Face of profiling in India

As I furiously typed the words in my previous blog ‘Ethnic Profiling’, I was aware that I didn’t unmask the face that ethnic profiling wears in India. I wondered why and soon realized that profiling based on caste, race, and color that happens in India might not be spotlighted globally but it is subtly present among us all. It sits in the shadows without being thoroughly acknowledged. 

When it comes to profiling, we aren’t exactly non-violent either. After all, the riots between Hindus and Muslims, and the riots between India and Pakistan are in a twisted way the result of caste and ethnic profiling. If you are thinking ‘Aren’t riots in the past? When was the last Hindu-Muslim riot?’, the answer is more recently than you might think. In 2020, Hindu Mobs attacked Muslims in North East Delhi. Yes, even when the world was busy fighting a deadly disease, Hindus and Muslims were fighting amongst them!

Anyone who looks at the news will be aware of how many scars these riots leave. The scars are painful not just physically but also mentally. There are so many riots in India that go unnoticed and it is sad that we cannot move past our old and out-of-date views. I know so many amazing people who do not share the same caste or religion as me, and that is the reason it hurts when someone profiles a fellow human.

One more way Indians fall prey to ethnic profiling is when we assume someone will be a particular way just because of their ethnicity and then avoid talking to them. If we cannot be civil to our fellow Indians, how can we be civil to anyone? Various people are still seen avoiding beggars and poor people because they bring ‘bad luck’… That shows that we haven’t improved as much as we should have.

I wish I could sum up all the reasons profiling someone based on their caste or religion is wrong. However, I don’t think I can do that without adding around 1000 more words so instead, I bid adieu! 

Thank you for reading! See you in the next blog!

A diary entry no one asked for!

As the rain hit my umbrella, my eyes took a snapshot and I smiled at the world. I knew then and there that a day like this would not be forgotten! 

I don’t usually write diary entries but today, I feel like doing so. Probably because the day was so beautiful that I want to capture my joy in a bundle of words.

The day began with a strong gust of wind hitting the windows and I jerked awake. As my eyes took in the cool winds, the calming rain, and the serenity outside my window, I took some mental clicks. The day seemed like any other but I am gifted with a wonderful family who always has something fun, and weird going on. 

I am staying at my aunt’s place for a few days [the closest thing I have to a vacation in this lockdown] and she makes sure all my days are happening and fun. My day was going well until my cousin took me out for lunch! Then, it became unmemorable! That girl is my exact opposite [quite literally] but we share a bond like no other. She is my weirdo❤️!

We zoomed past buildings and then had a great lunch. We are both foodies so we have a love for food that no one else in our family gets. She is the sister who sneaks out of her house just to get us some great food.

As we were roaming around town on her bike, it started to rain very heavily.

The city seemed to be caught in a gust of strong winds and heavy rains! The shower wouldn’t stop but neither would we! 😂

We were stuck under one small umbrella as the winds and the rains picked up speed. We must have stood under the rain for around 15 mins when it clicked us that we should click some pics. Well, honestly, she was the one who thought of it. We then clicked some ugly and weird pics of us (and of the rain). The rain wouldn’t stop or slow down, so we took some extreme measures! We decided it was a waste of time to just stand there so we tried to reach home (wasn’t the best decision but okay).

The umbrella failed to protect us as we tried to reach home carefully. The world seemed to be dressed in a thick mist as we sang songs and laughed. I would never forget the looks we got from the people who were riding along in the rain. They looked at us like we had lost our minds but we couldn’t care less.. we were more focused on singing songs in a voice that the singers wouldn’t want to hear!

As we reached home, dripping wet and laughing [on the verge of getting a cold lol], we knew we were going to get some scolding soon but it was all worth it. We would do it again if we could because the rain, the ride, the day was beautiful. 

As I sit and type this, hours later, I feel happy! 

This is a memory capsule and today, I am putting it up… Thank you for reading! See you in the next blog!

Marks and the story behind it!

Marks, marks and marks! Am I talking about physical scars? No.. I wish. This time I am talking about scores and how they form a hold on a student’s life. I would love to say that all my classmates and I study because we enjoy doing it and not because we need to score well. But I can’t lie, not today. 

We can deny it all we want but in the end, marks are what we are judged by. Marks are not just a sheet of paper for a student who has spent his or her entire life being judged by it. That solely is the reason students mug up all they can in the days before their exams and try to score well by whatever means possible. It saddens me to tell you that marks have a separate hold and control in every student’s life. We toil and fight for every single mark because, in the end, marks are a way of proving ourselves to society.

They have become a concealed yet acknowledged means of saying ‘I am intelligent’. In theory, marks are supposed to be just scores but in practice, they are all a student wants. After all, doesn’t it make your parents happy when you score well? Doesn’t it feel good to proudly show your friends your scorecard?

Some students work hard day and night to score those marks and some students use the easy way out and cheat. I have friends who literally imprint the textbooks in their mind and then ace their exams but I also have friends who call out to others during exams and try to learn all they can in one day. Just shows that even though they don’t care about exams, they care about marks. They care about scoring and not learning. 

However, one thing that I find very amusing is how I gave all my energy and time to score well in my 10th examination and now, a year later, I don’t remember so much of it. I can’t remember all the chemical equations I learned. I can’t remember the mathematical formulas I spent nights learning and there is so much more that I don’t mind forgetting because I have taken up a field that doesn’t ask me to remember it all. So in a way, all that mugging up of unrelated topics was just for marks, wasn’t it? 

Well, if you are thinking ‘Won’t it help you further in life?’. My answer will probably be ‘I don’t think I am going to measure triangular angles using trigonometric ratios so no.’ I am not against learning. I enjoyed learning practical stuff. I got excited when I could use my knowledge in real life. I enjoyed learning more about the fields I was interested in.

That brings me to my last point for this blog… Let students choose their preferred field and subjects sooner in life. I sincerely believe that every person has the right to learn something he or she is genuinely interested in. It is so much more interesting when the subjects are of our choice! I can imagine not having to struggle with maths and instead, spend all my time learning the language of Shakespeare, finding out the hidden secrets of some forgotten civilization, and greeting my mates in foreign languages. That would be my ideal education… What about you guys? What are your favorite subjects? Do comment and let me know! 

Thank you for reading! See you in the next blog!