever happened to that Swiss diplomat who was raped near Siri Fort auditorium (plz forgive me...I forget the name of that auditorium)?! Recently, under-aged Sweidh tourists were molested in Kerala (during New Year's -- http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=7644529b-c0a1-4eab-ba08-65a474a7f2c1&MatchID1=4628&TeamID1=1&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1165&MatchID2=4621&TeamID3=3&TeamID4=4&MatchType2=2&SeriesID2=1164&PrimaryID=4628&Headline=Foreigners+in+Kochi+complain+of+harrasment). I recollect few years back, an older Australian lady (in her 50s) got raped by some taxiwallah in Delhi (sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13432221) and (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/573866.cms). This was a person who loved India and loved our culture and came to India for a spiritual journey, only to get raped and murdered. Aren't we being prejudiced? And, as you have so eloquently stated, we live in denial! We are Indians -- we do not engage in that kind of "ashlesh" behavior, as they say in Hindi. What about how we treat Africans and other dark skinned people? I have heard of cases in Mumbai and Pune, for eg, where African students have been denied rental space. It is shocking to see some Indian-owned businesses treat their Mexican employees and some of their dark-skinned clients in the US. They come to India and pose themselves as NRI success stories, but at what cost? Dev, I have personally seen the "hatred" in some desi business peoples' eyes when they have Somalian or Ethiopian customers who come to their shops to buy stuff like suitcases or some electronic goods, etc. I recollect a scene (I think, in Dil Chahta Hain) in which Saif Ali Khan is in an elevator with this huge black man. And, Saif boyishly asks, "Are you Muhammed Ali?" How sick is that?! Isn't that being racist? Are all black men Muhammed Ali? Finally, for all those deniers out there, plz check this article by Mukul Kesavan on Cricinfo re: the way Symonds was treated by some Indian fans. Plz pay attention to the photograph in that article. It is disgusting, beyond words.

http://content-www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/316219.html

3. You have gone into details on regionalism in our country. I do not see the necessity to expand, except that it is prevalent all over. If regionalism is not another avatar of widespread prejudice, then I am 10 feet tall.

4. Which leads me to the interesting comments in the thread between you, your older brother and others. Where do we draw the line?! "Leg pulling" (as I was trying to clumsily do by calling you a "BiHarry" and Amar a "Madrasi") does not have greatly defined boundary man. In the US, thanks to their relatively streamlined judiciary, it is very easy to sue people for harassment, be it on basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Unfortunately, Dev, it has strerilized life here because everyone is afraid of being sued. There is no "ras" at all. If you ever get a chance, just watch some of the stand-up performances of the Rat Pack and other great comedians of the first half of the last century. They constantly make fun of each other's ethnic background -- Sammy Davis Jr being the black dude, Sinatra and Dean Martin being the Italians, Joey Bishop being the Jew and so on....just like Sardars in India, the POles were the butt of people's jokes in that period of time....but you know what, as your brother put it, people enjoy those jokes becuase they were not politically correct. Here were a bunch of pals getting together, having a cigar and some booze and making jokes at each other's expense. In today's US, first of all due to building regulations and threat of casinos being sued by visitors with cancer and other diseases, they will not allow smoking. Secondly, so-called activists and advocates would not allow boozing on stage. And then you'd have the Anti-Defamation League suing you if you made Jew jokes, you'd have the African American organizations suing you if you made black jokes, you'd have the Italian American organizations suing you if you made comments on Italians. The irony being the guys making these jokes being black or Jewish or Italian themselves! I pray to God that we never ever have that situation in India. That we do not get so sissified of not "hurting" anyone's "sentiments". I could go on and on man...for eg, there was a school district in Connecticut recently that stated something like a team could not beat its opponents by big margins because they did not want to "hurt" the self-confidence levels of those kids that were losing. It is crazy man...beyond words. Do we want India to end up like that?! Having said all this, I guess the "leg pulling" is okay with friends and others with the implicit assumption that the attempt is not to hurt/offend anyone. Otherwise, it is important to be judicious in our respective attempts to be funny and not take the liberty of taking potshots at folks.

5. Bottomline, Dev, is for us as a country to accept that we have faults, along with the many positives that our culture has blessed us with. We have to be man enough to address those faults instead of trying to sweep realities under the carpet. If we are mature enough to acknowledge our shortcomings, we can then start addressing them. We will all be better off, individually and as a nation.

Jai Hind!

Sri

Anonymous said...

