And now the Indian parliament has got in to ‘Big Brother’ act,….
…and our ministers have expressed outrage at the racial abuse against Shilpa. And ‘against Indian womanhood’ said one Minister !
Hang on, how about the treatment of women in our own country, where millions are raped, disfigured, exploited, abused and prejudiced against ? Even by our own police force !What about racism in our own society ? I remember in my college days we had some Nigerian students. At mealtimes no one would sit next to them. I know many Indian families in the West that would rather die than have their daughters or sons marry a black person.
Dont forget that ‘Fair and Lovely’ is by far the largest selling cosmetic in India.
Is there rascism in UK ? Of course there is. But is Big Brother the platform that we should all get up in arms over ? Of coure not. It’s just a bunch of silly people acting out a silly pantomine in a silly voyeristic show, which, before Shilpa came into it, was rapidly declining in viewership.
Oh well, Shilpa should get a lot more money from Channel 4 for reviving their show,
Shekhar
Dear Shekhar,
Shilpa is an actress…She is taking her role at big brother seriously…I think she will even win this. I think Big brother will be a turning point in her career..!
You are right…Racism is prevalent among indians too…..I think this is an universal phenomenon
cheers
Ganesh
Well said Shekhar…There is discrimination everywhere in India.
Rich Vs Poor
Brahmins Vs Non brahmins
North Vs South
Mumbai Vs Delhi
Iyer Vs Iyengar
kamma Vs Reddy
…………..and the list never ends.It’s the survival of fittest.
Oh God!!!When will it be “Survival of the wisest”?
Mumukshu
I just saw a few clips.
It is racism, used as a tool for bullying!
you are from the north-eastern states of the country.
you walk down a congested delhi street. a passerby stares at you for one long moment. then he grins. and you know quite well that it’s not in mirth. he continues to stare at you in contempt.
you hail a cab. it’s real tough bargaining over the price. the driver stares at you, deceptiveness written clear in his face.
then to the bazaar, shopping complex, movies, everywhere – that same look on their faces.
you know the reason why they keep staring at you. you can perceive them well. and you know quite well that you ain’t an alien. you are an indian. and a human being too.
you are riding on a blueline bus. the conductor yells out loud, “hey, chinky, bahadur…”
do you shout back at him: “BIHARIS!” or do you just let it pass, again, as you had been doing over the years?
but you know, you are pained, deep down your heart. your blood begins to boil.
damn, how the hell are you gonna have the strength to overcome these??
in fact, indians are the more aggressive lots than britishers. people from the north-eastern states are being seen as foreigners, or aliens, or nepalis. mainstream indians just don’t accept them as their brothers and sisters, living in one country. multi-culturism, multi-ethnicity and unity-in-diversity don’t seem to go down well with them.
it’s now time to put a complete “full stop” here, first at home. only then, let’s talk about europe.
Hey Shekhar!
Yes the show is more than voyureistic! I have never seen it. But all the hublahoo is giving the some unnecessary! Is channel4 planning to be in India soon (I’m not sure if it is already here)
Looks like we are on the same platform…I wrote about the same thing on my blog too!!! Are you trying to copy me??? Yeah I know…I’m flattering myself too much!
On that note should tell you I’m headed to the Carribean at the end of thsi year – to support a cousin who is marrying a wonderful wonderful man – James, who ‘unfortunately’ for the family is ‘Black’. Never mind that we all grew up in Nigeria with the same ‘black’ people at all our birthday parties and in our schools, and our best friends and our parents best friends. Well anyway, she’s basically disowned from the family – despite the fact that he’s everything one would wish for someone you love – Harvard educated consultant to the UN and World Bank doing development work in South Africa with a Hudson facing apartment in NY no less.
So anyway – am her sole moral support, so heading there end of the year. Now that’s reverse racism for you.
thats the eternal attitude of ‘we can do it all to ourselves, you cant do it though’….
and yes, you just gave me a good bumper sticker for the new season “I am a racist. i love ferrari” 🙂
I heard the viewership went up by 2 Mill after the incident!
