I am unwritten, (you) can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned
- Natasha Bedingfield
It is safe to say that India is a vastly diverse nation. And with this diversity comes the bane of stereotyping. One of the first questions that you are asked by any new person you meet is where you come from. Depending on the answer to that question are a basic set of follow-up questions and comments.
Since I am a Bengali, my answer evokes a "Oh, Rosogolla" or "Maach-Baat" remark in most cases. So, today, inspired by the Gillete Venus : #UseYourAnd, I want to clarify, for once and for all, who I really am.
Who I am is not the stereotype you have created in your minds about every Bengali speaking girl. I am not meant to be put in a box labelled rosogolla-loving, fish-eating, rabindrasangeet-singing girl the moment the word Bengal leaves my lips.
Because, I don't just love rosgollas, I love gulab jamuns and peethas and kaju barfis too. Sure, I love fish, but I eat butter chicken with equal gusto. I can hum rabindrasangeet and Sinatra and Beatles and Cyndi Lauper and Katy Perry. I can cook aloo posto and chilly chicken and chocolate mud cake. I love to travel, meet new people, absorb new culture and learn new ways of life. And I do not label people beforehand.
It's true that a person's background does play a significant role in forming a person's lifestyle, but that in no way defines a person's potential. I love books and dressing up and cooking foreign cuisines and travel to distant lands and creative do-it-yourself projects and making elaborate lists and listening to music and penning my thoughts down and sending old fashioned letters using the post office. And the list is endless. A couple of years down the line, I might pick up a new hobby, a new area of interest; the possibilities are infinite.
I don't think anybody can or should try to define another person on the basis of their language, religion, job, caste etc. I am as unique as anybody else, with as much complexity as I can muster, and all you can do is try to know me, without putting a label on me.
Theme- Things That Define Me.
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