Minority Report

India is a country with; no sorry, India is a 'developing' country with enormous resources.Her ever- growing economy is proof enough of the vital role she plays in the era of globalization. Sounds like the introductory paragraph of some economics book? Not quite. India is also a country that proudly exhibits the phrase Unity in Diversity, just the phrase.

Malini Das, lecturer in Kolkata, gave birth to a hermaphrodite last week( Times Life!) The eunuchs community wants to take charge of the kid and raise it as one among them...Why? Because in this developing country of ours and a progressing society that we are a part of, the child will not get the respect meted out to a 'normal' person. The question that comes to my mind is who is this normal person? One who is born with appropriate reproductive organs? The appropriate reproductive organs being that of a male? Who decides what is normal? Those whose numbers are infinite, the mighty majority!! And if this majority has a heavy purse with 'any time money' written all over it then thats a catastrophe of sorts!

Mother gives birth to child which is a natural process, the child because of chromosomal play ups, develops both organs that belong to the category of male and female. Now in this whole natural process, what is not right? They are born that way. Like we all are. They breathe the same filthy air, filled with the toxins of a race that is selfish and hypocritical.

While I was reading the article this sunday, I realized how all of us, my immediate family and friends, joke about this category of people. The fact that we have created and marked boundaries in our mind's map of a phenomenon called the Us and Them is shameful to say the least. I have myself played a part in laughing at their expense. The very reason they behave the way they do in trains and weddings and all those ceremonies is because we have ostracized them. They got nothing but a stare that is intimidating and condescending not because of our high intellectual, spiritual or psychological capability, but because of the vanity of belonging to a community that is far superior when it comes to mere numbers.

The whole battle over reservation-SC, ST, OBC, categories that are ironically the majority vs. what is printed in all our application forms as OTHERS is uncalled for. This pseudo-majority(the 'us') eats pizzas instead of sukhi roti and dal chawal(needless to say, 'them') Unity in Diversity or Divide and Rule?

The point is whatever said and done and written, nothing is gonna change. Year after year more children with socially "unacceptable" biological traits are born and will be born, they will again be termed and treated as outcasts, finding their names in the Minority Report. Like someone rightly said " The majority consists of fools!!"