Are you an Indian Or An Indian-like ??

Kanghujam Sunindra *

St. Stephen's College, Delhi

If you claim yourself to be a true Indian in spirit, please read this; if you are a north-easterner please do comment.

I should have never thought like this, as this sort of mentality will tear the bonds of friendship apart, but sometimes old bonds need to be torn apart to create new stronger bonds. I should have never written this, but it is beyond my tolerance to bear up the situation any more. I should have never shared this on e-pao.net, but I thought the situation in which I am caught is more of a communal/regional one rather than personal. So, I need to share it and listen to what my fellow-people think about this and to bring an end to this.

Yesterday in my college i.e. St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, a group of South Korean academicians came to provide an insight into one of the South Korean University regarding their campus placement and their status at International academic arena with a hope that some students from our college become a part of their prospective students.

There is one guy, the leading member of the team who spoke in Korean, and there is another interpreter to translate it in English. As we walked out of the classroom, a friend of mine told me in a sarcastic way that I would have followed everything what the guy (speaking in Korean) was talking about. I replied " How do you expect an Indian to follow Korean?".

He, then, asked me "Are you an Indian? You do not look like an Indian (like me)." Then I made a counter-question "What is the Identity of India? What should one look like to become an Indian?". A trifle tussle of words went on for sometime which I can't disclose. Then, he was a little bit moved by my words, and then he digressed from the topic and confessed me that he was just making fun. But I am not concerned about this fun, because I forgave him as he confessed his rude fault.

But I am deeply concerned about the thing that lies beyond that fun, perhaps, the conscience that run through their minds and bloody communal feelings in their hearts. And, after all I clearly knew that he was not making fun, but he was making fun of me. Though I didn't expect that from even from a close friend of mine, it happened which somewhat revealed the true heart what most north-Indians think about us. But while I am writing this, I have no regional or communal or anti-national sentiments. The purpose of my writing is to clarify some misunderstanding and some vague stereotypes that these people have towards the north-easterners.

So, let me begin from the beginning. Since the 1st day I entered St. Stephen's College, many of the people seemed to very puzzled/annoyed to hear that I am from Manipur. Many asked me "Where on Earth is Manipur?" or" Is Nagaland the capital of Manipur?' or "Is Manipur a territory of China?". I rather feel very humorous than being angry because I didn't believe that a student from such an elite college (even St. Stephen's is being adjudged to be be the top college) was very weak in Physical Geography of India (class 6 std). So, accepting their ignorance, I ignored them and such silly question. They even don't know the names of the 28 states of this country, and they are claiming themselves to be a pure Indian.

But, now after mingling with each other more than an year if someone who is very close to me asked "If you are an Indian?", it hurts my sentiment because this time it is no more of their ignorance, but a sense of alienation and exclusion . This is too much. Sometimes I felt like my temperament goes out of my control.

Back at my room, I was not at ease as I analyzed the situation and came up with some answers. I asked myself why I didn't like look like an Indian. And, I found out that that he was asking that question because

1. We people from north-east are medium-heighted, snub-nosed with small eyes and small face and we look like Chinese. While they are lanky, long nosed like a wizard with big eyes not proportionate to their face.

2. We don't have repelling body odor like them (if you need to be called an Indian, you need this).

3. We don't speak hindi, whom they claimed to be the national language even if the Indian Constitution clearly states that India has no national language, and makes Hindi just an official language like English. Even some people don't know it and proudly says if you are an Indian you have to speak and write hindi... But how the hell we can learn to speak Hindi if we don't use it in our states?, and Why should we talk in Hindi with people of my state when we can comfortably talk in our own dialect?

So, many people exclude us from their mental territorial map of India and dumped us into the territorial map of China. Okay! Okay! We look like Chinese-we accept it.

You are used to calling us by an offensive word ' Chingki' -okay, we accept it. But what make them think that China is less developed to India or the Chinese is an inferior race compared to Indians.

1) Historically Chinese Civilization is the longest continuous surviving civilization in the world while all other civilizations crumbled down (Chinese Civilization survived longer than our Indus Valley Civilization).

2) They (Chinese Civilization) were well-known for their warfare & discipline, which is reflected in their superiority in games and sports. For example; China led the Olympic tally in Beijing Olympics 2008, and they stood second in medal tally after US, bagging 38 gold medals while India couldn't win even a single gold. Good performance in sports reflects how well being the country is economically, socially and culturally.

3) India was defeated by China in Sino-India War, 1962. It was a huge humiliation.

4) Presently, China is the world 2nd largest economy in the world after US, while India is the 9th largest. And, it is also leading India in economic growth rate. Wonder how they do it, when China has the largest population in the world.

5) Most importantly, China has fared far more than India in terms of technological development, and most of the technology they used - they developed for themselves. Their fastest train reaches 431 km/hr unlike our metro which hardly touch 140 km/hr. It is hard to name 10 technologies designed indigenously by India. Even India is importing many Fighter Aircrafts, Missiles, Jets, many other Weapons, etc from USA, Russia, France. For example if India has to wage war against China, India has to buy more Fighter Aircrafts from US (How pathetic!)

My point is that if you underestimate our status and think that the north-easterners are blockheads just because we look like Chinese, then YOU are 100% wrong. Because we the Indians are way behind China for now in terms of intellect, health, economy, technology.

So, as long as you never abandoned this mean-minded and discriminatory attitude among your own nation you are INDIAN-LIKE people but not an Indian in heart, because you violated the principle of this country 'Unity in Diversity'; on which dogmas this nation was founded. It is because of such attitude of discrimination, many north-eastern states are demanding cessation from India and at the same time, there is an incursion of China along the Arunachal border.

So, your very thought whom you claimed to be of a true Indian is anti-Indian and it interferes in the national integrity of this nation whom you are proud of. I think in this regard we are more Indian in heart than you people though you look like Indians, because we respect our history, believe in this nation and love you all even if you defy us.

Disclaimer: I am not referring to north Indian. I am referring to those who discriminate people on the basis of caste, religion, language. I can't deny many of north-Indians are very friendly. But people from North-east face some common problems - alienation. I write this only with an intention to portray the true scenario. If my writing cause any unwanted provocation, I am not responsible for it.