Dipti Yadava

[Harsh Goenka @hvgoenka]

Rather long but I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did:

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I lack civic sense.

They can burn streets,
and vandalize a city after a championship game.
I dance at an airport excited about my first foreign trip, and suddenly I am the face of poor civic sense.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I steal jobs.

They move factories across oceans,
shift profits through tax havens.
I study, compete, earn a visa, work 18 hours a day, sometimes multiple jobs and somehow I am the one stealing jobs and scamming the system.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I am everywhere.

I build your software,
treat your illness,
teach your children,
drive your taxis,
and open your stores.
The world became a village,
yet my presence remains a problem.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I am too loud.

The evening news screams outrage.
The internet echoes with anger day and night.
I celebrate a wedding, a festival, a victory,
and I am told my joy is too loud.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I smell of curry.

The world smells of gunpowder,
of hatred,
of division,
of endless arguments about race and religion.
I carry the fragrance of spices from my grandmother's kitchen,
and somehow that is what offends.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I have no culture.

I come from a civilization that counted the stars
when much of the world was still learning maps.
I speak languages older than nations.
I celebrate hundreds of traditions,
yet I am told I have no culture.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I am backward.

I send missions to the Moon.
I build vaccines for millions.
I run companies across continents.
Yet a viral video of one fool becomes evidence against a billion people.

I am an Indian.

I celebrate my favorite actor's success
with flowers, music, and a few glasses of milk.

Others worship influencers who sell outrage, turn every disagreement into a battlefield, and every opinion into a war.
Yet my celebration is the one that makes headlines.

I am an Indian,

and everyone says I gather in crowds.

We walk together in processions,
celebrating our faith, our culture, our traditions.

Everyone is welcome.
No shops are looted.
No neighborhoods are burned.
No one is threatened for thinking differently.

We sing.
We dance.
We pray.
And somehow our gathering becomes the problem.

I am an Indian,

and everyone says I bring my culture everywhere.

I light a lamp in a foreign land.
I wear a saree in the snow.
I teach my children the language of their grandparents.

Others build walls between neighbors,
argue endlessly over identity,
and forget where they came from.
Yet I am told I should leave my culture behind.

I am an Indian,

and everyone says I live in the past.

But my past gave me yoga,
mathematics, philosophy, meditation,
and the idea that the world is one family.

The future keeps borrowing from my past,
while telling me to be embarrassed by it.

I am an Indian,
and everyone says I should be ashamed.

Ashamed of my accent.
Ashamed of my food.
Ashamed of my festivals.
Ashamed of my traditions.
Ashamed of existing.

But I am not ashamed.

I am the child of farmers and philosophers,
scientists and saints, workers and dreamers.

*I come from a land that taught the world
that truth can be many-sided,
that all paths deserve respect,
and that the entire world is one family.*

*Yes, we have flaws. Every nation does.*

*But judge me by my actions, not by your stereotypes.*

For I am an Indian.

*And before you tell me what is wrong with me, look honestly at what you have normalized in yourself.*

For I am an Indian.

The world may mock my accent,
question my customs,
laugh at my celebrations,
and judge me through a thousand stereotypes.

*Yet I stand tall. For I belong to a civilization older than empires, a culture richer than prejudice, and a people whose spirit refuses to bend.*

For I am an Indian.

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

Art of Living's wisdom: every challenge is an opportunity to grow in grace. #ArtofLiving45years

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@TimesAlgebraIND @Dev_Fadnavis please make school grounds also loudspeaker free

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp Read up @amazon

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@amazonIN You are completely unreliable and a repeat offender. You send the wrong products. Your vendors don't exchange the products. You won't refund nor will your exchange. And your customer service agents are utterly insensitive to customer grievances. Utterly disappointed!!!!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp No resolution!! @amazon has forgotten customer service!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp You haven't been helpful, not resolved my problem. Being polite is not helping. @amazon @amazonIN. Kindly do not message till you have the ability and content action plan to resolve the issue.

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp Check with your team. I have spent two hours dealing with your team who doesn't want to resolve the issue. Enough time wasted on inefficient/don't care customer service team!! You will shut shop soon @amazon @amazonIN

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp And @amazonIN I spoke to you social media represntative, who won't/can't help. So thank you for nothing! Looks like you don't want employee and not do you want customers. You just lost one customer and revenue. And you can keep my money as charity to @amazon.

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp It was not working till sometime back. It is working now. Believe the customer when the customer says something.

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp Not even exchange.

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@AmazonHelp Yes i have reached out. And they say they won't return or refund.

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@SriSri @Dev_Fadnavis I was there!!!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@ParagShahBJP you had said 5 years back that you will solve this problem. Doesn't seem like you care!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@CPMumbaiPolice @MumbaiPolice P.G. Garodia School, Ghatkopar East, continues to use the loudspeaker at unpermissible decibel level every single year from Oct. to Jan. I complain every single day and so do other residents. Doesn't seem like you want to do anything. Unfortunate!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@MumbaiPolice @MumbaiPolice nobody has come here!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice kindly take note of this serial offender. Despite police intervention, P.G. Garodia School, Ghatkopar East, continues to use the loudspeaker at unpermissible decibel level every single year!!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@MumbaiPolice P.G Garodia School, Ghatkopar East, has been using the loud speaker at unpermissible decibel levels for over 20 days now from 7.30 - 10.00 am. You have not been able to get them this serial offender to stop. This happens every year in November and December!!

[Dipti Yadava @DiptiYadava]

@MumbaiPolice And they have still not stopped!