After having stayed in 6 states in India over my life of 26 odd years, and most of it outside "my" native state, slowly I have come to realize that I no longer belong to any part of the country, making me simply an "outsider" in each state I go. Yes, I do have an Indian passport and might not have been out of the Indian soil for more than 1 week and of course, I do pay my taxes to the Indian govt., but still everywhere I look, there's only 1 glance I get, "You don't belong here".
Pretext to this blog is 1 small incidence that occurred today and lasted for something like 2 min, but the impact was so huge that it has actually changed the way I look at people now. So the incident goes on like this, my 1st day in Pune after a gap of 3 full years, the place where I lived for close to 6 years, completed my education, started my first job here, in short I love this place and it's like my home away from home. Time: Evening 5 O'clock, getting out of my hotel on an Activa as a pillion rider. The moment we get out of the hotel, some random guy in his early 40s was driving thru and we on Activa couldn't see him coming, as a result he had to slow down his bike. No harm done, things could have ended then and there. But, nope that wasn't to be. This fellow makes it a point to give us a mouthful on the way he passes and when we try to react, this dude stops his bike and gets aggressive. Our only reaction was, "Dude, its ok, we accept it's our fault". This guy, gives us a glance, understanding that we don't belong here and are "outsiders", gets further aggressive and looks for some reason to pick up a fight, that one glance said it all, give me one reason, just one reason and I will show you what I can do to u bloody "outsiders". Thankfully my fellow rider calms things down and cools the situation. No bad words uttered, no punches thrown, nothing, just 1 single look. The look that I guess Hitler had for Jews or whatever, clearly shouted out 1 thing, "Get the F*** out of my land else I will KILL you" and he meant it. It's not just the fear of getting harmed physically but that one glance of hatred, frustration and insult that makes it unbearable.
Had the situation been reversed, at the most I could have given is a casual gesture as to what r u doing, just drive safely. I always had this assumption that only in worst situation people get into a fight and try hurt someone, but I guess I was so wrong. Only a single normal word uttered there was sufficient to get stabbed. And this ain't the situation just in Pune, be it Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai or even Kerala, it's the same treatment for every "outsider". 2 days back I read an article in the paper, a guy (obviously an "outsider") standing in the balcony of his rented apartment gets spitted on by the people staying above his place, he goes upstairs to ask what the hell was that and what does he get in return, gets beaten black& blue and a few fractured bones. What exactly is our fault here, is it a crime to travel to a different city in your own country to get a job, is it a crime to study in a college of different city. We pay our taxes, we pay our credit card bills on time, we even get an NOC while transferring our vehicle, still it's the same treatment, not just from the "local" uneducated people who beat their wives and children, do no work other than following self-centered politicians, but also the law enforcers, the traffic police everyone. Here, when "I" is mentioned, it's not just me about whom it's been talked about; it's about the general people like me, 26 year old young professionals/college students across the country.
We are considered anti-social in any place we go. To the world, we are portrayed as a young country with average age of 24 and this is the treatment we get. What exactly is wrong with people? Is it such a big fault to be a law abiding, non-violent citizen? We read in papers pretty frequently that an Indian gets beaten in Australia, how about the treatment we get in our own country. It's not just about the physical harm that's been caused but the hatred that is being nurtured and supported by the "locals". It's not our fault that we have worked our way up in life and are better than them intellectually and financially, and this is their way to react and show who rules here. Survival of the fittest has a new meaning now, where fittest meaning the mob or a local group. I guess our only fault is, we fall in the 20% tax bracket and consider ourselves "Indians" rather than a Marathi or Telugu or Malayali or Tamil…
Slowly and painfully I realize life is not just about being happy and making people happy around you..
