Monday, December 14, 2009

Indians are not racists

After a really boring day at home the least one expects is to watch some decent programs on the tube. But all you get is Burkha Dutt. And not just any Burkha Dutt, this is the Burkha 'are Indians racist' Dutt. Booooring.

Well to settle this issue once and for all let me present a lucid and watertight argument on why Indians are not racist. Race is predominantly considered to be a cultural divide based on country of origin, color and other physical or external attributes. For further clarification you can refer this particular link: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/race.

Thus it can now be concluded with a certain degree of (for want of a word) certainty that we Indians belong to a single race. Since the whole talk is about discrimination based on race, it is impossible in India. There can be no racism between people belonging to the same race. So from this day onwards no one can call us racist.

But to give an interesting twist to the argument let me present to you the typical conversation in an Indian household looking for a groom:

Facing the computer, specifically a matrimony website, (where else but in India), are sitting two girls. They have just finished editing their profiles:

"Female, age 23 (oh! I am so old), height 5 4" (am I too tall?), weight 53 kg, complexion :
fair, working with good salary, BA., M.B.A (Overqualified, never gonna get married). "

Some days later one girl gets a reply in her inbox. And she finds that she has as many as 16 applicants or should I say suitors. So she gets her friend home and they decide they will look over the profiles before they call her mom. Following are the reactions to the various suitors:

1. No, he is Tamilian. Nope! Tamilians are too talkative. They drink too. And I bet he is ugly.
2. Hell no! Not a golti (slang for Telugu people). They never bathe.
3. What a gujju!! ( gujarati) EWE the smell.
4.A mallu (malayali) never. All they do is smoke beedis and loll around..

The conversation goes on in a similar vein.. untill..

5. Look theres a photo in this profile. But it doesnt say where he is from, or what caste he belongs to. Who cares, He is
FAIR. But we dont know if he is any good. Who cares he is FAIR. But, but.. Yeah I know he is FAIR.


So the real question that we must be asking ourselves is " Is Fair and Lovely the most successful branding and advertising exercise or is India the perfect ground for any fairness cream?"
Not 'Are Indians racist?' because we are not. You can call us casteist or colourist or regionist or linguist (sorry i don't know any other word for language based divides) but one thing we are not and thats racist.

P.S Generalizations are always misleading and incorrect so injured souls please forgive me. I am tamilian and I have found the above opinion of tamilians being drunkards and ugly on the inside useful in breaking a lot of bad dates and even worse fights.....

1 comment:

  1. "I have found the above opinion of tamilians being drunkards and ugly on the inside useful in breaking a lot of bad dates and even worse fights"

    my god :D

    ReplyDelete