"Unity in Diversity"???? That's What They Say...
"unity in diversity".... thats been india's catch phrase; her trump card over the rest of the world... thats one phrase we've all used at some point in time or the other.... in our essays; in skits; in speeches... yes... indeed its something to be proud about.... if only, it were true...
im going to try n keep this post as neutral as possible... i aint going to be mud-flinging any particular sect or any particular state... true, we are all to blame... probably even im prejudiced... i hope to all goodness i never let it over-rule my better judgement though...
wat triggered this entry was a recent visit to bangalore... the train journey was all i could have hoped it to be... the train was doing great time, n the company was as wonderful as it gets... cuz , aunt, mom n sis... n as ive always thought bangalore was a fun place to go to, i was pretty much excited about the trip... come station-pre-paid auto stand... now this is where the trouble began... our auto-driver happened to be a fanatic... (to say the least)... he said something in hindi, to which i responded in hindi (thanking my stars that id had hindi as my 2nd lang all my life)... anywayz, i had gauged the guy all wrong... its so happens this guy suffers from i-can-talk-any-lang-but-u-shud-talk-only-in-kannada-itis... he went all crazy n started asking me to speak in kannada... if i cud, i wud! but i know one word in kannada n that happens to be "neeru", coz my friend used to keep saying my name meant "water" in her lang! (so yup, if im dying of thirst, id know how to survive... but uh huh.... cant say i know anything else)... well... getting back to the auto guy... he then said something in english (well dear dear english! the lang i love!)... replied in english... guy went berserk again... and started indicating symptoms of ICTALBYSTOIK-itis again.... bugging! to say the least... n then he scoffed at us for not knowing where our hotel was situated! hah! wud i be at his mercy if i knew??? if i only knew.... man! as if this wasnt enuff... he started the talk-in-kannada bit again n i remarked in tamil that i didnt know the lang... hah! this is where the audacious guy said (in english, tamil n kannada combined) : "y did u come here then if u didnt know kannada??? i dont know tamil, so i dont come to tn... so y have u come here..." sigh... cud i have asked for a more endearing welcome speech??? no, my dear blog readers, i think not... i went "where the hell am i??? who is this guy anywayz???"
that sadly is just a small example of how prejudiced n fanatic ppl can get... im not going into the probable reasons for the auto-guys behaviour... for God's sake we live in the same country! india is one country, isnt she? it seems to me that that particular fact is over-shadowed by the presence of language based states... if this is the sort of prejudice an indian feels,,, sigh... i can say no more... draw ur own conclusions... take Indian Idol for example... i was rooting for Karunya... he was clearly the better singer... (okie he was from the south... does that matter anymore? im from TN, i wasnt too welcome at bangalore was i? simply coz it was a southern state too? hah!)... but then wat happened??? karunya didnt win... obvious reason - he's a southie... c'mon ppl! are we going to get anywhere at all with this kinda attitude... i agree its not too wrong to be prejudiced... but couldnt we have sane limits to it??? like i said, im probably prejudiced too (no point being hypocritical abt it)... i am part of the "south indians" community on orkut... but it stops there... id never turn away a person; or refuse to talk to him; or belittle him simply coz he wasnt a state-mate or he couldnt converse in my lang... ppl talk so much abt caste... regionality seems to matter too these days... i guess wat ive seen is only a part of the bigger picture... i guess the worst is yet to come... when im denied a promotion; or when my potential isnt recognised... oh i could go on... this is scary! does india stand a chance in the global scene? im afraid, it doesnt... sad... but its true... until n unless the scenario changes... God help us!
im going to try n keep this post as neutral as possible... i aint going to be mud-flinging any particular sect or any particular state... true, we are all to blame... probably even im prejudiced... i hope to all goodness i never let it over-rule my better judgement though...
