A Holi Pledge

Once, when Krishna was still a young boy at Vrindavan, he wanted to go and play with Radha and the Gopikas. But, he was afraid that they would tease him, for he was dark; dark as the rain filled clouds, as the account goes. So, like little kids do, Krishna went crying to his mother, Yashoda.

"I want to go and play with Radha," he wailed. "But the Gopikas tease me and call me a dark-skinned little thief".

"Well," she replied, "you tease little Pranava and call him a fat pumpkin, don't you? And just three days past, I heard you laughing at poor Sudama saying he looks like a ragged leaf." 

She watched as the little boy turned contrite. "But I want to play with Radha," he said softly, puffing out his lower lip. Tears were already forming in his eyes.

She tenderly wiped them away and said, "I will tell you what to do. Here are some colours. Have your friends put some on your face and you do the same to them. Then you all will look alike and nobody will have to tease you for being dark anymore."

And so, was born the tradition of Holi for even little Krishna was ashamed of his complexion when people teased him.

Today, we pigeonhole people into little slots and stereotypes. An unknown number of people, ridiculed, shamed and teased spend their lives contending with low self-esteem and self-worth. If we are lucky, they bravely fight their own inner battles and put a smile in front of the world. Sometimes we are not that fortunate and the frustration of years of abuse is unleashed in violent ways on the world.

There is nothing wrong in describing people as they are, but we exaggerate their characteristics and shame them.

"There is a fat man standing outside our house talking to another man who looks like he is South Indian." A perfectly fine way of describing a situation. 

"There is a fatso who looks like the Michelin man talking to a bald Madrasi." Not very pleasant.

Let us take a pledge this Holi to refrain as much as possible from using such pejoratives, such stereotypes and nicknames, in public, and more importantly in private, especially in front of kids.

We are already infected. Let's protect our kids at least and let them grow up better than us.