Lessons on Diversity & Inclusion

As a child Tuesday afternoons in my Kolkatta home was fascinating for me, because the local transgender group would visit our locality and would sing songs and attract everyone's attention. I would be very curious about them and would watch them through our window and would have many questions about their life but never asked anyone about the same. After two decades, one afternoon in Surat the doorbell rang and there was lot of noise in the corridor. I was little scared but opened the door and was astonished to see my neighbours happily chatting with the transgender group who had come to take Diwali gifts and money from the entire building. Since, I was pregnant with my first child, they showered extra blessings on me and left saying they would come when the baby will be home. After they left, I learnt one of the best lessons of life from my neighbours who said these people were very good and come only to bless us and there is absolutely nothing to fear about them. Truly, that afternoon I not only developed immense respect for my neighbours but also replaced my fear with a broader mindset towards this community. Five months later they came to bless my son, but since he was fast asleep in the afternoon they blessed him and took whatever I had kept ready for them, drank water and left. Though they were eager to play with my child and wanted to sing songs and dance they did none of it exhibiting high level of sensitivity. My respect for them certainly increased.

In 2013, I attended a conference at Christ University where one researcher presented a fantastic paper on the life of transgender community and showed a video about their life. This presentation was an eye opener and it stirred me from inside to know the obstacles that the so called educated world poses to them by not even giving them an opportunity to study or get decent employment.

Soon, as I attended a few MUN events in Bangalore I was extremely happy to listen to students of grades 9 to 12 discussing several aspects of Diversity & Inclusion very passionately and sensitively. On chatting with the students I realized that most of them sincerely believe in the concept of Diversity & Inclusion and it is not just for a competition that they talk about these issues. One of the student also mentioned to me about Shikhandini's character from Mahabharata and told me how proud she is that Indian epics have discussed issues of diversity and inclusion in such interesting details. As a teacher it gave a great sense of satisfaction to know that young India is emotionally intelligent. 

Currently, drawing inspiration from a dear colleague, I have started reading more about Diversity & Inclusion in all areas and I truly believe that the India of my dreams is not an economic super power but, for me India would have truly progressed when every citizen of the country would get an opportunity to get education, employment without any barriers and live life with complete dignity.

(Movie lovers don't miss watching Chandigarh Kare Ashiqui which is on similar theme.Kudos to bollywood for making movies to increase awareness in the society.)