Confessions and reflections

No, I’m not from Nepal. No, I don’t do ‘nepali dhanda’. Yes, I belong to India. Yes, I face racial discrimination each day in its capital. Racism , discrimination and sexual violence against people from northeast region of India are nothing new. To say that North eastern people are at the receiving end of this perpetual hate crime in almost all the cities and other places in India is like giving a thumbs up to Delhi for keeping up the practice. AS Reingamphi from Choithar village, Ukhrul district of Manipur was found dead in her rented accommodation in Chirag Dilli. There were signs of brutal assault on her nose, face and legs. The reports of the two post-mortems conducted remain inconclusive about the cause of death. And the landlord and the police claim that the girl committed suicide and the injuries on her person were caused by rats! The tragic death of Reingamphi has become just another example of the continuous violence against women from the Northeast. But her death b

When I was asked by an ex colleague, “So what are you?”, I chose to misunderstand the query and said, “A copywriter.” So he smiled at my naiveté and said, “Nahi, nahi,  I meant what caste are you?” So the famous case of my twin surnames confusing people of my origin was at it again.  But did it make a better person if I’d acquired a-so-to-speak brahmanical status thanks to matrimony or did it increase my prowess to churn out award winning campaigns if I was born a ‘baniya’? In a conversation with a very well read friend who has strong opinions on the caste system of India and how it manages to infiltrate all spheres of our living, it got me thinking how I had never gone beyond getting irked every time someone wanted to know what caste and sub-caste I belonged to. Why didn’t I read up more, why didn’t I want to take it up the way I want to campaign for cleanliness and hygiene in and around the city? Or it really doesn’t make any difference to me if  a Dalit woman is parad

I remember when I was younger; I was given these messages about beauty being fair, dainty and polished for girls. How was it for the boys, tall, dark and handsome? Well, somewhere down the line beauty and the eyes of the beholder parted ways and forgot to inform us. Why because every advertisement today about creams is no longer about protecting our skin against dryness or chafing, only because we want to, but about the colour of our skin. Ours here has extended in the past few years to that of men's as well. The TDH will no longer do, being the quintessential working woman and metrosexual man now means that we all need to be white.    Even if we choose to   ignore the warnings about mercury content in these creams , can we really ignore the racism that they promote? Now, how is that not racism? Or did we forget that   apartheid   was about not being treated badly because of dark skin colour? I think that the present should not learn from history? At least, I hope

Laughter is the best medicine or so it is said. But if this laughter comes at the cost of ridiculing someone, how can it be medicinal? I have often heard quite a few people say that they are in splits when they watch 'Comedy Nights with Kapil'. I agree that there is some wit and pun in it. But some parts are dehumanising as well. There have been some episodes on the show which have brought up the issues of sex selective abortions, sexual harassment of women and these have conveyed the message that women are humans. But does that also mean that you dehumanise them? What bothers me is the constant threads of characters like the wife, grandmother, aunt and the much loved Gutthi and Palak.   Why are they dehumanising? Because they are constantly ridiculed. For example, if we consider the treatment of the wife, why is she and her natal family members always the butt of jokes? If this was happening to some of us in our private or social lives, we would definitely call