The Other Indians: A Perspective

What makes an Indian….. an Indian? Is it the skin colour – chocolate to light brown, or the love for spicy, masala laced food, is it the language - Sanskrit based or Dravidian, is it the nose – sharp & pointed, is it the attire – dhoti, sari, salwar kameez? If the above describes your typical Indian, what about the rest of us who don’t fit into that description? There are millions of Indians in the North East and Ladakh who are snub nosed, yellow skinned, who love eating light boiled fare and who speak languages not even related with Sanskrit or any of the Dravidian languages.

Yet you will find these Indians everywhere – in the armed forces, on the border, defending the country from its enemies; in your favourite restaurant – cooking and serving your food; in your apartment building – helping to protect your home and loved ones; in corporate offices; in call centres; in banks; in schools and colleges. Because they are so different from the typical Indian, they find it much more difficult to assimilate or as the saying goes, ‘to melt into the crowd’ unlike say, a Tamil in Delhi or a Bengali in Bangalore. Since their homelands are impoverished and do not provide ample opportunities for education, jobs or a decent life even, thousands of people from the NE have, over the years, been migrating to other states. There, many of them find jobs, get admission in good schools, colleges and universities and get to live a decent secure life. However, there’s a price that they continually pay for this privilege of living among their countrymen from the mainland and that is to be ridiculed, insulted, made fun of and generally to be made conscious of their ‘differentness’. Sometimes they are not even acknowledged as Indians but as Nepalis, Chinese, Korean, Thai … etc.  

Our country is fast on its way to becoming one among the developed countries of the world. Often, we read and hear about the enviable growth rate, the booming economy, the latest military acquisitions by the armed forces, etc. But the question is – can India really call itself developed and advanced when a large number of its racial minorities are made to feel lesser by their own countrymen.