wat triggered this entry was a recent visit to bangalore... the train journey was all i could have hoped it to be... the train was doing great time, n the company was as wonderful as it gets... cuz , aunt, mom n sis... n as ive always thought bangalore was a fun place to go to, i was pretty much excited about the trip... come station-pre-paid auto stand... now this is where the trouble began... our auto-driver happened to be a fanatic... (to say the least)... he said something in hindi, to which i responded in hindi (thanking my stars that id had hindi as my 2nd lang all my life)... anywayz, i had gauged the guy all wrong... its so happens this guy suffers from i-can-talk-any-lang-but-u-shud-talk-only-in-kannada-itis... he went all crazy n started asking me to speak in kannada... if i cud, i wud! but i know one word in kannada n that happens to be "neeru", coz my friend used to keep saying my name meant "water" in her lang! (so yup, if im dying of thirst, id know how to survive... but uh huh.... cant say i know anything else)... well... getting back to the auto guy... he then said something in english (well dear dear english! the lang i love!)... replied in english... guy went berserk again... and started indicating symptoms of ICTALBYSTOIK-itis again.... bugging! to say the least... n then he scoffed at us for not knowing where our hotel was situated! hah! wud i be at his mercy if i knew??? if i only knew.... man! as if this wasnt enuff... he started the talk-in-kannada bit again n i remarked in tamil that i didnt know the lang... hah! this is where the audacious guy said (in english, tamil n kannada combined) : "y did u come here then if u didnt know kannada??? i dont know tamil, so i dont come to tn... so y have u come here..." sigh... cud i have asked for a more endearing welcome speech??? no, my dear blog readers, i think not... i went "where the hell am i??? who is this guy anywayz???"
that sadly is just a small example of how prejudiced n fanatic ppl can get... im not going into the probable reasons for the auto-guys behaviour... for God's sake we live in the same country! india is one country, isnt she? it seems to me that that particular fact is over-shadowed by the presence of language based states... if this is the sort of prejudice an indian feels,,, sigh... i can say no more... draw ur own conclusions... take Indian Idol for example... i was rooting for Karunya... he was clearly the better singer... (okie he was from the south... does that matter anymore? im from TN, i wasnt too welcome at bangalore was i? simply coz it was a southern state too? hah!)... but then wat happened??? karunya didnt win... obvious reason - he's a southie... c'mon ppl! are we going to get anywhere at all with this kinda attitude... i agree its not too wrong to be prejudiced... but couldnt we have sane limits to it??? like i said, im probably prejudiced too (no point being hypocritical abt it)... i am part of the "south indians" community on orkut... but it stops there... id never turn away a person; or refuse to talk to him; or belittle him simply coz he wasnt a state-mate or he couldnt converse in my lang... ppl talk so much abt caste... regionality seems to matter too these days... i guess wat ive seen is only a part of the bigger picture... i guess the worst is yet to come... when im denied a promotion; or when my potential isnt recognised... oh i could go on... this is scary! does india stand a chance in the global scene? im afraid, it doesnt... sad... but its true... until n unless the scenario changes... God help us!
posted by nIrAnJaNa at 6:17 AM
8 Comments:
The integrity that india boasts of is sadly not what we see in reality. Right from regionalistic sentiments, peoplee are driven by such differences. Caste, reservations,language, position, and what not.. these arent certainly encouraging signs. hope we guys do sthing to change this. perhaps the only integration that we have achieved so far is in corruption !!!
@ shankar : i agree! totally!
ur right.i hv used tat 'unity....' phrase very often in my essays, too! but in reality?...less said the better. wat are we lacking?...education....culture...but sadly there is a great divide today.and the answer is still a question...WHY?
what are we without our identity. i basically am a non-believer of boundaries (literal and psycholgical) but whats so great abot this country (or any country for that matter) is the amount of spice and sugar lying around. this is what made this nation. and if u want true unity in diversity, check out the pubs in all the states. no difference at all! Jai hind!
No guy sufferin from ICTALBYSTOIK-itis would be present in the coffee shops and the pubs. Am a proper tamil speakin(second lang hindi learned) Iyer boy from coimbatore, who has been livin in this city for the last two years (treat this place even as second home) I think this place is a mixture of so many cultures, languages and people that it would make the Mixture from Krishna Sweets hang its head in shame.
It is true, tamil speakin ppl sure get a second glance, startlin to say you still have 75% of ppl in this city are tamilians!!!
@arvind
giggle! im so so sorry! but the "am a proper tamil speakin(second lang hindi learned) Iyer boy from coimbatore," bit seemed like it was out of a matrimonial section of some paper... giggle... awww! sorry for interrupting the serious train of thoughts... hmm... i didnt really get u... were u attesting wat i said? or were u criticising it?
@moonlight
using that phrase has simply become a habit... or rather, our teachers hit an all time low as far as creativity is concerned n we were all prolly made to mug up that bit... :P but yup... on a serious note, ur right... it aint easy figuring out why things are, the way they are...
@ martian
hmm... u didnt mean coffee pubs, by "pubs" did u? :P
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