I am so mad right now! I could vent out about this forever, like seriously.
As a majority of you know, I'm Indian. Not only that. I am a Hindu. Don't kill me if I say this, but Hindus stuck around in India for the longest time. From the past few years - I could say, I knew that the people in my community never thought very highly about Muslims and Christians.
But let me tell you something. The people in my community respect Africans, native Americans, native Australians, the grassland tribes, the desert tribes, the forest tribes, the nomads, those belonging to countries that had their own homely religious faiths like Egypt, Japan, Norway, Latvia and so on.
I, as a child born into this community wondered why it should be like that. For one thing, the people in my family are very open and haven't given me any invalid reasons as to why they perceive the western people and culture as absolutely crazy.
Don't be afraid, though. I won't kill you if you're "western". I'm a bit angry at your ancestors, but that is irrelevant. All I care about is how you behave with and treat other people - irrespective of your faith, gender, sexuality or even ancestry.
But why does my family respect the other people so much? Take a seat. When Christianity came into being, a lot of stuff happened. Wars were fought in the Viking and Norse countries just to spread a religion. Jews were looked down upon, people living in countries like Latvia and Lithuania that didn't want to convert to Christianity were killed.
And then, my friends, the sultans, the Mughals, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. They invaded India. India has a long history of being ruled by foreigners. Alexander the Great had conquered parts of India, but! He was a kind human being. He treated us with respect. The ones listed above were the complete opposite. They were really inhuman.
The Sultans and Mughals (with a few exceptions) were absolutely ruthless. You could compare them to modern-day terrorists. They raped thousands of Hindu women. That's basically what began the practice of 'child marriage'. Great! Now marry your children before the foolish catch 'em. A sultan, Ala-ud-din Khilji, burnt our libraries. So much precious information was lost. Information on astrology, epics, rituals, morals, warfare, etc. The libraries had so much information, it took 3 days to burn half the information gathered.
Did you know that the forest tribes of India never knew what it meant to disrespect a woman? They had no freaking clue that rape existed. But the invaders taught them. They plundered their huts, raped their daughters, sisters and wives in front of their eyes. They brainwashed them into thinking that treating women like trash was normal.
I'm sorry if I sound really old and cliché, but we carry the pain our ancestors faced in our DNA. To this day I become furious when I read anything that glorifies those invaders. Anything. Of course, some kings don't stir much in me, but OH MY GOD I HATE EVERYONE ELSE. Wow. Okay. I don't think I can continue this chapter for now. I'll continue a part 2 when I feel better.
