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Bitterness brewing in a sweet shop
The chill in the air freezes minds but if it freezes your heart... No dear, this can't be excused.
Delhi winters have become unpredictable. No longer can you expect winters to drop by in October. It enters like IST; your guess is correct. Indian stretchable time.
When people have decided to remain indisciplined
throughout their lives, do you think I can blame the weather?
A wintry afternoon, when the Sun had decided to relax and everything around me was dull, grey and shivering.
I decided to uplift my mood by enjoying a treat of moong dal halwa. It's a sweet delicacy from Rajasthan. It warms up my heart on a very freezing day.
There is this Guru Sweets just round the corner of my colony. It's the best to enjoy deserts however the worst for the calorie intake.
We need to be very careful while passing through this aromatic shop because your heart, mind and all senses are captured if you by chance smell the mouth watering treats. A spread of Hot Jalebis, Orange coloured sweet imartis and tempting gulab jamuns will direct your feet into the shop.
I paid for my desert at the counter and took a receipt to hand it over to the boy who would pack my treat.
I was standing at the counter and found something amiss. I observed a man who looked very WELL EDUCATED waiting for his sweet treat with flashy red eyes. His anger was clearly painted all over his face. He was shouting aloud saying that he hadn't got any receipt and was yelling at the boy to leave the counter and collect the receipt on his behalf from the cash counter. "You foolish boy, how dare you teach me? I will not go to the cash counter. Now even if the earth erupts or the sky falls down, I will not step away from here. How dare you doubt me?" His voice boomed inside my ear as I was standing very close to him.
Volcano erupting on a freezing day didn't give me the much needed warmth.
I felt the hot headed, cold hearted WELL EDUCATED man's ego boiling up.
I looked at the boy at the counter who had been taught to keep his lips sealed under all circumstances.
'Customer is God.' so say nothing. Do as you are told was clearly marked on the boy's forehead.
"Sir, I am doing my duty. I can't leave the coun..."
Before he could even explain his side of the story, he was cut off curtly by the WELL EDUCATED, respectable man of the society.
"You idiot, how dare you reply back. Bihari kahi ka!"
The voice boomed in the shop and I looked around for someone to come to the aid of the boy.
And what do I see, every eye was on the star of the day and me. Since I was standing close to the star, people might have assumed that I belonged to his galaxy.
I stepped back clearly cutting myself from this heated drama on a freezing day.
To add fuel to the fire, entered the floor manager who told the star, "Sir, it's impossible you were not given the slip; if the person at the cash counter has not given you the slip. Go there and slap him."
To this the WELL EDUCATED man retorted, " Why should I slap? you go there and slap him?" his hands were inside his pocket however his words aimed well without a pistol.
My mind was boggling now, "Whaat the hell? Slap??"
My thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice. "Ma'am, how can I help you." The boy's face had flushed with embarrassment because of the the harrowing experience. He stood like a statue as all WELL EDUCATED eyes were staring at him.
I, a WELL EDUCATED woman handed my receipt to the boy with a heavy heart and he quickly packed my delicacy.
I looked at the red- faced angry, WELL EDUCATED star who was bloating with ego. He had passed a casteist remark. He had created so much drama in the shop because the boy behind the counter was doing his duty!!
I find it so hilarious that a literate man can label someone openly and get away with it unscathed.
A person can get so bitter if the boy behind the counter guides him to go to the cash counter and get a slip that shows he has paid for his sweet.
A lower-class person has to look a certain way – dark-skinned, non-sharp facial features, hindi-speaking,
but with a dialect such that one can label him as alien and uncivilised. Since class and caste within Indian society are strongly interlinked, they become coalesced together as one. The fantasies of an elite upper class is gnawing away humanity.
God! help me... We are existing in 2023. We all let go of such incidents because we see it as every day drama. This isn't even a story.
It's a daily encounter in metropolitan cities.
You can see such encounters lurking on the roads, inside shops, in the markets.
People who live in cities think of themselves as a 'God sent gift on earth.'
These privileged people call themselves civilized and have no sense of empathy for those less fortunate than them. The upper class of the cities love to employ them
as domestic workers and unskilled labourers because they are available at a cheap price however the hatred for them echos around day in and day out.
This disappointment is clearly seen in the remarks passed by the politicians, the harmless satire by the comedians.
The man in the gamcha is looked down by the gentleman wearing a coat.
The rickshaw puller, the domestic help, the dark skinned people are clubbed under one umbrella of a casteist remark.
-You people?
-Punjabi aloo, paratha, butter?
-Madrasi?
-Chinky?
-Pink shirt, gay?
-Stingy marwari?
-South indian brains,
-North Indian looks?
-Dark skinned, wheatish complexion??
Stop it here and now
shouts my brain.
Madras no longer exists.
Our skin is not a shade card. Everyone has a brain. Punjabis do eat bread jam. Chinky? The eyes are genetic. Marwaris do spend.
Pink is a colour not a gender.
Bihari doesn't have a horn on his head, dear!
The list is endless.
Stop being a part of discrimination or passing racist remarks.
A piece of paper doesn't decide your value. If you are educated, behave like an educated should...
Have you ever passed such a remark publicly?
Do you tease your school friend who is from south india?
Do you laugh at the Sikh having extra butter?
Does a north eastern girl cringe under your staring eyes?
Do you yell at the rickshaw puller, 'aye bihari' because he is very close to your expensive flashy car?
If you do...
Please stop because your children are quietly
watching as to how their WELL EDUCATED parents are behaving.