Amongst all the posts made so far, there is a sense of loathing of divisiveness in general. This loathing is indeed natural, because it is the spirit of the human psyche to seek unity, not its opposite.
There is, in addition, a more commonplace issue here. Different communities, due to their different cultural standpoints, tolerate being joked about differently. While most Sikhs would take being joked about in a positive sense, this may not be the case with most Bengalis. An exception is my boss, a Bengali. As Sonul (Dev Abhishek) pointed out, this sort of joking generally happens when the party making the joke realizes that there is no real issue. In some cases, however, when it crosses limits of propriety, it tends to reflect a low sense of self-respect in the person making the joke. Naked aggression is usually a result of inner weakness.
I have, fortunately, never personally encountered offensive Bihari jokes. 30% of my batchmates in college were Biharis, so it could be that they were too many of them to be joked about derisively. I have encountered jokes within Biharis like the Maithil-Bhumihar jokes, but was never offended because they were obviously in a mode of childish one-upmanship and not intended to truly offend.
My guess is that such naked aggression is usually prevalent in high-stress jobs, somewhat akin to the sledging that the Australian team does on the field in order to break the batman’s concentration. Since winning is the only objective in both cases, everything else, including verbal propriety, becomes secondary. As in the case of the Australian team, the sledging (or equivalent, in a different professional scenario) starts when they sense that they might lose. Such thinking gradually begins to affect them at a subliminal level, as you put it, until it becomes natural behaviour. I cannot venture to guess in how many people it eventually becomes hatred, but a fair estimate would say not many.
The sort of hatred one sees in communal violence is driven by larger motives such as political patronage or major social upheavals such as partition. The sort of violence you’re referring to is less intense, but equally direct. The jokes you were talking about in Hitler’s time were politically motivated by Hitler’s party. They are, in that sense, different from jokes about Sikhs or Bengalis. Hitler already had a master plan that perhaps included killing of Jews. The jokes were only part of the process.
The two issues are different. One is socio-political, while the other is personal. They need to be looked at differently. Racism exists at the personal level. We are no less racist than white-skinned people in that sense, because in both cases the root causes are based in the individual, not the society. I’ve known perfectly good Caucasian people who were far from racist. On the other hand, I’ve also seen that a good many of them, when they happen to be in India, carry themselves with an air of superiority, and have personally encountered behaviour that suggested as much. Both of these have roots in the individual. In some people these roots may have a socio-political influence, such as with white-skinned racism, while in others it may be influenced by brainless repetition, such as the racism in Delhi against Biharis. The situations are extremely varied, and so are the manifestations.

Anonymous said...

Good Job Rajul.

Sanjay

Anonymous said...

Hi Dev,
This is Patrick Manoj from SIT.
Heard you are doing well. Nice to know. You were one of the most dynamic personalities i came across in SIT.
Loved your post. Reminded me of a comment from a Kenyan student in Chennai. He said India is the worst racist country he has ever traveled to.
He was never given a room to stay on rent with any of the families and had to depend on the expensive Hostel. Even the law does not support him.(In US, no one can deny a room advertised for rent, if the person can prove funds).
At the airports, he was always more throughly frisked.
I guess even in the elite Metros, there is racisim of color.

-Patrick Manoj
San Francisco, CA

Dev said...

Hi Patrick - Nice to hear from you after such a long time.And thanks for your Kind words :-)

Dev said...

Sri - Thanks for your comment and contribution to the discussion on this forum. It has added to the perspective

Mitul (Dev Anshul) - you make a good point about how Hitler example is a bit misplaced in my original post. I agree. I do not agree that Racism/aggression in general has anything to do with the levels of stress in the environment. Probably a latent trait may get more visible in such an environment, thats all. Thanks for your perspective.

Anonymous said...

Hello Dev,

Thank you for being the "moderator" of this forum -- you were always a natural leader and this blog is an extension of that....

I just want to second couple of Patrick's points -- plz do not be worried if anyone remembers your SIT legacy. Believe me, man, there are lots of us who do and we thank you for your leadership and your ability to communicate with one and all. It helped break many peoples' parochial outlooks. The point that Patrick makes about that Kenyan student is not unique. I have heard several students from Africa being ill-treated in India (as mentioned before). Now that India is a potent member of the international community, we cannot afford such embarassment. It does not reflect well on our country as an aspiring world leader. We have to reflect on this individually and as a society.

Sri

Anonymous said...

Dev,

Quick update on Project Tiger being relaunched by the Govt -- for those of you who may be interested:

http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-31676720080130

I hope this is not only window dressing though, to show conservationists the world over that the GoI is doing something to protect the tiger.

Sri

Anonymous said...

Dev,

Just found this latest article on Cricinfo, on Indians and reacism. Funny, he has also usedt eh word 'Denial' in his article. Dude, your post was better than this article but I am so happy for the writer that he is discussing this openly (important in a global village paradigm). I hope visitors to your blog check the article out:

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/334413.html

Sri

Dev said...

sri - may be the Cricinfo writer was "inspired" from the aditprincess post :0)) - just kidding !

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha ha....that's a good one....but, seriously, you know what...this goes back to the very first post of your blog in October in which you expressed something about being a part-time jholawalla i.e. writer/musician, etc. After I read the Cricinfo piece, I was thinking to myself that, in fact, your piece had more passion, more insight and was more in-depth man. Have you thought of contacting someone in one of your local newspaper's staff and asking them to take a look at your writing samples? Just a thought...

