"I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
~Langston Hughes, The Black Man Speaks"
At times very small things do mean a lot. At times there might be no intention towards the meaning of a word or phrase, but still it does leave its impact huge, unintentionally.
I 'again' went through a similar feeling, the previous evening at work. Though I had a zillion things accumulated in my mind to what the next post would talk about, ranging from Obama to Chandrayan, work related to tourism, poetry to prose, I chose to blog this incident which is not new to me (and many others) but still has the same effect as it would if it would've been.
It was a normal day with the usual satirical humour and fun at work.
"hey you Punjaban", he said to a lady friend who hails from north of India
"Shut up! you Mallu", she replied him as he's from Kerala.
As we are close friends at work, I chose to get involved to break free from the routine boring work, and have some fun and commented at the lady "oye, Punjaban kudi" (hey, girl from Punjab), at which she promptly retorted "You keep quiet, Pakistani !"
That word hit me like a nuclear missile. Initially I tried to put it off as a mere joke, but couldn't fit it in any kind of humour. Infact, it infuriated me, though I was definite she was joking and did not mean it. Its not the first time. I've been through it, heard and seen a lot but remained silent. Today I choose not to.
If it was a joke, why Pakistani? Why not Iraqi, Afghani or a Saud? No, why outside India? Why not any Indian community - Kannadiga or Bangalorean? She's from Punjab and called a punjaban - agreed. He's from Kerala and is called a mallu - and so he is, no offence. I am from Bangalore, Karnataka which is very much in India. I have no relation with Pakistan, nor have I ever been there, nor am I associated with it in any way. Oh, is it because I am a Muslim?. Interesting - but aren't there any Muslims in Iraq? Egypt? Saudi? Turkey? Indonesia? Australia? Europe? UK? US of A ? or INDIA ???? or do I need to go through the 'patriotic tests' of reciting vande mataram or being a part of bhoomi puja ?
India is secular nation - on papers and history text books. This is a small incident with a common Indian like me, and many more out there who are victims of this hatred spread by the "true and trustworthy" media. I'm not talking about those bigger issues which made news of not renting/selling a house to a Muslim, the hindutva policy, the recent attacks on churches and Christians in Karnataka, the fake Batla house encounter case, the Shaheen bagh case, the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin and claiming pride in it by Mr.Modi, the terror blasts, the Malegaon case, the Babri masjid, the 1982 Sikh riots or the 2002 Gujarat massacre.
Its a small name calling "joke", which I tried my best to laugh it out, but I could not and I never can.
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
~Langston Hughes, The Black Man Speaks"
At times very small things do mean a lot. At times there might be no intention towards the meaning of a word or phrase, but still it does leave its impact huge, unintentionally.
I 'again' went through a similar feeling, the previous evening at work. Though I had a zillion things accumulated in my mind to what the next post would talk about, ranging from Obama to Chandrayan, work related to tourism, poetry to prose, I chose to blog this incident which is not new to me (and many others) but still has the same effect as it would if it would've been.
It was a normal day with the usual satirical humour and fun at work.
"hey you Punjaban", he said to a lady friend who hails from north of India
"Shut up! you Mallu", she replied him as he's from Kerala.
As we are close friends at work, I chose to get involved to break free from the routine boring work, and have some fun and commented at the lady "oye, Punjaban kudi" (hey, girl from Punjab), at which she promptly retorted "You keep quiet, Pakistani !"
That word hit me like a nuclear missile. Initially I tried to put it off as a mere joke, but couldn't fit it in any kind of humour. Infact, it infuriated me, though I was definite she was joking and did not mean it. Its not the first time. I've been through it, heard and seen a lot but remained silent. Today I choose not to.
If it was a joke, why Pakistani? Why not Iraqi, Afghani or a Saud? No, why outside India? Why not any Indian community - Kannadiga or Bangalorean? She's from Punjab and called a punjaban - agreed. He's from Kerala and is called a mallu - and so he is, no offence. I am from Bangalore, Karnataka which is very much in India. I have no relation with Pakistan, nor have I ever been there, nor am I associated with it in any way. Oh, is it because I am a Muslim?. Interesting - but aren't there any Muslims in Iraq? Egypt? Saudi? Turkey? Indonesia? Australia? Europe? UK? US of A ? or INDIA ???? or do I need to go through the 'patriotic tests' of reciting vande mataram or being a part of bhoomi puja ?
India is secular nation - on papers and history text books. This is a small incident with a common Indian like me, and many more out there who are victims of this hatred spread by the "true and trustworthy" media. I'm not talking about those bigger issues which made news of not renting/selling a house to a Muslim, the hindutva policy, the recent attacks on churches and Christians in Karnataka, the fake Batla house encounter case, the Shaheen bagh case, the fake encounter killing of Sohrabuddin and claiming pride in it by Mr.Modi, the terror blasts, the Malegaon case, the Babri masjid, the 1982 Sikh riots or the 2002 Gujarat massacre.
Its a small name calling "joke", which I tried my best to laugh it out, but I could not and I never can.