The news channels are having a great week with it and I heard one of the experts saying “Its a 3rd rate show for 3rd rate people”. And then I thought, ‘Wait a sec, this is what entertainment thrives on. Air that show on my TV and I would watch it, atleast to check out what the buzz was about’
Its obvious that the show organizers were expecting this, they are probably patting their backs and cracking open the champagne bottle for the newly earned viewership.
What people are forgetting is that when you have the power of controlling information reaching people you can make it sound the way they want. Keep a woman and a man in conversation for an hour and anyone can highlight statements which might have sounded sexist(but were probably not). Show only those parts and you have the audience thinking what you want.
Racism is a serious problem but making the world believe that what is shown in the tv show as racism is an insult to everyone from Mahatma Gandhi who was a victim of it.
My professor of Advanced Mathematics used to tell me ‘ Rudra , Everything in the universe has limitations , stupidity does not ‘. I am reminded of that word more than ever , seeing the ‘official’ indian reaction.
Coupke of things though – ‘Official’ Indian reaction reflects a self-deprecation of standards and is unwarranted in this case – it reflects our politicians are 4th class or worse sort of men – who will react to any darned silly event .
As for Shipla – she went in, not to ‘represent her country’ as she likes to put it – Big Brother is the last place you would expect someone ( unless you are a theoretical blond) to wear the Country colours . Channel 4 paid her 3 crores = 3,52,940 UK pounds for the show – that makes Shipla one helluva very costly Patriot to afford ! hehehe.
But it serves her right ,in a way – opens her and other ‘oh-so-accented-my-english-is-so-much-better-than-yours-so-i-am-posh-and-happening’ folks of modern india to the realities of common British attitudes and accents – BBC is the only place in Britain where they speak english as we are taught and hear it – You would not understand a word of someone from Essex , or Liverpool or a Welshman.
No one prevented Shipla from giving the Barmy Winches a mouthful – after all Shila is good and proud of her English – isnt she? – and this image of a cry-baby Indian , Shipa is projecting is actually annoying .
Well commented Lun Samte – charity begins at home – me being an anglo-indian I know exactly where you’re coming from – just coz we couldn’t speak the local languages without our angelicised accent
intwined we were scorned at!! lets see a change in India first!!!
Ah yes, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
One of my favourite, and I think most amusing and truthful quotes ever, Mahatma Gandhi asked what he thought of English civilisation responded:
“I think it would be a good idea”.
So do I.
Rudra, you see through the smoke-screen to the truth of the matter. You comments make me laugh in recognition of a truth.
…i wholeheartedly agree with your views Shekhar… One really good thing that has come out of this is it has definitely brought the racism in UK to the forefront and provided a great platform.
With regards to Shilpa, i urge readers to read the post by plurabella on the previous blog… just shows that Shilpa is just another rich, spoilt person… maybe this and the aftermath of what she said and implied will give her an oppurtunity to grow and look at every human as equal… now that she has been treated as a pariah !
How true Shekhar, nobody wants to care abt women in india, or even the poor kids who are discriminated & treated bad all the time! But the minute Shilpa Shetty is discriminated, there is such a hue & cry! Why doesn’t anybody ask Shilpa to be BIG GAL & STOP being a cry baby? It’s bad that she was treated wrong, but how much media attention does the issue deserve? Our parliament better attend more important issues like Nithari killings!
I finally saw the episode tonight in which Jade was voted out. The programme was such a downer. I felt no empathy for any one of the participants, or the show, and hated the presenter. The presenter should be the first one to be voted out of the show ! She just looked down not only on the participants, but also the viewers, Shekhar
“Fair and Lovely”. Now lets be fair here. Racism is the belief that any one race is superior to the other.
This is different from having a standard of beauty or attractiveness which says that a fair person is more beautiful or attractive than a darker person.
In all cultures people use cosmetic aids to appear more attractive to others. Tanning, face paint etc.
Skin color is just another attribute that most Indians include in the definition of beauty. Most cultures already have other attributes that you cannot change – symmetry of face, ratio of nose width to face width, shape of eyes etc.
