OBSERVATIONS

RACISM ROW; that rocked the world

The topic du jour for much of the last two weeks has been over racism. The event is a reality show called Big Brother. The protagonists are a Bollywood actor who’s seen her best days and a reality show star. The show made headlines as the fight between these two housemates had two nations and irate viewers up in arms over alleged racism. Shilpa thought Jade was being racist towards her ( a statement she retracts later in the show). Jade on her part, says her comments weren’t race-driven (a statement she too retracts and admits her comments were racist, according to the British tabloid News of the World).

What started out as a usual tiff between two housemates very quickly snowballed into something huge. Even the respective governments of India and U.K were asked for their stand. The British Prime Minister Tony Blair himself said that he doesn’t want Britain to be seen as a racist country. The fight had the Indian ministers saying that racism won’t be tolerated. The Indian tourism ministry made the most of this situation and writes a tongue in cheek letter to Jade saying that she should come to India and experience its healing nature. Endemol, the production house that is producing this reality show and Channel 4 had to hold press conferences to soothe public and international sentiments. According to them it wasn’t racism but jealousy that made Jade so nasty towards Shilpa.

Jade faced public ire and consequently was voted out of the show by a whopping 82%. Shilpa who wasn’t a favourite till this drama unfolded, clearly had viewers’ sympathy on her side. For now she’s in the Big Brother household.

This whole issue brings to fore a larger picture. It raises debates on whether racism is still prevalent. It makes us wonder if we have fully stopped judging people by the colour of their skin. Have we moved beyond judging people by the way they eat (Danielle, former Miss Great Britian who is one of the housemate threw obscure remarks on Shilpa`s habit of eating with her hands).
Among the Indians themselves, opinion was divided on whether it was racism. Back in India, many Indians felt that Jade was in fact being racist and that she should be voted out of the show. But there was also another set of people who felt that too much attention was being given to a reality show. A show that has knowingly selected different people, where fights and discomfiture are a part of it. That racism is very much present right here in India, among the Indian habitants. A divide is palpable between the North Indians, the South Indians and the North East Indians. Then why do they object to being called “the Indian” when they themselves label all foreigners as “goras”? Few bold Indians admit to being racists. 

Now this raised the Question to us, the Tibetans. Are people being racist towards us? Are we made to feel different because of the shape of our eyes? Or are we racist ourselves? This is difficult to answer since we’ve always put ourselves in the victim’s shoes. But it is quite undeniable that we Tibetans have the tendency to judge others by their nationality. An Indian acquaintance once visited Dharamsala and stopped by at a local Tibetan shop. The Shop owner was obliging enough to show the items to her but as soon as a foreigner walked into the shop, my acquaintance was completely ignored. All the attention and smile is bestowed upon the French tourist. My colleague was humiliated, and why not. In her own country, she’s being discriminated by us, the refugees.

A Tibetan friend admitted rather sheepishly that he had been judgemental too. He said “ you know, before coming to Bombay, I always hung out with my Tibetan friends and we even made fun of the gyagas. I thought they were too different for us. But here in Bombay, I didn’t have a choice but to hang out with my Indian colleagues and I realised they were similar in many ways. The prejudices I had against them were false.

 Not many have good things to say about Big Brother and its counterparts around the world. But one can’t discard the fact that it unknowingly raises questions on one’s own impartiality. It made the British people ask whether they are racist and it got the Indians to ponder over whether they were completely free of prejudices and it got a Tibetan wondering if my own community is devoid of being bias.

Whatever fate awaits Shilpa Shetty on the show, she will be remembered beyond the Indian shores as a Bollywoood actor that sparked the racism row. With this, hopefully people will also remember to reflect on themselves before making racial offences or taking racial slurs lying down. The bottom-line is that ‘you are known for your actions and not from the part of the world that you hail from’.

At last the whole drama concludes with the Bollywood actor, Shilpa Shetty emerging the winner of the Celebrity Big Brother, bagging the whopping prize money of one hundred thousand pounds, which is equivalent to almost Rs. 85 lakh. The whole episode proved a blessing in disguise to Shilpa Shetty that she has won the sympathy of UK viewers over the racial taunts that she suffered from fellow contestants. In addition, she would earn several other bounties like she was paid three hundred fifty thousand pounds ( nearly Rs. 3 crore) paid to her by the producer for her participation. Besides, she has been offered a Hollywood film by Fox pictures, a book deal, endorsement for clothes, cosmetics and jewelleries and TV documentary and so on

By Tenzin Yangdon