Lets clean our own house first

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each racial group possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or racial groups.

The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular racial group, and that it is also the prejudice based on such a belief.

Google trends tells me that ‘racism’ is one of the most ‘googled’ words in the recent times – thanks to the recent racists attacks on Indian students in Australia. All the news channels have suddenly got another ‘breaking news’ soon after the elections got over. Arnab Goswami, with his new found confidence of being the Number-1 English News channel, has been discussing these attacks with different guests on “Newshour debate”. Other channels are also following the story regularly and the whole racism saga has managed enough media attention in the last couple of days.

It seems that the whole country has come together to condemn these attacks on our citizens. Angry reactions are coming from all parts of the country, including the normal citizens as well as the politicians. Newly appointed External Affairs Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna wasted no time in talking to his Australian counterpart and even PM Mr. Manmohan Singh condemn the racists attacks on the Indians in Australia.

Everyone seems to be accusing the Australians of being racists. They are racists because few of them hate the Indians (for whatever reasons) and want them out of their country.

Now compare the situation to that in our own country. I could take many examples but I’ll take the most recent one. Australians are racists because they don’t like Indians and want them out of their country. There are few in Mumbai who don’t want ‘North Indians’ in Mumbai and want them out of here.

Australians are racists because few of them attacked Indians. What about those who have been using violence against the North Indians in Mumbai?

Australians are racists because few of them make ‘racist comments’ on Indians. What about those who make ‘hate speeches’ against the North Indians in India?

We Indians, with our new found confidence, thanks to our growing economic power, have this habit of condemning everything that happens against us in other countries. We leave no stone unturned to make sure that no injustice is done to any Indian abroad. All of us are accusing the whole of Australia of being a racist nation. But what about our own country? Are we not a racist nation?

According to United Nations, the term “racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

Well, going by the UN definition of racial discrimination, we are one of the most racist Nations on Earth. How many times we discriminate our own countrymen based on race, color, descent or ethnic origin? Its everywhere in our country.

The Australians don’t want us there and are trying to throw us out of their country. Aren’t we used to such behavior in our own country? We do face discrimination and we do discriminate, based on caste, religion, regionalism etc.

So, do we have the right to brand a whole country (in this case Australia) as racist when we also practice the same? I think we need to clean our house first before accusing others. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘ There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self’.

 

Not just jazz by the bay

This weekend I went to “Not just jazz by the bay” at Marine drive. Its one of my favorite places and i go there every now and then. This time I went there with a friend of mine who stays in town and goes there every week.

 

I was in a good mood this weekend and when she called me and asked if I wanted to meet her there, I gladly accepted. We reached there slightly late and couldn’t find a place to sit. Hence, we had to sit at the Bar itself.

 

Now, I’m not a very sentimental guy (at least I think I’m not), but somehow, the whole setting reminded me of one of my first dates with this very adorable lady I was seeing for some time last year. It was only the second or the third time we were meeting and I remember she picked me up from Dadar and we were thinking where to go. We landed up at Jazz.

 

And to be very honest, I remember how excited I was (like a 16 year old boy who’s just got his first girlfriend – though 16 is too old for girlfriends these days). Just a day before I met her at Bandstand Barista and asked her out (trust me I didnt even know what was I saying – but I know I was honest – and I had never asked anyone out that ways). She didn’t say anything but kept smiling and looking at me.

 

I remember how happy I was when she told me she is not going back the next day and hence we can meet. And we landed up at Jazz. The setting was just perfect (the music was also not very loud). And trust me, I never wanted the evening to get over. I had never felt for anyone like that before – and it was only the third or the fourth time I was meeting her.

 

And then, she spotted some senior guy from her company there. And I knew she was uncomfortable. Neither of us wanted people in her office to talk about us (I knew a lot of people in her office). So, we walked out and she asked me to drop her back.

