Memoirs: Who's a terrorist?

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Who's a terrorist?

Pic: Rana Chakraborty

My colleague photojournalist Rana Chakraborty bumped into these kids in the bus. It was clear that the kids were Muslims by faith. They saw his camera and but obviously, out of fascination, asked him to take a picture. He was more than happy to oblige. While getting down the bus, the kids asked Rana if the picture would be published in the newspaper any time soon. He tried to explain that it might not be possible.

The kids pondered for a while and said, “Please uncle. Try naa. Yaa to ek kaam karo. Paper mein chaap do, aur neeche likh dena ‘Terrorist’. Okay?”

Guess we aren’t building a very good future. Are we?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: what a wonderful post Vikas... very touchy.... loved it...

Love Pallavi; April 28, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Hotwani said...: Thanks Pallavi :); April 28, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Parth J Dave said...: That was so heartening...it felt as if these kids had decided to become terrorists..

Thank you so much for this amazing post..The next time you post such touching things, plz. do e-mail me at parthdave2006[at]gmail[dot]com; April 28, 2009 at 6:43 PM
Hotwani said...: Hi Parth. Thanks for your comment. However, I beg to differ. It is wrong to say that the kids had 'decided' to become terrorists. In fact, I am hell confident that each one of them has a cliche aspiration (becoming doctor, engineer, etc), just like any other kid. What the kid said was just an off-the-hand remark, but it says a lot about our bias (you and I included). It is just so easy for us to associate terrorism with a particular community or religion, and the everyday bombardment of that opinion is what we see in these kids.

All these kids have tremendous potential, perhaps more than you and me put together, but our bias is damaging their very sense of identity. Trust me, as a kid, there's nothing more tragic than being categorised for no fault of yours. And the repercussions of the same are seen later. Indeed, it's sad. And there's no one to be blamed, but us.

Sorry for all the lecture. But couldn't help it.

thanks.; April 28, 2009 at 7:49 PM
Unknown said...: omg
what kind of a world do we live in?
what kind of a world do we create?; April 29, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Himalee said...: brilliant:)

so much spoken, yet so little written!; April 29, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Hotwani said...: Thanks Himalee; April 29, 2009 at 9:05 PM
Kareena said...: Omg...this is so chilling...wonder what else children around pick up and we have no clue...; May 1, 2009 at 5:21 PM