We Are Humans First

A journalist called Saira left an interesting message for us. I am reproducing it below:


We all have tags, right from the moment of birth -- of name, caste, relationship, birth, domicile, wealth, race, nationality, gender, language, class and so many others. Simply cannot run away from them. And most times we get lost among these man-made tags and forget the ultimate and most natural one of all -- of being human beings and what it means to be human.

I read a story about two boys, about 8-9 years old, both badly injured in violent attacks, who were being treated in adjacent beds in a Tel Aviv hospital. One an Arab, the other an Israeli. The families of both were angry at the fact that the kids were being treated side by side. Even in that state, the kids are seen as enemies of each other than as just two small children fighting for their lives. Why is that so difficult?

We leave you with Saira's question - Why is it so difficult? Tell us.

Blogger Talks Back

We got a response from a blogger who shares his experice of attitutes of his classmated when he says he has Muslim friends.

Blogger Taurean Dude says:

Well I can relate to the post. Most of my school friends are either Muslims or Bohras and so I am very comfortable with people from either community. Infact some of my best friends are from these two communities.

But when I entered college, I came across some people who would stick to their Hindu friends and avoided being friends with Muslims, which was, kind of, weird for me.One Hindu friend once even told me, "Dude I feel shit scared even walking down Mohammad Ali road"(which has a high Muslim population). And when I told him I visited Mohammad Ali road almost every month and specially during Id for the wonderful food they serve there, he was just staring at me in shock. To him that idea seemed impossible.

I don’t know what to say to people with such mindsets, because anything you say, they just won’t hear you out. For them Al Qaida and those fanatics define these religions - which is a really sad thing.

Like it goes in the Airtel Ad, we can overcome differences if only we talk!

Why Anti-Tags?

There are many people who we interact with, who don't just keep the prejudices in their hearts but systematically spread them too. Only if they were given the power to see what lies on the other side, were given unbiased information, they would be able to decide what they want to believe in and discard propaganda.

The movement 'anti-tags' stems from that idea. We are anti-communalism, anti-extremism and anti-polarization and pro-information. Some might also call us secular, liberal or even pseudo-secular-liberal. Tags don't matter. What you learn from it, matters.

Tell us your story. Did you face communal backlash? Did an incident change you? What do you think of propaganda in media and politics? How is it ruining our social fabric?


Share it on 'anti-tags'. Age no bar, gender no bar, religion no bar, caste no bar. Leave you name or send it anonymously. Our email is anti.tagsATgmailDOTcom

Click here for Neha's Story
Click here for Sameer's Story

Neha's Story

It was the year 2004. I had just enrolled in a post graduate programme in Journalism. At first when I came to know that a classmate of mine was from Kashmir, I was curious.

Because I, having lived in a big metropolis like New Delhi, had never 'encountered' someone from the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir till then. The only thing I knew was what I read in the newspapers or saw on news channels – that Kashmiri Muslims hated India, wanted to be part of the 'enemy' state and were behind most terror attacks.

So basically I was looking for a classmate who would be a devil incarnate. Instead I found a young man who had the same dreams as me, the same ambitions and a will to live a 'normal' life.

I was generally told that all Muslims hate Hindus and want to 'take over' my beloved country, are radical, multiply rapidly and forcibly convert everyone to Islam. Instead I found a person, who was apprehensive of me because I was the larger majority who thought like this! Me? I would never harm an insect let alone think of harming someone.

He seemed quite defensive in the beginning and I took an instant dislike to him. Our interactions were limited only to professional discussions. With time, I felt he started becoming less defensive and I failed to spot horns on his head.

The uneasiness gave way to exchange of ideas and passionate discussions and debates as the walls and the barriers started to melt away. I realized that this person was neither a fanatic nor believed in multiplying and taking over the country. He just wanted to be a treated as a citizen and a part of the country.

And I came to the conclusion that we build up prejudices largely because of two reasons. The first is the fear of the unknown. The second is the subtle and overt propaganda spread by people around us, the media and politics.

In this case, a healthy interaction ensued and our mindsets started to change. We were able to identify truth from make believe stories and were able to overcome the fear of the unknown. We necessarily do not agree on everything and our political and socio political ideas sometimes differ, after all we are distinct individuals, we have changed. The journey has been eventful and interesting. Oh, and the name of that person was Sameer.

For me, personally, anti-tags evolves from this.

Sameer's Story

Coming Soon!