Monday, June 22, 2009

Ancestro-Idiocrasy

“Do u think that Varun Gandhi should be allowed to contest election?”

Ans: ” No I think he is spoiling the name of the Gandhi’s. After all he is from the family of Indira Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi”

Well in a country of about 1.1 BILLION official citizens, we still feel that people with the same surname are each others blood relatives. Well, if u go back to the beginning, we all started from 2 people- Adam and Eve. In that case, all of us are blood relatives. Sure, the whites from USA and the blacks from AFRICA, and the browns and yellows from ASIA are of course all related.

But anyways, in todays world, it seems that they take it for granted that I am related to the bollywood car designer Dilip Chhabria. Its frustrating sometimes.
Did I ask any Chawla, whether her aunt went upto the moon?
Did I ask a Murthy to get me a Software job?
Did I ask any Mirza, if her sister plays tennis for India?
Did I not abuse Saddam in front of a Hussein?
Did I ask any Ibrahim for stolen gold and money?
Did I not protest against the Iraq war in front of a Bush?
Did I ask any Singh to teach me how to spin the cricket ball?
Did I ask a Khan to invite all his uncles to my Party?
Did I ask a Kapoor to get me to meet his cousin’s supermodel girlfriend?

DID I ?

Then why do I have to face this? I just dont get it.

I do believe in the Six Degrees Of Separation (see: Six Degrees ) but that does not mean that we have this connection by means of the same Surname. I mean the Indian Diaspora is spread out so much that anyone we know could be more related to someone from a different country, different citizenship, different ethinicity.
Thank god that this ‘Idiocrasy’ is limited only to surnames. What if the people started relating people according to names. Imagine the confusion. Every Sachin would be flanked by cricket fans, asking for autographs. Every Dawood would have to be arrested for being in the family of a don. Every Osama would be hunted down by the FBI, CIA, MI6, etc . And all related names would also be eyed with suspicion (I would say …Obama is really lucky!!!) . And Mohammad would have the biggest family tree in the world.

Well, we must understand. There are about 6 billion humans on this Earth. Each one as different as their finger-prints and just as equal as their basic anatomy. What then is the use in grouping people according to their names and surnames and dividing them in the name of colour, religion and other meaningless grounds.

On a less lighter note, let us strive to make the place a better place to live in. Where each one is equal and respected. And thus the planet can be a much more livable place.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

i totally understand...my mom's b4 marriage surname wuz TENDULKAR...i too get a lot of the "R U RELATED TO SACHIN" crap...newez d world needs 2 understand dat every khan s not a terrorist or every tendulkar s not sachin's relative