I am so happy that i can finally introduce myself as an Indian!!! all the years i was growing up in Indian, i was of South Indian parentage so a Mallu (a colloquial way of addressing a Keralite!!). I grew up in Maharashtra ...and there not a month that goes by, without me thanking my lucky stars for having been born in Pune. Such a peace full city, where a girl is not mauled on the roads and i grew up taking peace and law and order for granted. Then i met my husband in college and it was a big change for my parents and me, because i was going to go and settle in Assam a north eastern state. Now there too i was a mallu and though i learnt the language and food and other cultural practices of the region, i was an outsider for all practical purposes.
I used to crave for an India where we did not have stupid divides on the basis on language and caste or region we grew up in .....alas that was never to be !!!!!!!!
Life changed so much when i shifted to Bahrain ....when i was meeting people from countries other than India ...i could finally introduce myself as an Indian!!!!!!!! I should admit that all the people from India and that is me included, are so conditioned to asking each other as to where one is from, it is such a conversation starter for Indians. We tend to judge people on the basis of the state we belong to, and use that as a starting point of our conversation and to form an opinion on what each of us thinks of the other. Sometimes this leads to a prejudiced opinion being formed in the minds of people.
Many a time I am asked if i belong to Goa based on the non accented English i speak. In Assam when i spoke non accented Hindi, i would get people giving me confused stares and it used to make me smile. The sad part was when it comes to working, the fact that i am born and brought up in Maharashtra did not matter. I was a south Indian and labelled as such, the fact that i can not read or write my mother tongue was of no consequence. No one even cared for or asked me as to which state in India I identified with? no one ever thought that to be of any importance.
India is a very unique country with such vast language,customs and cultural differences....but we Indians fail to rise above petty things and see the whole picture at times. In the metros it is not so apparent, i have also seen this disregard for ones identity in very remote areas too. When i was working as a research assistant in Pune i used to travel to remote areas of Nashik, and when interacting people there, i did notice that people are very simple and straight forward in their dealings with us city folk. They never tired to find out if i belonged to their state or no, i was accepted on face value of the NGO i was associated with and accepted as human being .....no questions asked or me being probed to find out my roots so to speak of......
I do have to admit it is only when dealing with people of other nationalities, does one really introduce oneself as an Indian and no further questions asked Period!!! ....... Whew Finally !!!!!! and i like that a lot sometimes .....yes i do ......
I used to crave for an India where we did not have stupid divides on the basis on language and caste or region we grew up in .....alas that was never to be !!!!!!!!
Life changed so much when i shifted to Bahrain ....when i was meeting people from countries other than India ...i could finally introduce myself as an Indian!!!!!!!! I should admit that all the people from India and that is me included, are so conditioned to asking each other as to where one is from, it is such a conversation starter for Indians. We tend to judge people on the basis of the state we belong to, and use that as a starting point of our conversation and to form an opinion on what each of us thinks of the other. Sometimes this leads to a prejudiced opinion being formed in the minds of people.
Many a time I am asked if i belong to Goa based on the non accented English i speak. In Assam when i spoke non accented Hindi, i would get people giving me confused stares and it used to make me smile. The sad part was when it comes to working, the fact that i am born and brought up in Maharashtra did not matter. I was a south Indian and labelled as such, the fact that i can not read or write my mother tongue was of no consequence. No one even cared for or asked me as to which state in India I identified with? no one ever thought that to be of any importance.
India is a very unique country with such vast language,customs and cultural differences....but we Indians fail to rise above petty things and see the whole picture at times. In the metros it is not so apparent, i have also seen this disregard for ones identity in very remote areas too. When i was working as a research assistant in Pune i used to travel to remote areas of Nashik, and when interacting people there, i did notice that people are very simple and straight forward in their dealings with us city folk. They never tired to find out if i belonged to their state or no, i was accepted on face value of the NGO i was associated with and accepted as human being .....no questions asked or me being probed to find out my roots so to speak of......
I do have to admit it is only when dealing with people of other nationalities, does one really introduce oneself as an Indian and no further questions asked Period!!! ....... Whew Finally !!!!!! and i like that a lot sometimes .....yes i do ......
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