Deja Vu

It’s been a while…

I have cyclical phases in my life. At the peak of a cycle, my life constitutes a flurry of activity, with me blazing forward, no time to stop, no time to breathe.

And then it all slows down. Picture scenes from the Matrix if you will. It’s this moment where you decide to pause, take a deep breath and watch the bullets whizz by in absolute slow motion.

I’ve missed this. Taking five minutes off, to reminisce.

I’ve been through all of this before. The rush, the emotions, the pressure. It’s all the same. The same issues about whether the people you got so close to during that period of immense activity will remain with you when things start to slow down. Let me tell you, some do and some don’t. And some you don’t want with you anymore.

I wonder if that’s what life is going to be like. A ride on the Giant Wheel. One revolution later, you’re still looking at the same scenery. But this time you’re less terrified because you’ve done it before. All of it’s the same and so are you.

I was talking to a cousin of mine about this. I met him after about two years and he asked me, ‘So, am I different?’ Not really. I explained that maybe we grow professionally, acquiring new skills, but intrinsically we will always remain the same.

We react the same way when someone pisses us off, we will always feel an inferiority complex around some people, we will cry for the same reasons, fear for the same reasons, laugh for the same reasons..

It’s true. Some things never change.

Caste Away!

There are walls - between countries because of race and creed. But when I went to India, I realised that there is one more division that is made - between castes.

In the first few pages of Edward Luce’s In Spite of the Gods, he elucidates how the caste system influences politics, children’s occupations and marriage. He described how people were not allowed to marry outside of their caste or take up a profession of their choice, highlighting their ignorance and illogicality. And from the way he describes it, it seems to be an issue that only the low-income group, viz. the villagers, have to deal with - an issue that will be resolved with adequate education.

I laughed out loud at his insinuation for I recalled a number of situations where the educated still integrate this caste system - consciously or subconsciously - into their everyday behaviour. Among the wealthiest people Mumbai, a son refuses to tell his parents about a girl he is in love with because she does not belong to the same caste as he does. In Dubai, the most cosmopolitan Muslim city in the world, Indian girls brought up in this city are not allowed to marry a man of their choice because of the difference in caste.

Let’s forget about Indians as well for a bit, shall we? I hate to admit this, but the first thought that popped into my mind when I was reading Edward Luce’s words was a situation in a T.V. show called Gossip Girl, based in the US. A father from the crème de la crème of American society has planned what university his son will study at, what profession he will take up and the girl he will marry. The United States of America. A completely literate man. An educated man. And the behaviour is such.

Education may or may not be the answer to remove what is so ingrained not only in Indians but in people all over the world. And I wonder, as globalization progresses, and societies evolve, whether this basic human tendency to discriminate against people who are different will ever die out.