India is my country, I am an Indian. It is always so easy to say this
and even act proud about it, in spite of knowing, we all are still divided. The
different religions, the castes, sub-castes, the traditions, the different
cultures in different states, the different cultures in the different towns in
the states; it is an exhaustive list. Every time I think about all this, I am
reminded of what my Social Science teacher had once told me in my 7th standard.
‘In spite of it all, we are united by a single force called nationality’, she
had said. Yes, indeed. But, do we really need a so-called ‘force’? is it not a
thought?
There was a rather funny thing that happened at office, recently. I work
in an organization with 80% Chinese, 5% Indians, 5% from other countries. We
were having a general discussion about the various festivals in our countries.
One of my colleagues asked to me, ‘Are you Hindi?’. I instantly thought I was
being asked that question because, I was talking about Diwali.
(I remembered how I had tried to explain to a couple of North Indians
about how the festival is celebrated on a grand scale in the southern part of
India, as well) I gave them all a mini lecture about how every Indian cannot
talk Hindi, how it is unnecessary to learn the language as long as we do not
travel to or have any interactions with the northern part of India. My
colleagues gave me a perplexed look. ‘Don’t you talk Indian?” they asked. I
quickly realised they were talking about the religion ‘Hindu’. I felt stupid
about how easily I had started defending my language, my state and, in that, I
had tried to show we all are different.
I come from a modern Brahmin family. My parents have been well educated. They
never told me anything against any religion, culture or practice or against any
person who is different from me, in these areas. Nobody told me anything;
nothing good, nothing bad. But, now when I think about it, I feel I
chose to see the difference. In school, I have always tried to find out if my
friend was a vegetarian or not. If he was a vegetarian, where he was from or
what language he can talk. If he can talk my language, I would try to find out
if he belongs to my caste, my sect and what not.
What is it with me? Why do I think like this? I ranted on with my best
friend about it. ‘We all think like that babes, but, we all are Indians’, she
said. I did not understand her fully and I could not really decide if she was
right or wrong. I was only left with the question about whether the thinking
process of all Indians’ need a change or if self-acceptance is, as they say,
the ‘tried and tested’ mantra.
