Racism

It’s not because it’s the hottest topic now that I am writing this blog. It’s because of an incident that happened very recently to me on a trip to Hampi that left me so shaken.

Hampi, a place so amazing that the whole town is listed as a national heritage site. Indians as well as Foreigners throng the place to visit the engineering excellence of the era that once was. Musical pillars, pin hole cameras, secret passages, are a few of the wonders of the town that was built a few centuries back.

The Hampi Bazar is a place where lots of local people sell their wares. From stone carvings to Rajasthani bags, you have it all. A friend of mine went over to one of the many hand carts which sold assorted chuky jewellery like bangles, ear rings, belts etc. etc. and started looking around. The woman in charge got angry and told her that she could only touch or look around if she has an intention of buying something. Her attitude made us all angry, and we moved away, but near enough to see that when a foreigner came by, she was all in smiles and she herself came forward which a shell belt and tied it round the lady’s waist. We were appalled by her behavior and thoroughly pissed…. The only satisfaction was that the white lady in question did not buy the belt…..

Here, the whole country is screaming their heads off for people making racist comments at Shilpa Shetty and here we were being discriminated racially in our own country. In our own country we discriminate amongst our own people on the basis of religion, sex, caste, colour of skin, accent and so many more things…. Can we expect nething better from some other country?