Differentiating Difference.
This morning, was a sleepy one. Reluctant to let go of the last shreds of my morning nap in the bus, I stepped out dreary and bleary. My senses were rudely shaken by the chitter-chatter amongst the fellow commuters, eager and enthusiastic to start a new day. In my meta-state, I imbibed all the words that be-fell my ear, like a sponge. After, a considerable phase lag, I could make out at least five different languages being spoken. I was pleasantly amused at the diversity that I encounter day in and day out, without realizing it. This led to the train of thought that follows.
The school that I studied in was owned and run by members of a certain caste-based group. The quality of education, I must say, was above average and the school produced many an achiever. However, the culture that it professed was largely tuned to suit that particular community, and presence of others, was largely ignored. I was almost a frog in the well, not knowing how to interact comfortably with people beyond that community, with no inkling of the world that functions outside it. Amongst the students, at least in the years I spent there, a vague sense of caste linked differences prevailed, although nothing was explicit.
Once I passed out of school, and pursued my collegiate studies, the afore mentioned community's presence was reduced to a minimum, and those members that were, seemed to have much more open mind. People from all over the state, with different backgrounds, economical and familial mingled, and differences relating to caste gradually blurred. There still remained a certain criteria for affinity, that of belonging to the same district or region of the state. But this was amongst some members of the staff, and fewer of the hostellers.
It so happened, that I had to shift to another city that being a supra-cosmopolitan one, for work. People from all over the country swarmed in, and a mini-India was constituited. Here, caste, creed and region lost their significance. One had to be from your home-state, speaking your mother tongue, and the ice would thaw faster.
In all the above situations, I followed the norm, rather than dare an exception. I don’t see any anamoly in this, as it is but human nature, if not anything else. I have not ventured beyond the shores of India, perhaps when I do, I might find the state-based differences evanscent, giving place to nationality, and race based ones. Extrapolating, if men were to begin a space colony, even these would disapper, replaced by planetary differences. On the highest rung of this collectivistic ladder, maybe, all men are one, so to say, before the Supreme, a tenet shared by the ruling religions of the world.
I have not discussed religious differences yet, because it is one that transcends all levels and is omnipresent. The irony of it is, faith and religion are things which should, by principle be agnostic to such disparities.
Men cannot exist without differences. Each human is unique in his or her own way. But to be straddled with qualities which you were born into, and do not have the option to alter, can be extremely stifling. Some people fight throughout their lifetimes to free themseleves of such tags. Some others condition themselves to identify with these qualities, and start believeing that these are things that define their personalities. Pride and shame in things where one can’t place a righful claim on are nothing short of a sham.
There is a thin line between pride and prejudice. Pride that stems from one’s achivements is an exhilarating feeling. Whereas, pride that one cannot own deforms into prejudice. Shame in one’s attributes that one cannot control is a delusive emotion. Shame, on any other account, is guilt. Guilt again is a consequence of one not being able to relate or identify with oneself.
There has been no plan or purpose in what I have written till now. But it has been a subject that has intrigued me for several years, both on a conscious and an unconsious level. To understand the philosophy behind the differences which exist amidst the unity, is a quest that I can neither give up, nor end in fruitition. I know that there is much to unravel, and in the process I might end up contradicting myself. There are so many perspectives of the same picture, and each one is as illusionary and veracious as the other.
