Undivide and Unrule

India is said to be the most racist country in the world. And it seems justified too. But think again. Is being diverse racism? Or is racism the intolerance people show towards that diversity? Are we intolerant? What happens when intolerance turns into violence? If I were to gauge the situation in our country I would say we are still largely tolerant save a few untoward occurrences. Do people classify every section of society into sub-sections based on race, religion, caste, region and what not? Yes. Do they kill based on those divisions? Mostly no.

The problem with our country is that we are divided every single moment of every single day. Cultural divide, caste divide, regional divide, economic divide, lingual divide and countless other similar assortments of people. People. We are divided in the name of secularism, in the name of communal-ism  in the name reservations; every possible way of division has been used up by someone or the other. How do you overcome this?

We often talk about the “glorious past” that this country has had in terms of culture, heritage, wealth and even knowledge. But we often forget the part that we were taught as ‘unity in diversity’ as kids in school. Several kinds of communities have lived together, harmoniously in this country for ages. I am obviously overlooking incidents that suggest otherwise because in my opinion, being as diverse as we are, this level of unity still deserves some accolades. But time and again there is an ugly crack in the society. Something that can't possibly be overcome.

Discrimination is inevitable. You see someone, the first thing your mind does is drawing similarities between the two of you. It’s a survival technique. It’s evolution. And anyone different is a threat. So you can’t actually help your thoughts when it comes to discrimination. But then haven’t we evolved enough to understand that that difference doesn't pose a threat anymore? We live in a civilized society. Hating other human beings based on their appearance or religion or caste doesn't make sense anymore. Unity is accepting the difference and still being together.

But how do you really do something about this? You watch the news and feel disturbed, agitated? No. There is something we can all do. Show solidarity. Towards those who are new, who don’t belong where you may. Make people around you feel like they belong here. Let’s be human first and then bring in our other preferences.