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Khushwant singh became famous for cracking sardarji jokes. So did actor Mehmood parodying Tamilians, N.C
Chaudhuri lampooned Bengalis, despite being one himself, and eventually settled down in Oxford.Yet bengalis remained his most
ardent fans. Cliff Richards never owned up to his Lucknow origins, yet every anglo indian kid crooned his songs. Anna Kashfi
aka Joan O' callaghan, never returned home to Calcutta after marrying Marlon Brando. Viveien Leigh was born as Mary Hartley
and acted in gone with the Wind, but soon forgot her Parsi monther. Yusuf Khan, or Dilip kumar was loved both by muslims and
hindus. Johnny walker original name badruddin kazi became famous for acting as a drunkard, but muslims did not object. Firaq
gorakhpuri aka raghupathy sahay was a famous urdu poet.
We live with each other in this country under one flag, not
because we want to be identical. Being Indian is fine but it can get very boring if we cease to see ourselves what we actually
are - Bengalis, Mahrashtrian, tamilians, punjabis, gujus etc each with our trait and peculiarities. It is this what make us
who we are. Instead of trying to merge into one identity, we should celebrate our differences and this way we can build a
more civilised, more tolerant and open society, where politicians don;t enter art schools and get students arrested, dean
sacked and no, communities don't go on a rampage simply because someone decides to copy cat the clothes their guru once wore
centuries ago.
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