Thank God, I am from North East (India)

Chinese, Chinki, Nepali... This is how we are addressed mockingly by a select group of uneducated and educated men of our society. A quick disclaimer to add is I am not saying all men are same, especially in this context. My dear friends from North East, my take on this is Take a chill pill. Ignore. Let the dogs bark. Give one reaction for your own satisfaction... Who let the dogs out? Be happy and proud that you are from North East. Trust me, people envy you.

I have lived good number of years in South India. Now I am settled in North India. One hard reality whether you like it or not which I have discovered is people from South India are more sensible than North Indians. Even when I was in South, people thought we were not Indians but from China or Nepal. But we were not addressed mockingly, they saw respect to us. And respect is all about You give respect, you have respect.

My fellow people, one thing I want to tell is there is nothing wrong when someone thinks we are not Indians. It is not their fault. We have oriental looks just like Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese etc. Even we cannot distinguish ourselves as Indians or not. I have my own sisters and friends who look like Korean actresses, pretty like dolls. It is wrong only when people try to bully you or make fun of you on the basis of your looks. That is when you need to put your foot down. You don't need to be disappointed. There are good sides of having non-Indian looks. When you go to South and South East Asian countries, you feel as if you are with your own people, you feel at home. Whenever I go to these countries I am always treated with love and warmth like a fellow member of their own country. I never feel out of place. The best part is seeing their reaction when I said I am from India.

Let's break the stereotype. Many people think North East girls are beauty with no brains. They are dumb and easily available. For this one, I cannot blame people. I myself have seen North East girls doing stupid things, inviting trouble, making fun of themselves. Good news is things are changing. Good news is there are many intelligent North East women who hold very good positions in Government and Private sectors. In many instances I have broken this stereotype into pieces. Let's do this together. Some years ago an ex-colleague of mine asked me I have not seen any North East in the corporate world or IT industry. You are the first one. Why so?. On this I politely replied Come out of Delhi, go to places like Bangalore and Chennai. You will realize that your question was inappropriate.

Thank God, I am from North East. Thank God, I am from a society who are not hypocrites. Thank God I have grown up in a surrounding of love, honesty and simplicity. Thank God, I have the North East genes. Trust me, people envy your fashion sense, your beautiful hair, your never-aging beautiful skin, your super-cool attitude. Sometime ago, a female friend from Delhi asked me How often do you go to beauty parlour?. I smiled and said I don't go to beauty parlour, I don't need to. She was so surprised and said Damn... You are born blessed. Yes, we are born blessed. So, next time, when you feel that you are being victim of Racism, don't be upset and cheer up, we are a blessed race. Continue to be kind and nice to people, help others when they need help but don't ever let people take you for granted.

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