Discrimination Diaries - Stories of Discrimination in Every day Life -The Odd Angle

 

Discrimination Diaries

By- Shreyansh Nishchal 

We all have been denied our reasonable rewards and we all at some point have missed our opportunities just because we could not fit among the people around us.

Sometimes you may be judged based upon your class, or ethnicity other times you may face discrimination based upon gender, caste, and religion.

But the real problem is not the discrimination but our acceptance of it.

We all have sometimes faced extreme discrimination based upon a social identity that mere comments upon your class and ethnicity do not seem discriminatory to us, sometimes even your social identity-based humiliation is tolerated by people based upon the belief that conditions were worse before.

This has led to a collective acceptance of a discriminatory mindset among us.

So we have come up with a collection of stories that may seem ordinary but are an outcome of a discriminatory mindset.

DISCRIMINATION DIARIES 

Recently, I watched a web series titled Panchayat and I remember an incident in that web series when Pradhan Ji tries to know the surname of Siddharth Ji (Sachiv Ji's friend). When he asked for his complete name he was surprised to know that his complete name was Siddharth itself. Then he asked his father's name but Siddharth did not mention his surname and that character named Pradhan Ji couldn't know his caste. Then, Sachiv Ji replied to him that he is Gupta Ji. Finally, Pradhan Ji was glad to hear that he was Gupta Ji.

I don't know how many times I too have faced this usual attempt of others trying to know my caste or surname (as most surnames are caste-based and can tell you about family lines) and I am sure you might have also faced such incidents.

And whenever I tried not to tell my surname one or more attempts are usually made by people like asking my father's name or my ethnicity to predict my caste and if I could outmaneuver them, there is always a sense of dissatisfaction with their faces.

You may question what's wrong with asking about surnames, there would have been none if your surname did not depict your ethnicity or caste but a surname can change the way people treat you, their behavior could change based upon your caste or religion.

You receive more affection and friendliness if you have the same caste as the person and you may be treated differently if you are not of the same caste.

What if Siddharth Ji would belong to a depressed class or lower caste of social hierarchy then could Pradhan Ji invite him for dinner? 

More or less such behavior points toward our discriminatory mindset and acceptance of it.

You may say that's about villages or underdeveloped areas but I who studies in the capital city have experienced the same here as well when one of the course seniors asked me about my surname when I was introducing myself to him for the first time. I didn't think that he would have any business with my surname but still, he asked. And these incidents were the reason why I feel hesitant about social identity. I often think, what do they have to do with my surname? Are they also trying to know my caste so that they can behave accordingly?

There is always a fear of being judged in our heads. some times it is about our background, gender, ethnicity, or beliefs and it increases when such incidents happen to us.

You all must have seen people in your surroundings who used to call their colleagues by their surname, like Gupta Ji, Sharma Ji, Yadav Ji, etc. Are we really stepping towards a discrimination-less society where someone's caste matters a lot to us?

THE ODD ANGLE to the issue

We today have to speak up against such behavior and try our best in eradicating such a discriminatory mindset.

If today abstained from talking and raising these issues then unknowingly we may be the ones propagating such behavior and treatment. Continuous humiliation of people based on social identity creates insecurity and nervousness among the victims, it prevents them from participating in the mainstream and they end up as socially exploited anxious human beings.

We should also try our best not to behave in such a way and prevent others from doing so.

Authored by 

Shreyansh and jatin 

Edited by

Jatin Mathur

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