UPDATED: 6:22am – From being trolled for expressing your thoughts to being targeted for your looks, skin colour and gender – Indians have experienced all of that and more. Nawazuddin Siddiqui feels strongly about these shackles that we Indians need to break away from.
He talks about certain prejudices and biases that affect Indians on various levels in their everyday life. In an exclusive photo shoot, the Babumoshai Bandokbaaz actor shares his thoughts on how Indians need to be free from these evils to develop as a stronger nation.
Let’s break free to say what we want
When one has the freedom to say what they feel, there will be healthy debate, and we will be able to progress as a society. Curbing thoughts and trolling people for saying what they feel is making us go backwards as a country. We should have debates and discussions about important issues.
When expression of thoughts and ideas are stopped, you end up underestimating the young minds. The youth in India wants to embrace new ideas and thoughts and create their own as well, but such obstacles need to be removed.
Let’s break free from prejudices against skin colour
I feel the love most Indians have for whiter skin stems from the colonial days. The British ruled over India for years and due to that, some of us still feel that white skin denotes superiority. We feel inferior due to that and strive to get whiter skin. I have many male and female friends who have married goras (foreigners), with the idea that if the person is a foreigner he or she must be rich.
That is a preconceived notion. Later, they realise their partner doesn’t bathe for days, doesn’t earn much, and then such issues lead to a break-up. In fact, I have noticed that brown skin is ‘exotic’ for foreigners, and they love to get tanned too as it is healthier than having a pale white colour. We should embrace our skin colour and be proud of it.
Let’s break free from sexism
Women should be able to do anything they want -period. At times, influential people and people in positions of power end up saying , ‘Why was the girl roaming outside at 2am?’ I want to ask ‘why can’t she?’ I want to tell such people that women can go out at 4am, and you have to ensure they are safe.
If there is a problem in our society, we have to fix that instead of telling girls to stay at home. From childhood, girls are told how to behave, what to do, what to worry about while going out, and the same girls go and make Indians proud world over in every field possible. I think, women should run our country as they are very responsible and will do a fantastic job.
Let’s break free to from bias against ethnicity
There is a perception that beauty has to be of a certain kind. That’s where we go wrong. People who decide how one should look infuse a sense of inferiority complex in others. There is a marketing strategy behind this mindset to sell beauty products and tell the world, ‘this is how you should look.
’ If you don’t, you don’t fit in. We should shed this forced concept. I have heard of people who want to stand out and be different but they wonder if they will be accepted in the society, and feel they are wrong. This line of thinking leads to the youth underestimating themselves.
-HT
