ALTHOUGH THE STAR IS SILENT

                                                                          Google images

This February, I was requested by NSU Kolkata to write an article on racial prejudices mended out on people from Northeast India, thanks to Yuimi Vashum for narrowing the six degrees of separation and loads of appreciation received through this article. With the limited knowledge I have, I contributed to the magazine, where is the blog version of it. I am not a master to give a substantial argument on this issue, however, it does not stop me to acknowledge the power of humanism over racism. 

              Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Shining up above the world so high,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Why is my Teddy so brown?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Why is the mango on the plate so yellow?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Why is my mama’s lipstick so red?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Why are my daddy’s shoes so black?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Why is my granny’s hair so white?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

Shining up above the world so high.

You are out of your mind if you think the twinkling little star is going to answer this young girl’s inquisitive queries. Her parents/guardian will be the star who is going to ease her burdened mind. The answers will not stop her from wondering more and more, her answers will not lie in mere words but in actions. And that is when my essay’s argument begins, no one is born with hatred in heart, racism is taught so be careful of what is being taught to you and whom you are teaching. I am totally with Alex Haley when he says and I quote, “Racism is taught in our society... it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.” Furthermore “Racism isn’t born, folks. It’s taught. I have a 2-year-old son. Know what he hates? Naps. End of list.” I cannot disagree with Denis Leary. 

In Harper Lee’s How to Kill a Mocking Bird, a classic dwelling in the theme of racial injustice and destruction of innocence. For six years old Scout Finch her father Atticus Finch is an ordinary man as she has not seen him doing something worth remarkable, however as the story progresses and incidences happen along the way, she looks upon him as a hero. One of the most amazing lines in the book is eloquently laid down by Atticus for his children to hear, it is marked by tolerance, bravery, wisdom:

“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." How lucky are the kids who have parents/guardians like him. Teaching kids to be humble enough to understand things not from one’s egoistic self but from the viewpoint of others, least we end up judging someone according to our convenience.

Now, I want to pose the question- How to best educate the younger ones? The answer will be according to the experiences we had. Most of us teach our younger ones to prepare them to survive in this world. But, in the process do we ourselves realise that we are growing along with them? Why do we fail to understand that we indeed love so little and hate so much? Staring at the clear night sky filled with stars we cannot blame our elders for not answering our questions in the way it should have been, for they were just perplexed by the gravity of the words which could have unmasked their ignorance. Now, in their shoes we find, we are no less than them. So many memories they carry with them, some bitter, some sweet, we do the same; we spend

half our lifetime in either filtering or synthesizing it.

But, in all these we sometimes forget the basic essence of humanism, we find ourselves imitating the actions which were once disgusting to us. There are seasons when we cry in the hollow walls for the same reasons that cause silver tails to fall from other’s check too. Yes, I am knocking at the letters of the sentence which run, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” 

Back home i.e., Nagaland, how to we treat the people from mainland India? Not all of us look to them with love and respect. I have witnessed how local boys beat up the thin poor rickshawalas over the fare charges. The phenomena of ‘a mouse is a lion in its own territory’ is visible is such cases. We preach about love, tolerance and essence of humanity, but it is sheer hypocrisy if in our personal lives we fail to accommodate such virtues which we fight for when we find ourselves away from our nest. The degree of intolerance might be different but the kind is same, hatred towards fellow human beings. 

In the year 2012, the tragic incident of Richard Loitam shocked the people of Northeast, India. It was condemned from all fronts. For many this was a rare case of regionalism, however, there were certain groups of intellectuals springing out from academia who through their speeches and writings branded it as a pure case of racism. Arguments were exchanged as certain people were not comfortable to even think that we live in a racist society. Incidences happened along the way, then there came the worse case of racism in this country on January 29, 2014, we lost Nido Tania. Finally, everyone was ready to accept at least to some level that it was a case of racism. See, how foolish we are as a human being to wait for the wrong time to understand the right cause. I cannot guarantee, neither can you about the future, we hope that things will change but at the same time, we are sceptical about hope itself. If so then we are left with two options, (a) to unite and fight against racism, (b) to practice what we are preaching, or else it will weaken the cause for which we are fighting for. And in all these let us remind ourselves that young eyes are watching us, young ears can hear us, we can be a hero or a villain for them; it is for them to judge. The best thing we can do is not to repeat the wrongs our elders did, hating so lamely and loving so conditionally.

We are someone’s star…we can’t be foolishly silent.