Indian Racism

Are we racists?

I have always maintained that Indians are one of the most racist people on this planet. It is just that many of us don’t know that we are racist, and those who do know never acknowledge it. We have been practicing racism for ages and have institutionalized it into our daily lingo and even the religion.

When the word ‘racism’ was introduced into Indian media, most Indians thought it was an ‘artificial Western construct’, that is applicable only to the White people of the West when treating the people of other color, but definitely not applicable to Indians. It is something people in the West do to people like us and not the other way around. Their ideas on lofty ideas on Sanatana Dharma have deluded them into believing that we are not racist and definitely not discriminatory.

Third world to developing world

For many years, we were an inferior nation, a third world country, of brown people, a non-aligned state, impoverished and underdeveloped nation, etc. Therefore, we did not know what it means to be in a position of dominance.

In the recent times, our country is rubbing shoulders with bigwigs of the world, and trying to take the role of dominance and leadership. This is reflected more so in sports (read Cricket).

When India won World Cup in 1983 (Cricket), we were still reeling from the colonial inferiority, and beating the whole world was a moment of pride, not just for sports, but for the morale of entire nation.

However, in the recent times, we are no longer a nation of poor people, not when it comes to Cricket. We are no longer seen as a third world and impoverished country. Our boys travel first class, have sports gear from best brands, and have lot of cash to throw around on fancy parties, expensive gifts and lavish houses. When they go abroad, they are no longer sportsmen from a poor nation. They are in fact richer than those firangis.

Earlier, we were seen as meek. No longer is it the case. We have our own share of bullies.

Harbhajan – Symonds spate

In one of the recent incidents, involving Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) of India and Symonds of Australia, where the latter accused the former of invoking a racial slur, the whole country stood in unanimity to support Bhajji. Many team members came onto TV and media to tell us how it was uncharacteristic of Bhajji to say something like that, how he is a nice kid, and so on.

And our champion of ‘everything that India is worse at’, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who talks in a singsong banter, who failed at everything else in life other than laughing at every silly joke, comes onto TV and talks for 10 minutes non-stop, on why he thinks Bhajji is innocent. In that monologue, he does not present facts and he does not reason. In fact, there is no iota of intelligence. It was empty rhetoric to which only the Indian masses can fall for, just the way they fall prey to empty politicians promises every election.

The next day, I woke up to see the headlines in TOI read: Indian wins Sydney Test. Well, I don’t follow cricket, but you cannot escape cricket in India. I knew that we lost the game. So, I was curious. I began to read.

The TOI thought it was a funny idea to say that India won the Test Match just because Bhajji was given a clean chit. That’s how we celebrate our victories. Not on the playground, not in the real sports, but by muscle power, using our overpopulation as our strength to send SMS, use TV channels, and use constant bickering, shouting, wailing till the world changes its opinion – not because we are right, only because we are too many.

I didn’t know anything about that game. I didn’t know if Bhajji really said anything. I didn’t know if he is that kind of person. I didn’t watch that game and didn’t watch many games before that. I do not profess to be an expert and hence I stayed out of the whole discussion.

But I had a hunch. A hunch that something was not right! That the entire hullabaloo was just show of strength to acquit the accused, not because he is innocent, but only because is he OUR guy. And remember the axiom – Indians are not racist.

Bhajji slaps Sreesanth

Few months later, the same Bhajji was seen slapping a fellow Indian cricketer on national TV. That’s it! He was banned for few weeks. And many people came onto TV to say that, ‘Yes! That was very characteristic of Bhajji’. They said he was a violent player. And what he did was very disgraceful.

The same Bhajji, to whom it was uncharacteristic be violent and verbal, was exact opposite a few months later.

Indians are not racist

The golden rule is – We Indians are not racist. If we said something racial, it’s just the cultural and linguistic differences. However, when somebody does it to us, we feel really bad, get onto the TV and protest and cry till you apologize. [Refer to Shilpa Shetty’s case on Big Brother].

Cheerleaders at IPL

Now, in a new incident, few black cheerleaders were pulled out of a IPL cricket game at Mohali. The organizers pulled them out saying ‘the people here don’t want to see the dark people’. According to the cheerleaders, they used ‘n’ word and wanted see only ‘beautiful white girls’.

One of the cheerleaders said, "We were offended. This shouldn't be happening - especially after they made such a fuss over Big Brother."

To start with, the whole idea of hiring black cheerleaders for our IPL games is a gross mistake. It is too much of politically-correctness to handle for Indians. I mean, ‘Come on! Can we cut the crap, stop all this politically-correct bullshit and get back to enjoying the beautiful white girls? Why do we have to put up with these black girls?’

Look at our heroines in the South India. We all know we have many dark women here, but do we allow them to get onto the screen? NO! Why? Because we don’t want to pay money to see dark women on screen! The same holds for IPL cheerleaders. We just want to see fair women. And if that means we have to import them from the North India, so be it. We have been doing this in our Cinema for many years now. And if we have to import them from other countries, it’s even better. That way we can ogle at them without having to worry about blemishing our sacred Bharat Nari.

And look at us in the North India. Why do you think we treat these dark girls this way? Do you see us vying for them ever? There are some dark girls in the North and we are usually ashamed of it. And yes, gori pari from firang is any day welcome in our midst.

Too much of politically-correctness

I think this whole globalization is taking a toll on us. It is putting too many demands on being politically-correct. I don’t think we can keep straight face for too long.

Hiring these black cheerleaders and asking them to dance on national TV is like making the village Brahmin sit next a Dalit. It’s just too uncomfortable. The village Brahmin can tolerate it for few minutes, to be politically correct, but you can’t push it too far. Eventually, he will just burst out and use the language that he is really used to, kick that Dalit out and show him his place.

I don’t think we should try to break or change the natural order of things. Didn’t you know that our caste system and our preference for color schemes actually bring order to the nature? Do you want to upset the natural harmony our villages? Do you want us to go against all our teachings for all these centuries to see the distasteful black women dancing around on TV?

You must be kidding.

Thank you, but no thanks. Please take this political correctness to your West. It’s not for us Indians. We are like this only. And don’t try to change us!