Pritam's Blog
Tit For Tat
I usually do not bring in the religion of a person while referring to them in my stories. I don’t even use their names for people tend to make assumptions about one’s religion(and never the lack of it) from their names.
But this story is an exception.
And his name is, let’s say, Zafar (it doesn’t matter what his actual name is as I have made the point).
Anyway, Zafar is a colleague. I wouldn’t call him a friend but we do pull each other’s legs at times, or may be I should say we share a kind of relationship wherein we do engage ourselves in the ‘professional’ act of mocking each other just to ensure the other person doesn’t forget their place in the office.
So, today, we were discussing about how people from mainland India fail to recognize people from the North-East and often assume that they are Chinese or Korean. Of course, it’s not always true, I mean the ‘fail to recognize’ part — many of them do identify the “Chinkys” to be from the North East, but they think it’s funny to call them Korean or Chinese. And when they are not being funny, they do not hesitate to question the loyalty of the ‘Chinkys’ to the idea of India.
But Zafar, educated and charming, who hails from a metropolitan city in mainland India and has travelled all around the world, is not like them, you see. He is open-minded and inclusive. He doesn’t call the North-Eastern people Chinkys.
In fact, he has a big heart. “Don’t worry,” he assured me today. “We have accepted you.”
I smiled. “You, someone belonging to a community that the entire India has rejected, are in no position to accept or not accept us,” I said, referring to the recent victory of BJP in the Elections.
No, I hate the BJP. They are against everything I stand for. Nor am I a communal person. But who said that you can’t act like one when the situation demands it?