The Fault in our Mindset

Recently at a quizzing event I came across a strange fact. The Santa-Banta jokes were named after the killers of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in order to humiliate the Sikh community and punish them. Although I tried to cross check the fact on the internet, I was unable to verify the authenticity of the above stated fact, but what made me think was that this is not the case of two imaginary individuals (read fools) but an entire community is ridiculed.

As I said earlier I can’t verify the origin of these Sardar jokes but the fact that we are openly stereotyping an entire community and ridiculing it is no less disturbing than trampling their basic human rights (The right to live their life with dignity). Can this be considered any less than an Indian version of Apartheid? After all no matter what part of India you are in you will hear a Sardarji joke. People of almost every region and ethnicity make Sardar jokes and forward these jokes on their social networks. Bollywood itself has been a repeat offender in this case we occasionally do see a movie with a Sardar character whose sole aim in the story is to act stupidly and be ridiculed.

Isn’t this the communalism of the worst kind? Our leaders like to talk about equality of communities and human rights. TV news debates are frequently based on certain news reports about riots or some other form of violence between different communities. While discussing riots and bringing culprits of these violent crimes to justice is surely important, shouldn’t the rights of the living be discussed once in a while as well? When people of all communities make fun and attribute all acts of stupidity to a single community does it not warrant our attention?

While this particular example might be limited more or less  to a single community but the problem is more of a national issue – “mind-set”. Like Capt. Gopinath pointed out in his blog regarding the ‘Swachh Bharat campaign’ the real problem lies in the mind-set. The mind-set that we Indians have been reluctant to change. On one hand we dream about being a world superpower but on the other hand we can’t help fighting /killing/ridiculing others. We are openly racist and so is our cinema. Apart from the Sardar jokes another common feature is the comment “Made in China” that is imposed on people with certain facial features. While some movies have tried to garner awareness most of the movies believe their primary target is money minting.

One the front of cleanliness, as Capt. Gopinath puts it, “We are privately clean, yet our public places are dirty beyond sufferance and imagination!” Equating this with our social behaviour, you might be good citizen paying your taxes are respecting laws, other people’s views(religious/non-religious) but still when it comes to acting as a society we act like a careless and often intolerant lot. We more than often act like a mob and seldom act as a society. The lynching of two black passengers at a Delhi Metro station brought out the uglier side of people faster than their humane side would ever appear to help people. (Think about this – how many people help in beating a caught thief or a miscreant in a public place vs. how many people help victims of an accident by taking them to the hospital)

Thus the key solution to a majority of our problems is our mind-set. Rather than spending millions of taxpayer’s rupees on cleaning roads that the same taxpayer will litter, why not spend even a fraction of that amount in spreading awareness and helping people change. And why should government take all the initiatives, change your mind-set and for a change, start a revolution on your own. Because once we change our mind-set and act like a responsible society we will finds or roads cleaner, streets safer, communal harmony, national well-being and above all, prosperity.