Anecdotes and Realizations

 I am a patriot. I would blindly pick India over any other country and would probably be very judgemental and nitpicky if I was packed off on a flight to a foreign country. Where are the long lines? Where are the crowds?  I am proud of how this unlikely country made up of a diverse group of people manages to stay together. How despite the unending list of divisions we stay a fairly united group. A sense of brotherhood that ties us together. What else could keep this amalgamation of people together? Not food, certainly not religion. Language? Lol. Culture? Not really.  Indian Culture is an interesting thing. No one can agree on what it actually is. Indian culture is a totally different thing for everyone. Its basically the worst game of telephone (or as it is racist(ly) known as Chinese Whispers) ever. I think thats pretty fair though. What exactly is purely an INDIAN thing? The Indus Valley Civilisation? The Aryans? But claiming to be of Aryan descent is not going to be g...

 Recently the 70th Miss Universe beauty pageant took place, and the world went ga-ga as Harnaaz Sandhu from India was crowned winner. She has quite an inspiring story. Her mother , having fought patriarchy, became a successful gynaceologist . Sandhu stands for womens' rights and menstrual hygiene. This is truly inspirational and she would be a wonderful role model. Except for the fact that the only reason I know about her is because she participated in a  pageant that stands for an archaic system of ranking and comparing women that should not exist today.  Beauty pageants in general are  horrifyingly degrading and outmoded in ideologies. A group of women stand around in minimal clothing, awaiting judgement from a panel of people, rating their bodies, their chest sizes, their waists and deciding who the 'most beautiful' girl in the universe is. How can this still be a thing? And a popular thing, at that? One can argue that nowadays pageants give more importance to the...

 Shortly after watching the movie, and feeling slightly disappointed with the ending, I had printed out quotes to stick around my room. I picked some from the movie - 'It's  Not About Deserve, It's about what you believe.' Now, it took me a while to process that.  I was thinking once more about the persecution that has been going on in the country for a while. There are so many rumours going around about how this group has always hated us or how it does not belong.  To combat this, I've always tried to come up with an equal argument. Trying to prove how their facts aren't true or that we can't judge based on the past. Then, I realised that this is far beyond that.  I believe in 'Just leave me alone!' Pretend that these people are horrible. That they do hate us. Does that make it okay to persecute them? They may be terrible people, who may or may not deserve this treatment. But, it's not about DESERVE, it's about what we as a nation believe in...