We Indians don’t leave any chance of shouting on the top of our voices when an Indian gets a racist treatment in any foreign country but how the Indian citizens from North-East are treated in other parts of the country, especially North India, is a matter of concern which should be addressed properly. A shameful incident which we are going to talk about has not taken place on the roads of Delhi and hence, no one can make an excuse that some perverts are always doing stupid things. In fact, this has happened in Delhi Golf Club where affluent and highly-educated people of the city gather to attend the events and have a good time.
On Sunday, a 51-yr lady from Meghalaya named Tailin Lyngdoh was insulted and allegedly asked to go out of the dining hall. She told,
“They told me, ‘Leave the dining hall, maids are not allowed.’ They were very rude. I felt ashamed and angry. I was wearing the traditional Khasi dress — Jainsem — and they told me this dress was not allowed.”
Tailin works for Nivedita Barthakur as a governess and she was also invited with her employer for lunch by a member at the Delhi Golf Club.
Tailin further said,
“I have been to the biggest restaurants and clubs in London, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. But before yesterday, no one had asked me to leave their premises.”
This is what her employer Nivedita said,
“The host booked a table for nine people, which included Tailin. She was seated with us and not separately on another table or in a corner. We had just ordered our drinks when two employees of the club walked up to our table and told Tailin that she would have to leave the dining room as maids were not allowed inside.”
Nivedita took to Facebook and expressed her anger in a post:
“An example of North Indian bigotry, chauvinism and ignorance: many of us have been slighted in the capital of India for being from NE part of the country and have lived to tell our tales! Today Tailin Lyngdoh, an extremely proud, Khasi lady who has travelled the world in her Jenseim from London to UAE was thrown out of the Delhi Golf Club because her dress was taken for a maid’s uniform! Despite she being invited in her own right as a guest of a member. She was humiliated and the two gatekeepers of haute culture of Delhi, one Ms Sumita Thakur and Mr Ajit Pal, did not even have the grace to apologise. The room was full of Delhi elites who make their maid’s and nannies wait outside in the heat lest they pollute their surroundings, and I bet many of them were civil servants and keepers of the Indian constitution. It was so appalling at many levels: that a citizen of India is judged on her dress and treated as a pariah; that in this day and age human rights of so many citizens can be trampled on just because he /she earns an honest living as a help. And that mainland India still has to be educated on their countrymen seven decades after freedom. And what is this hangover that we are whiter than whites and frown upon Indian wear in these hallowed bastions! Would anyone even listen and take action?”
Delhi Golf Club accepted that it was an unfortunate event but it also stated that it should not be seen in political or cultural perceptive.
It is definitely a disgraceful incident and we hope that such incidents don’t get repeated. What do you have to say in this connection?