Dear Shekhar,
Yes I agree with you that racism is present in India too, in fact, I have made fun of blacks when I go to colaba too by shouting ‘ola la la u le oo’ or whatever. Our obsession with the colour of ones skin is quite apparent by the fact that ‘fair n lovely’ is the largest selling cosmetic in India as you rightly pointed out. But cheers to GJ for being an anti racist and supporting his cousin in marrying a black man (who is far better than me or an average Indian like me)cheers again GJ!!
Shekhar, your comment re the presenter of the programme, just to clarify, because there are a few programmes linked to BB, we are talking about Davina McCall; there is a growing feeling here that some of those linked to this programme should really be asked to look at the responsibility they have in this.
I’m not a fan of Davina, I find her bitchy and snide and actually it may be that some even such as Jade, alas, take Davina as a role model.
rc: it is not my intentiion to do a “hate Shilpa because she is a rich girl” piece. Shilpa is what Shilpa is, and Jade is what Jade is. Both a product of their particular upbringing and environment.
What was ironic for me was that whilst Shilpa is obviously unaware that there are certain conventions in Europe and we are not all as portrayed in movies etc, cultureless and up for anything.
Sometimes I get the impression that outside of Europe, European woman are portrayed as being sexually available at all times. (I was raised as strictly as Shilpa. And I would have been confined to my house indefinitely if my Catholic parents even suspected the slightest sexual dalliance on my part.)
What is actually sad about this whole furore, is that there are far more important issues that need addressing and public energy turned towards, like making sure that many of the world’s people don’t go hungry every day.
thank you pal…er cal 🙂 truth and humor go together many times – unless one’s own tunnel is so narrow , there is no place for guffaws.cheers.
It is disgraceful you know, when I think of the kind of society we stay in Shekhar. You are right, we don’t need to cross boundaries to check if racism exists or not but in our very own roots. I believe it is not the fact that some Ms. Shetty was disparaged in the show but its the fact that the word ‘racism’ came out all in the open created such hue and cry. Such things are just meant to be clandestine for most sections of the society. It is not only racism, time and again we have failed our own democracy on various issues or how would we explain such hullaballo on so called ‘disgusting’ comments passed by some south Indian actress on pre marital sex? Inspite of its existence we would rather preach ignorance! I can just go on and on with examples…
Well said guys.
So the next time u wanna bully or torment some one, make sure, he/she has the same color and of the same ethnicity.
That won’t be any hate crime or “racial discrimination”.
Shilpa is racist. Laughing at stupid India comedians in black face.
Yet the media apart from one paper choose to keep this secret. No doubt if Jade Goody had done an Indian impersonation and anybody laughed they would be called racist
i agree that there is racism within us all, especially in india too. Now if we talk off racism let us ponder discrimination too – especially discrimination against women in india! can anyone explain the killing of girl babies and unborn female embryos in india! if this happened in UK by english people we would be up in arms about it! isnt it funny how we there is something as sickening as this happening in India so is Shilpa representing that too! last question why is it always EDUCATED MIDDLE CLASS families who kill the girl?
How odd that we call british people racist when India cannot even get on with her neighbour Pakistan or vice versa and here we are pointing the finger elsewhere? How many muslims are in parliament in India? a country boasting a large population of muslims? I agree us asians have our racism towards certain issues to. Let me throw en example IN U.K. Sikh people would rather their children marry a divorced white man than an eligible muslimm man and even go further to preach anti-muslim issues in their temples. an issue i have witnessed myself. How do we explain this?
I agree with Salma, i have never understood this girl killing barbaric acts amongst indian regions. Is a man not born from a woman?
Inidan women here in U.k also go abroad to have scans and abortions if they think it may be a girl….WHY??
I am sikh and was in love with a muslim man, his family accepted me fully but my parents do not talk to me (we married)they do not talk to my kids. They said they would not have minded if it was anyone white, black, jap but not a muslim man, Isnt it funny we are the same colour, culture and even langauge of Punjabi – but it isnt good enough. I though sikhism taught tolerance for other religions? I changed to Islam which accomodates me better as a woman and human being.