 

I have never cursed anyone so much as I cursed this guy from her office that day. I was very frustrated with the prematured end to the wonderful evening. I tried my best to hide my frustration but I’m sure I couldn’t. And trust me, I hardly get irritated or frustrated. And I surprised myself that day. But I guess I really wanted more time with her.

 

I still didn’t know what went wrong with us. Maybe it was too good to be true. It didn’t even last long. And to be honest, there is no point thinking about what happened. It juts didn’t work out.

 

At times I do miss her a lot. There have been so many instances when when I almost called her to ask her out for coffee once again. But I have my own ways of getting over things and as my best friend tells me – I have done well.

 

Even after this incident I was kind of sad for a couple of days. Then I decided to take a day off from work and spend one more day in Delhi (I was there for a conference). And I have such great memories in Delhi and few amazing people there, that I completely forgot about everything and had a blast.

 

And now I’m back in Mumbai and back to work. There are good chances that I’ll miss her again and would want to call her. But as I said, I have my own ways of getting over things. And I know I’ll be ok.

 

 

The party starts on Monday itself

 

They say life in Mumbai is tough. They also say that people here work hard on the weekdays and party even harder on weekends. All you have to do is to step out on Friday & Saturday nights and you’ll find each and every place in Mumbai – from Multiplexes to Restaurants to Discos and Bars filled with people.

 

Hence, this Friday when i went out partying, i wasn’t surprised to see that the place was packed. Thankfully, we had a private place reserved for us and were saved from being crushed by the mob.

 

Next day I went to Carter road ccd to meet a friend of mine in the evening at around 6. And guess what, there was no place at all. We had to wait for 30 minutes again to get a table.

 

In the evening also, when one of my friends suggested we go out partying (dancing, to be precise), just the thought of so many people around me, all trying to find some space to move – trying to convince themselves that they were dancing – terrified me. Hence, instead of going out dancing, I went to TGIF with few other friends. As expected, TGIF was also packed. But thankfully our table was booked.

 

After TGIF, we decided to go to Nariman Point for tea. It was close to 2 in the morning but we still couldn’t find a parking there. People were sitting and chatting and luaghing and singing all around us (at 2 in the morning).

 

But I wasn’t surprised. People do party on weekends. Nothing unusual about it. But then, i went to an old hangout in Bandra called TOTO’s. It was a Tuesday evening. And I was surprised to see so many people. We had to wait for 30 minutes to get a place. My friend is in Media and she knew a lot of people there. She told me that most of the guys were from Media & Advertising fields. And when we left at around midnight, people were still coming in.

 

Yesterday again I went to this place called “Firangi Paani” as one of my friends was in town from Delhi. And we again had to wait for 30 minutes to get a place. This is a huge place with a capacity of more then 200 people and it was all packed (and it was a Thursday evening). I could see some familiar faces as most of these were either TV actors or struggling Models (i guess its necessary for them to be seen around in order to get work). But then again there were others like me – who had to go to office tomorrow morning. But it seems nobody was bothered about office. everyone was having a good time drinking and dancing.

 

We left the place at around 1 and went for a drive to Powai lake when suddenly few cops standing in the middle of the roads stopped us. One of them looked inside the car and came close to me ( I was driving). He was trying to figure out if I’ve had alcohol. And he was disappointed to find out that I was not drunk. I generally asked the policeman why was he wasting time on a Thursday as he would find more such cases on weekends (as mentioned earlier, i believed that people in Mumbai party harder only on weekends). He looked at me and replied – “Mumbai mein Monday to Sunday party chalti hai bhai”.

 

And i guess he was right. In fact i know it myself. Its just that i never thought of it. Every time I have gone out on weekdays I’ve seen hundreds of people partying. Yes, people wait for weekends, but that doesn’t stop them from finding a reason to party on weekdays.

 

And as one of my friends say “You don’t need a reason to party. If partying make you happy, then party everyday. Why wait till weekend?” I guess he is right. And it doesn’t matter whether I agree or not because Mumbai agrees.