© Bindu
#story #education #racism #literature #writercommunity #writco #writer
@AshishOberoi
Delhi winters have become unpredictable. No longer can you expect winters to drop by in October. It enters like IST; your guess is correct. Indian stretchable time.
When people have decided to remain indisciplined
throughout their lives, do you think I can blame the weather?
A wintry afternoon, when the Sun had decided to relax and everything around me was dull, grey and shivering.
I decided to uplift my mood by enjoying a treat of moong dal halwa. It's a sweet delicacy from Rajasthan. It warms up my heart on a very freezing day.
There is this Guru Sweets just round the corner of my colony. It's the best to enjoy deserts however the worst for the calorie intake.
We need to be very careful while passing through this aromatic shop because your heart, mind and all senses are captured if you by chance smell the mouth watering treats. A spread of Hot Jalebis, Orange coloured sweet imartis and tempting gulab jamuns will direct your feet into the shop.
I paid for my desert at the counter and took a receipt to hand it over to the boy who would pack my treat.
I was standing at the counter and found something amiss. I observed a man who looked very WELL EDUCATED waiting for his sweet treat with flashy red eyes. His anger was clearly painted all over his face. He was shouting aloud saying that he hadn't got any receipt and was yelling at the boy to leave the counter and collect the receipt on his behalf from the cash counter. "You foolish boy, how dare you teach me? I will not go to the cash counter. Now even if the earth erupts or the sky falls down, I will not step away from here. How dare you doubt me?" His voice boomed inside my ear as I was standing very close to him.
Volcano erupting on a freezing day didn't give me the much needed warmth.
I felt the hot headed, cold hearted WELL EDUCATED man's ego boiling up.
I looked at the boy at the counter who had been taught to keep his lips sealed under all circumstances.
'Customer is God.' so say nothing. Do as you are told was clearly marked on the boy's forehead.
"Sir, I am doing my duty. I can't leave the coun..."
Before he could even explain his side of the story, he was cut off curtly by the WELL EDUCATED, respectable man of the society.
"You idiot, how dare you reply back. Bihari kahi ka!"
The voice boomed in the shop and I looked around for someone to come to the aid of the boy.
And what do I see, every eye was on the star of the day and me. Since I was standing close to the star, people might have assumed that I belonged to his galaxy.
I stepped back clearly cutting myself from this heated drama on a freezing day.
To add fuel to the fire, entered the floor manager who told the star, "Sir, it's impossible you were not given the slip; if the person at the cash counter has not given you the slip. Go there and slap him."
To this the WELL EDUCATED man retorted, " Why should I slap? you go there and slap him?" his hands were inside his pocket however his words aimed well without a pistol.
My mind was boggling now, "Whaat the hell? Slap??"
My thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice. "Ma'am, how can I help you." The boy's face had flushed with embarrassment because of the the harrowing experience. He stood like a statue as all WELL EDUCATED eyes were staring at him.
I, a WELL EDUCATED woman handed my receipt to the boy with a heavy heart and he quickly packed my delicacy.
I looked at the red- faced angry, WELL EDUCATED star who was bloating with ego. He had passed a casteist remark. He had created so much drama in the shop because the boy behind the counter was doing his duty!!
I find it so hilarious that a literate man can label someone openly and get away with it unscathed.
A person can get so bitter if the boy behind the counter guides him to go to the cash counter and get a slip that shows he has paid for his sweet.
A lower-class person has to look a certain way – dark-skinned, non-sharp facial features, hindi-speaking,
but with a dialect such that one can label him as alien and uncivilised. Since class and caste within Indian society are strongly interlinked, they become coalesced together as one. The fantasies of an elite upper class is gnawing away humanity.
God! help me... We are existing in 2023. We all let go of such incidents because we see it as every day drama. This isn't even a story.
It's a daily encounter in metropolitan cities.
You can see such encounters lurking on the roads, inside shops, in the markets.
People who live in cities think of themselves as a 'God sent gift on earth.'
These privileged people call themselves civilized and have no sense of empathy for those less fortunate than them. The upper class of the cities love to employ them
as domestic workers and unskilled labourers because they are available at a cheap price however the hatred for them echos around day in and day out.
This disappointment is clearly seen in the remarks passed by the politicians, the harmless satire by the comedians.
The man in the gamcha is looked down by the gentleman wearing a coat.
The rickshaw puller, the domestic help, the dark skinned people are clubbed under one umbrella of a casteist remark.
-You people?
-Punjabi aloo, paratha, butter?
-Madrasi?
-Chinky?
-Pink shirt, gay?
-Stingy marwari?
-South indian brains,
-North Indian looks?
-Dark skinned, wheatish complexion??
Stop it here and now
shouts my brain.
Madras no longer exists.
Our skin is not a shade card. Everyone has a brain. Punjabis do eat bread jam. Chinky? The eyes are genetic. Marwaris do spend.
Pink is a colour not a gender.
Bihari doesn't have a horn on his head, dear!
The list is endless.
Stop being a part of discrimination or passing racist remarks.
A piece of paper doesn't decide your value. If you are educated, behave like an educated should...
Have you ever passed such a remark publicly?
Do you tease your school friend who is from south india?
Do you laugh at the Sikh having extra butter?
Does a north eastern girl cringe under your staring eyes?
Do you yell at the rickshaw puller, 'aye bihari' because he is very close to your expensive flashy car?
If you do...
Please stop because your children are quietly
watching as to how their WELL EDUCATED parents are behaving.
© Bindu
#story #education #racism #literature #writercommunity #writco #writer
@AshishOberoi