Sri

Dev said...

yes, i have sri and some people have shown interest. i am not ready for it as yet...want it to be at my speed and at my time. Its the book that i am thinking about tho - if that starts i will focus all my energies on it. one day god willing

Anonymous said...

Hi Dev

The Oxford Dictionary defines racism as "The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race". In other words, it is a belief that human beings are divided into more than one race with members of some races believing they are superior or inferior to members of other races. (Whether calling someone a monkey is racist (if in case Bhajji did use the word) is therefore debatable.

Having said that - does racism or casteism or colourism exist in the world - without doubt yes.
Ideally, no one in his right frame of mind would want to be racist or casteist, blah blah blah. The trick would be to put ourselves to test each time the opportunity presented itself.

1. At work - if you were given an opportunity to pick between 2 candidates - both equally competent - one an Indian and the other a foreigner - whom would you pick - the Indian or the foreigner.
2. If you were given the same test - and instead you had to choose between a BiHarry and a Tam Brahm or any other Regional person - whom would you choose?

The moot question is " Can we have an ideal world without any form of bias or prejudice or discrimination" - yes definitely - in an "IDEAL' world. Unfortunately, the real world is where we all exist in. As intelligent, well read human beings, we can only make an effort to remove all forms of discrimination and hope like hell that one day/some day we will get to see the ideal world.

Keep writing

Ashok

Dev said...

Ashok - You are right, we all need to try. That was the whole point of writing this post. Thanks for your comment.

Ridhesh Sharma said...

Hi Dev,

Your blog is a wonderful read, and in IMT style, am sure you would have been one of the foremost bhasadis of your batch. Hope I am forgiven for the insolence.

As far as this post is concerned, I quite agree with you on most points, and even relate to a few of the contributors above. I believe the fact that I have lived for 11 years in South India, has given me the outlook to view regional racism with a balanced viewpoint.

However, during your discourse on the subject of racism, you mentioned that you believe that the caste system may have died in the urban professional India, and since the Intelligentsia does not regard the caste system, it will die its eventual death. On this, I could but not agree with you. You see, I fail to see how we classify intelligentsia here. Is it the group of highly educated professionals coming from the top institues of India into plush jobs and becoming a part of the corporate world. If this is a definition of the group, then is it really possible that these very people may never have been racial in any of their undertakings before?

Let me not beat around the bush here. I have been targetted by people (educated,cultured, etc etc) during Engineering for being a Brahmin, a North Indian many times. I was also picked on for not being from Bihar or Bengal, as most of my seniors and batch mates were. Now, my point is, today many of the people who picked on me/targeted me, or even spoke of my lineage are in good jobs, some even en route to senior corporate jobs. So I fail to understand how this group would have changed dramatically, to have altered their viewpoints.

To me, the so called intelligentsia, the educated class also has believed/practiced some form of racism. And hence, it escapes me, how they would have changed over the years, something which they may have practiced for a long time.

I think there is a deep rooted sense of casteism in all of us. We may not profess to it openly, but somewhere or the other, in certain circumstances, it may cross our mind to if not question the caste, then the region, religion, gender, color, etc., while judging other people and their capabilities. It is a fact which we can not hide from.

I think it is an innate quality in every human to feel pride in from where he comes, which further leads to ego, which needs to be satisfied, usually at the expense of someone else, usually the minority.

All in all, as a young Indian, it is but one of the ills which afflicts our country, and I am happy that at least there are people ready to come up and discuss the issue. I would say the eventual step would be to cure the ill.

Hope I have been able to express my views clearly

Regards

Ridhesh

Dev said...

Thanks Ridhesh for visiting and for your comments. I have understood your views, but, I still hold on to observation on casteism, simply becasue its an observation and not a view. I feel the need to be professional in our kind of lives overules the inherent propensity to be casteist (assuming u r right about the propensity existing). That may be the only reason for behaviour of the same people being different.

Anonymous said...

Hey Rajul,Just saw your blog.Priya has sent it to me. Interesting topic.Nothing has changed much.When Iwas at NID,before you were born,someone told me i could not be a bihari because I looked wellfed.Hah-ofcourse I was wellfed.I just laughed for a long time.Now in 2006 a southindian girl in Singapore told Richa "you should not tell anyone your origin is Bihari".Well Richa easily told her off.My point is, It doesnt matter how many degrees one has,what matters is how well EDUCATED one is.Most of the Indians have" COOP-MANDOOK"(closed -mind)mentality.Everyone is happy in their own little well and they think they know all.Its not only in India even abroad you come across ignorant people.When ignorance and arrogance combines then you have some really stupid people.Then their are Polititions who love to divide people at any cost.Cast system ,race blah blahs are used by them to get votes.We dont need them.We need lessons in national integration.
But as you have said you do have a group of people who are above all this,it may be a small group but its a start.The more people start to accept the flaws in our society,the better it will become.
Give my love to Princess Aditi.
Pipi.

Anonymous said...

What my mom said!

Dev said...

thanks pipi and toshi