Salma and Ranjit Kumari,
WOW ! You guys make me proud – Can i have your e-mails so i can contact you and discuss your experiences in multiculturalism ?
This is worthwhile reading on racism and also some of the comments too. But quintessential thing is how we view and rave racism. We all know that ‘Pride and prejudice’ written by Janeaustin tells us the prejudices that exists/existing in english communities within. The same way prejudices exist in every single society/country. with in one religion, people would like to get their sons/daughters married in their own caste/creed. As some one pointed above, sunni will never marry a shia muslim and they fight dreadfully but it doesnt mean that other religions/ countrymen can take freeway and start prejudicing them. Religious communities are complex everywhere but racism was the oldest existing detrimental thing to be quarantied and we all need to be a party to it in which ever country/form it is.
The growing racism in UK / US seem coz of the following misgivings
1. Indians are out there to grab others’ jobs.
[why cant natives be more competetive? Talk of open economy and destroy developing nations’ inherent resources!]
2. Indians work and push money to their homeland.
[Well. if you dont give them greencards/allow any inch ground without 100k rules..what they do?]
3. Indians steal others’ future
[Its not, we pay SS,Taxes, NI whatever to make other jobless lazy people for staying afloat for their low cost housing/bills etc making lives securre for them]
This is for Lun Samte – I understand your deep pain and your sense of alienation. But without minimizing your humiliation, I would like to tell you this: We are all, each and every one of us, a victim of some kind of bias or prejudice. It could be something as personal as the way one looks or speaks, it could be the fact that you are academically or professionally “inferior” or of a socially downtrodden caste or class. It could simply be a personality bias – which provokes unforeseen hostility from others for no fathomable reason. Again, perhaps one could be the most neglected person within one’s own family. The list is endless – and as eternal as Man. So, what you need to do is to cultivate an unshakeable self belief and a great detachment from what is essentially not a part of your own inner world. There does not exist just one external world -just as there does not exist just one single perception. Because what is true for one person may not be true for another, no? So from the constant choices we attempt to make, we shape our own particular world. There are worlds within worlds within worlds – and every single person nurtures his or own world which is carved and hammered and polished, re-created and honed every instant from these choices. This personal planet is peopled with the figures of your own craft, much in the way a film is made. You are the script writer, the director and the producer – and the actors within this world dance to the strings of imagination which you and you alone pull. So – the choice is clearly yours….to create an inadequate, failed world, its dimensions crushed and crumpled by any and every negative thought or action coming your way… or one which shines with your personal truth and dreams come true…..
I am a sri lankan emigrant living in uk being an asian my heart was open for shilpa throughout the reality show, meanwhile on the other hand i completely agree with you about asians pointing fingers at white people when they themselves are racists. I have endured racism throughout my whole life I am a christian my dad is tamil my mum is sinhalese tamils are minority citizens in sri lanka i lost my parents at the age of 14 within months my mum died through ntural cuses my dad was brutally killed by the order of government officials. living in uk we are racially victimised by the indians mainly in our neighbourhood a gujrati dad has told his children not to play with black children referring to my kids when they themselves are some of them are of the same colour, my kids are branded as blackies by north indian children in school but if a white has to told it to them there would have been a big uproar.we had a gujrati tenant who was an expatriate who wanted a room from one of our two roomed house, he made restrictions that he wouldnt like to share the house if the tenant in the other room is a muslim. I was glad he did not tell this to another landlord who was a white otherwise it would have caused me embarrasmet we being asians they might think of an asian how intellectually & morally backward it is in britain to tell such comment.I could even write a book on my experiences as such but mentioned a few of them hope the readers agree with this
Hello everyone!
All of the current stories of the down fall of the economy and loss of jobs has been driving most americans crazy!
I started looking online for some way to get help and found that the government gives free grants.
What I want to know is…. do any of you know what site I can find free online grant application at?
Thank You!
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