are indians racist ?

This is the question that the Harbhajan incident brings to the front. Is India with all its variety, pomp and splendor disrespectful of other races, people, beliefs ?

Well I certainly don't think we are racist like it was in US or South Africa long time back. We are insensitive, discriminatory and we don't have a society based entirely on meritocracy, but it does not border on racist. But what is racism ?

According to dictionary.com -
rac·ism –noun
1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

So do we as Indians fit this definition ?? We aren't racist on the lines of the definition but we certainly need to take a deep look at ourselves in the mirror.. the cherished lines of unity of diversity soon fall flat and sound hollow. We don't have to look too far to see all the discrimination based on caste,sex, religion. the old baggage of the past holds us down. Until we push ourselves up and make an effort to end our own biases we would still be held back from the true potential that we as a country can achieve. Till that time its just hot air and empty talk of India becoming something of a superpower on the world stage.

To believe is a thing, to achieve is another.

And WE YET HAVE TO ACHIEVE - We have to achieve the levels of prosperity that modern countries have, we need to achieve the standards of health care for our peoples that few of the western countries have, we need to achieve the levels of education, literacy and employment that ensure we are behind no one. And to achieve we need to learn to work together as one with our countrymen. We need a uniform identity as an Indian - no south indian, north indian, east indian, or even as a tamilian, telugu, hindi, bihari, marwaari, gujju and any other discriminator.

The key I feel is inculcating a sense of uniform identity in all of us, give us all a selfish reason to do it. We are all selfish in the end, we are not saints, we wont do something unless it is going to improve my current situation.. and we need to realize that working together we have more chances to move everyone ahead than poking holes in our neighbors dreams.. The identity crisis is not even a issue to consider countries like US, UK or Australia with just one language and one religion. But indian-ness is in the variety, the tolerance towards contradicting issues. We have lived with all this in India and it has shaped what we are .. we just need to make the experience a lot better for the next generation.

The world is looking at us to see where we can take ourselves. Its surprised a country with so many languages, so many religions, so many cultural differences can walk together and come so far. But we have to accelerate now. We have reached the point in the race where we have to push past the competition. I certainly believe our country if we take care of it, would once again shine.

dil, dosti, etc.

21 grams of human body can cause so much trouble and one is all too familiar with it.. as they say... big things come in little packages..
its a wonder how this little thing can make things that aren't there appear .. things that never were said heard.. its a wonder how those 21 grams so magically make it all look so natural, makes one ask for no justification, no basis in reality.. perception of ones reality changes..

back to the present and all that seems so like a dream.. like a dream only since such things can exist only in dreams, there seems no reason why it could be anyway else! Dreams by themselves are fickle, delicate.. they break when you awake.. some dreams one forgets, some dreams one tries to forget, and so, in the end some such dreams stay with you .. remind you of the good times and bad, the funny times and the sad, the times one questioned - can there be a better time than now ?

so where is the dosti part in all this ? well its all that is left after the dil business.. so the story ends right where it started.. dosti... with it or without it.. 21 grams get you so far and then it deserts you, and then something else takes you across the finish line...

chicago meri jaan...

Since I plan on getting back to putting some words on the screen, I might as well start from where I started in the first blog.. Chicago.. and so its back to Jan 2005 to Aug 2007
Its been 5 months since I moved to Seattle from the not-so-small town of Chicago. What I had not realized then was how much I would miss a place.. as far as I am concerned, its the second best place on earth after Pune. After all unlike New York, you don't have to be a millionaire to live in downtown with a great view and in a high rise. You get all the benefits of downtown living in an awesome city with the experiences a true American experience. A cosmopolitan city with people from so many different places of earth, all moving the city from one day to the next. City that is always alive.. trains, buses, cabs - all connecting it with its peoples. A place where I didn't ever think about owning a car, a city which never let me feel dependent on someone to get my work done. I absolutely loved that sense of independence. Its very addictive. Coming from a lil town in Texas, where I had to depend on others with cars to get around even for general groceries, Chicago was just what the doctor had ordered. And what can I say about the famed Devon Avenue - the largest assembly of Indian grocery shops and Indian shops in US . I haven't seen a bigger place to shop indian, nor in NY, Seattle, Calif, Houston.

But all that is just a little part of what makes Chicago so special for me.

Leaving the city was a tough decision. I have spent some truly great times both while a student and working in Chicago. The 1 bedroom apartment crammed with 6 people ( though at that time it never seemed like it was a crammed apartment), the tennis in summer of 05, the parties at friends places. I guess since we were all students when we started played a big role in all of this... everyone trying to make it work with as little money in the bank as there could be, but all having the best times there.. i guess adversity brings out the best in people.
These are friendships i hope to keep forever... Even now, when I look back at those times, in-spite of the long hours in the gas stations, it is the tennis, the jokes on each other, the web-cam engagement of a friend early morning in my apartment, the photo-session, is what all come back. Its all a heady nostalgia and I doubt if ever there would be such a Déjà vu again.

The whole of my life's chapter in Chicago is peppered with things I cannot forget. Working in a great firm after school added some more great sub-sections to my chapter.

Moving into Chicago I had not expected the city to offer me so much while asking so little of me. The heartbreaks, the coming down to reality and then moving onto to bigger things.. all part of my time in the great windy city. Chicago made me grow up once more. It is for all this that I absolutely love the place.

This I feel is as close as I can come to a closure on Chicago. And as they - "Chicago, doston mein no thank you, no sorry. hum hamesha ache dost rahenge"