A Chinkie speaks out

We are not whining souls; believe it, because it comes from someone who has been a part of Delhi for nearly a decade and has cherished the major part of her stay in this vivacious city.

Apologies if I sound a bit of a ‘regionalist’ at the moment, but I find myself asking a question which I have either suppressed or just chosen to ignore on many occasions – where do we (the Chinkies) stand?

May be my reaction is a retaliation to the news currently making the headlines on national television – namely, the merciless lynching of Nido Taniam in hip and happening Lajpat Nagar market.

The incident was triggered by Nido reacting to some of the crowd who allegedly mocked his appearance; the young college student from Arunachal Pradesh was killed by a group that took the law into their own hands, apparently encouraged by the heady logic of mob rule and vigilante justice holding sway in the current political scenario and in our nation's capital.

It is not very easy to describe what I want to say. But I am going to give a sincere try.

I may be taunted for my hairstyle, I may be laughed at for my flat nose, I may be labelled a “yellow sea anemone” for the colour of my skin, I may be forced to face discrimination day in and day out for the genetic and inherent traits over which I have no control, but that does not give anyone the right to kill me!

It is a shame that our feelings are seldom respected. A sharp-featured girl in hot pants is trendy and stylish, but a girl from the north-east in the same attire risks being labelled a street walker.

Many of the people may be in denial about the racism that the people of the northeast face. A young couple from Madhya Pradesh may be making out in a shady corner of the Buddha Garden, but the blame will undeniably fall on the neighbourhood “chinky” girl who ‘encourages’ the neighborhood girls to take unthinkable ‘bold’ steps.

Mainland India’s attitude towards the peripheral societies of the north-east is laced with discrimination. Being called a Chinese or a Nepali hurts you know, though it shouldn't. And it hurts bad.

Let me share a few incidents from my own experience that I feel deserve to be heard.

“Do you drink the milk of rhinos?” This question was hurled at me not by some innocent five-year-old but by a senior physician at one of our nation's most prestigious medical institutions! “Do you eat humans?” This from an engineer from Chandigarh! And, as if being labeled a cannibal wasn't enough, we are also lumped into two other unworthy categories – a prostitute if you are a woman and a drug dealer if you are male.

Mine is not an attempt to exaggerate and escalate an issue which perhaps does not exist in the eyes of the majority. While another prominent person with his roots in the north-east, Arnab Goswami (mercifully for him, sharper featured!) angrily protest such incidents in ‘Times Now’ on television, a few so-called enlightened souls are trying to convince us all that Nido Taniam's murder was not a racist incident!

Until a few days ago, I was regretting my decision to resign from my job at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

But now, as I look at my two children and notice their not-so-sharp features, I applaud myself for deciding to move back to the safety of the hills.