Humans, Religion and Animals - 2
Its been quite a while, since i followed up on this article. This time has provided quite a good amount of data and experience that i would love to share.
After my initial article, i received quite a few mails that tried to answer some of the questions that i had raised. I can't say that the answers were ideal, but, they did let me understand, how each individual interprets things. Some of those mails opened my eyes to the world that i was ignorant to ...
In the last few months, i have moved into US. USA, the world's richest country .. the most civilized country. Is it really so? Well, my experience around here has been quite intriguing.
In India, we divide people by religion and caste. In US, they are differentiated based on their Race n Color. Ohhh .. nothing is on the surface. The government has the same laws for everyone. But, as we enter deeper into the system, we see the subtle changes.
The best thing is about indians (or more famously termed as Desi's). Desi's around here, seem to think of themselves superior to some other races. I have seen the way, desi's make fun of other races. and, was i surprised? We run around the world saying that our country represents "Unity in Diversity" and soon as we land here, we start saying words like "chinkus", "kallus", etc ... Apart from using those words, people also start making lewd comments on them.
I remember the incident when one of my friends said "This is a worse locality .. It looks good only in daylight". I was curious and asked the reason for such a statement.. The answer really wound me up "Becoz, this is kallu's locality ... only kallu's leave here". Great!!! Gandhiji fought for so many years to remove the tag of "brown people" from our heads. And today, we term others with a worser word.
The word isn't the problem .. but, the thinking behind it does. There has been quite a lot of such instances, where the race seems to blamed for every kind of action. If a person jumps a signal, then it invariably is a "Chinku". If the person speaks in spanish, then he is a mexican. And some mexicans are looked upon like criminals here. The only crime they have done is, come in search of a better world.
The words "Bloody Indians" is something that i have heard a lot. Many ignore it, some seeth underneath and some ground their teeth. I don't understand, how we can expect something, when we ourselves act in that way.
Have i gotten into any such incidents? The answer is No ... probably it is my luck or it is the varied characteristics in my workplace. I work in a place, which is a mixture of people frm different parts of the world. In fact, my team itself is heterogenous. Some of them scorn on our country's state and some express interest and amazement.
The Journey from Religion, Caste to Races n Nationality hasn't changed anything. It just takes us to the next level of differentiation.
I can remember a phrase from the book "Lost World", which talks about evolution. "The world cannot be destroyed by us mere humans. This earth has withstood assaults far worser than this. The only thing that we will end up doing is destroying ourselves ... moving onto the next phase of evolution and life will find its way".
--> to be continued