INDIANS! Are We?   

                                                                                                    Johnson S

I am from the North-Eastern part of India, a Mongolian race and a proud Indian. I never thought that I would ever be discriminated and would end up writing this article on such an issue because I thought I was strong enough for things that usually bother others but I was torn apart by the act of an infant, that’s when I realized that whatever I was neglecting was nothing but an encouragement to the people around me to call me with different names such as “Chinese”, “chinki”, “momos”, “Chowmein” and what not,  despite being an Indian.

It was a regular day and I was returning to my residence after getting down at the nearest metro station here at Delhi. It was a sunny day, hot and humid as a riverside hut and I thought of walking till my residence instead of taking an E-Rickshaw so that I could compensate to the in-active moments. With this thought in my mind I started walking down the lane close to a Government School (I would rather not name it), I could hear children's studying loudly as their teacher taught them in a mugged up manner, I could also hear children's shouting in the classroom next to the one where the other children 's were mugging up the rhymes which could possibly be because the teacher might have been absent or was running late for the class. 

I was walking on my own numb state of mind thinking of nothing as the heat was stressfully blocking my imagination. As I walked a bit farther, I heard children's calling me by weird names (which I cannot possibly remember at this moment) and teasing me by singing “from Chandni Chowk to China” a song from a Bollywood movie and to my utter surprise they had the guts to call me a "Chinese". Of-course Chinese itself is not a derogatory term when it is used to describe the people from China but the way it was used by the Children's clearly gave an odor of racist remark. 

I was completely devastated! and then I realized that the problem cannot be solved by simply making people aware of our rights and the fact that we are as much Indian Citizen as they are blah blah blah! but it can only be solved if the educational structure of the Country is changed wherein the Children's are not only imparted education for their bright future but are also taught to treat us as equal and to respect our rights and recognize us as their fellow brothers and sisters, specifically as Indians.

Although our ancestors have played a major role in the freedom of India during the “battle of Kohima”, World War-II by fighting off hand to hand with the Japanese invaders and preventing them from invading the North-Eastern frontiers of India through the Kohima route, we are still not being recognized as one of them.

Needless to say that the Country’s upfront is being guarded by the bravest of the bravest “Gurkha Soldiers” who also comes from various North Eastern parts of India such as Sikkim and who never ever gives a benefit of doubt as to whose side they are when the unforeseen breaks out and who never says that they are tribal people and they are not supposed to represent India when the unforeseen breaks out.

But amidst all the sacrifices and unspoken bravery of the North-Eastern people and their loyalty and respect to the Country, it has always been a sad experience for us here in the Capital.

I always thought “if one is good then everyone around will be good” but the people surrounding me every time proves me wrong when I try to stand strong on my feet.

We are as much Indians as the you all are!

Please treat us equally. Stop Racism

A proud Indian! 

Thank you! Jai Hind!