Label me clean !

" Sikh driver sues Englishman over racist slur" , screamed the newspaper headline. "He called me a ' paki ', how dare he ?" said the harrowed, turbaned one.Well, be sure that the Englishman is cooling his heels in jail , convicted of the racism charge. The article took me back to a journey on my school bus where I encountered my first instance of racism. My friend asked me ," Why can't the Muslims go away ? We made and gave them their own country, no ? Why do they have to stay back and meddle in our affairs ?" Strange coming from someone in the sixth standard , dont you think ?

But, boy don't we stand up against injustice ! How hypocritical of the biggest set of racists on the face of the planet, us Indians. People are constantly labelled according to the colour of their skin, their religion, the state they come from and what not. A lady foreigner is deemed " fast " - they're every hot- blooded Indian males fantasy, so much for ' atithi devo bhava '. Young African professionals finding work in our country are jeered at with puffed up faces mouthing monkey chants and followed by the inevitable 'kaalu.' Anybody from the southern part of India is a ' Madrasi ', hell nobody cares about 4 different states being there ! Ask someone to name the states in the north - east of our country and they'd give you the "Oh , you mean the 'chinkis' ?" answer ; no wonder they feel so alienated from mainstream India. A Muslim is called a ' katli ' in the state of the 'ghaatis '. You have people who'd not let you buy a house in their ' housing society ' if you eat meat (the highest degree of crime , ever !!!!) or by the way mention that you are a follower of Islam , even in the so called 'most cosmopolitan of cities', Mumbai. Its really commendable that the same people fought to have the world's only 'vegetarian' Domino's pizza outlet in the world !!! Score !!!!!

' India shining , 21st century India' , who ever came up with these ? Our politicians are trying every trick in the book to divide us further. Pitting the ' amachi maati aamchi mansa' against the ' bhaiyyas ' or the blood lusting Hindu bigots against the Christians in several parts of India, comes naturally to them in their quest for votes and popularity. But we chose these nuts, so what do we do now ? Where are we headed ? What are we out to achieve ? Maybe its time we looked into the mirror and asked , " Racist who ? "

Will a change in laws help ? Will proactive policing make every Indian feel safe in his/her own motherland ? Questions we Indians have to ask ourselves and, fast. Its time that the policy makers realise that we're sitting on a ticking time bomb ready to erode centuries of India's peaceful past and grandeur.