‘The ——– people (referring to a particular community) are all kanjoos’, X said.
‘How can you say that?’, I asked
‘Oh I have met a couple of them’, he replied.
‘I don’t think so because I have grown up with them and they are in no way kanjoos,’, I said.
‘Well there are exceptions’, Y said.
‘How can you say that, you cannot categorize anybody because of some cases’, I said, ‘how can we categorize that Gujjus are like this and Malyalees are like that. Even brothers in the same family are different so how can you categorize people based on their ancestry?’
Growing up in the north I always heard that Madrasis are like this and when I went south, I heard Northies are like that and seriously I am fed up. The blogworld is no better. We freely label people. Why? Because we enjoy doing that somehow we enjoy proving our superiority.
Now that we have become mobile we go and work in other places, we make our home there, we travel but still we have not stopped branding.
When we travel we look at sights and sounds but seriously do we ever try to learn about the customs and the culture about the place. Seldom isn’t it??
All that is for Phd students or for National Geographic channel or some travel show. We, we are happy with the sights and sounds.
You may wonder why I am saying so? It is only when we try to understand the culture and traditions of others do we truly understand them.
Srila Prabhupada says that when you visit a dham(holy place) it is not just to wash away your sins but to associate with the saintly people there and in turn getting enriched with their association.
Similarly when we visit places it is not just to ‘look’ but also to understand.
The fact is that we all are part and parcels of the Almighty whole and as such we all lesser mortals are equal. So how can a Northie be superior to a Southie or vice versa.
Searching Self 
I agree with u and we are so quick to label someone or a community as Maroo, Bhaiya and Ghati without knowing bout it. It speaks a lot bout our wisdom and knowledge the, We-Know-It-All types.
Oh yes. We do know it all but it is sad that education hasn’t improved anything
Very true, Bhagya. We know the perils and yet we do it. I think we need to try harder to get on at least the first step of spirituality before we can feel superior to another human being. You are embarked on that journey.
I dont know about that mami, but atleast I have stopped looking at a person objectively with his background. A person is a person that is it, he is not a gujju, a punjabi or anything else. He is also a person like me, a spirit soul part and parcel of Him, thats it.
In my opinion we all like to label people as we tend to associate ourselves with a particular class of people only. Our necessity to associate ourselves with x community or y community forces us to label people from other communities as kanjoos, dark, loudspoken, etc.
It is only when we realize that each one of us is unique and cannot be labeled by anybody else, other than ourselves, that we will fully learn to appreciate the uniqueness within ourselves and everybody else in this world.
I agree, Jairam but labelling per se is not necessary, is it.
We spend our energy and time debating on things to be changed but we seldom do anything to change ourselves. The person who I argued with is well educated and I know my points will never be understood by either him r his companions and that is the saddest part. We form an opinion and then close our ears and our brain. 😦
Scientifically speaking, this could merely be a manifestation of the human brain’s innate tendency to categorize and club. This makes information easier to process, reduces the ‘unknown’ domain (we can superimpose the characteristics of a group to otherwise unknown people) and generally makes life simpler. 😛
Personally, I detest such branding. No two people are alike. Guess we can’t help certain things.
Wow Debo what and explanation 🙂 yes no one is alike and yes we cannot help, education situation enevironment, does nothing to change us, we were so, we will remain so
Oh boy.. i have had to go through this so ma y times. . It’s so bad here in uk.. people who work in my office from south won’t reply to me if I wish them a good morning..
Can you believe this. . These are educated people ..supposedly intelligent.. In a foreign country.. yet they bring all this hatred with them. .
I use to feel so proud of being Indian first here in uk.. thinking all think the same way at least in foreign land.. but sadly not the case..
Maybe it’s me or my face ..or something in me..
I have experienced the same here Bikram and not just with people from the south. When I go out on walks I wish the British but I do not wish the Indians. You may say it is my slave mentality but the fact is that it is they who will wish with a hearty good morning/ good evening than our fellow Indians. There are places belonging to certain communities where in people will refuse to speak any other language than their own and will not welcome others becoz it is their space. 😦
It is not slave mentality.. that is truth..
You already know what my job is ..so I see it everyday.. A fellow Indian will never help another Indian. . Especially if they are from different community or religion or states..
A nice post.We must transcend such artificial barriers and assimilate what is good in others.Narrow outlook stunts growth.
It is truly disgusting and so common in India. I hate the stereotypes.
So do I 😦 But stereotyping is not just limited to India, Distinction on class or area exist in other parts of the world too. But this is happening in India which is spiritually a progressive country; that is indeed disgusting.
During conversation s humans tend to ridicule another community or group. That I think gives them a feeling of being on the same boat and hence some unspoken comfort. Of course it’s not right or fair
Hmm, you may be right. We tend to flock with the same group and then try to alienate the others.