An eye-opening journey

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I picked up a newspaper from a railway wheeler and hopped in the train as it pulled into the station.

An eye-opening journey

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I picked up a newspaper from a railway wheeler and hopped in the train as it pulled into the station. For a change, the compartment was almost empty with just a few people chatting amongst themselves and a few college students, who sounded erudite, but stood blocking the way, discussing the impact of the economic downturn.

I took the window seat and started leafing through the pages when I came across a story, which said that Australian PM Kevin Rudd was disgusted by the instances of racial attacks on Indian students in Australia. However, I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the next line. The Aussie premier added that it would be wrong on his part to indicate that there would be no such instance of violence against foreign students in the future.

I didn't know how to react. I guess I never expected such an irresponsible statement coming from a person holding such a responsible position. I was appalled and cursed Rudd for his insensitivity. And that's when I overheard boys in the train talk about a 'chinky' who had just boarded the train. She seemed to be a student from some northeastern state. But these guys did all they could to make her uncomfortable and at the end of it all I knew she felt like an alien in her own land.

I spotted another group of well-dressed gentlemen, who frowned at the sight of some Maharashtrian men and bad-mouthed them in a low tone. The train reached Kurla station and a few Muslim men boarded the train.

Believing that I'm a Gujju, some Kamlesh bhai vented his ire against the men in beard and told me how they didn't have any civic sense and were solely responsible for polluting Mumbai. He went on to brand the entire community as terrorists and added that they should all be sent back to Pakistan.

I stood up and moved towards the exit, only to find a group that was awe-struck with Raj Thackeray's ideology of making Mumbai bhaiya free. Soon, I realised that every person in the compartment hated the other. And the hatred was on the basis of religion, region, race and language. I realised how racist we are and my hatred towards Rudd vanished completely. Now, I'm just pondering how, for so many years, I believed that all Indians are my brothers and sisters. Are we? I really don't know.

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