The community has been following the news agog – so much has been happening that hits close to home despite happening in other parts of the world, thousands of miles away. My friends from Bangladesh have been worriedly scanning headlines and calling home to follow up on their loved ones. And if you think the Paris Olympics are just the world’s gigantic sporting event, think again – we are stoked about Bahrain’s wonderful win but Indians have been biting their nails about the near-misses plaguing the Indian Olympians.
Particularly harrowing is the story of Vinesh Phogat, the three-time Olympics wrestling champion who was denied her chance to fight for silver because she was a mere 150gm over the required weight.
What was difficult to understand was the body-shaming that the world subjected her to. People who didn’t know the difference between wrestling and weightlifting were commenting on Phogat’s ‘carelessness’ and quite irrelevantly, her political beliefs and her much-publicised fight for women wrestlers’ rights last year.
The yesteryear actress-turned-politician Hema Malini even used the bitter disappointment of Indians everywhere to talk about how ‘important’ it was for women to maintain their weight – no mention of lessons here for men, mind you. This was not about weight-management for good health but a message that women should stay within the right weight for success.
As a definitely overweight person myself, I must say Bahrain has a welcoming culture of embracing all body types – there is always that age-old subconscious feeling in Arab and Indian culture that plump people are healthier, no matter what recent health surveys say. Yes, we all know that a good gym regime and nutritious diet are keys to better health but there are ways to put that message across without ‘othering’ the plus-size person.
But there are other ways in which people are made to feel less authoritative and significant and if we want a Bahrain that truly embraces diversity and inclusivity, we must challenge cookie-cutter templates. For instance, many of my educationist friends working in multinational schools tell me that their workplace prefers them to wear Western dress as a sign of authority in the classroom. The reason, often cited, is that Indian traditional dress such as saree or salwar kameez is associated with domestic workers by non-Indian students and leads to discipline issues. I find this a peculiar line of reasoning to process. I mean, we have Arab teachers wearing thobe or hijab and if they can follow their culture sartorially, why not Asian expats? Mind you, its not just in educational establishments. Many offices too discourage Asian dress.
Like all great sporting events, the Paris Olympics is replete with stunning human drama. That beautiful viral photo of the Pakistani javelin gold medallist Nabeel Khan and Indian silver winner Neeraj Chopra celebrating their podium finish together tells us we can nurture peace together.
Big and successful companies boast of the number of nationalities working under one brand. This is supposed to give them access to new ideas, a model of acceptance of differences that lubricates the wheels of progress. Why even on a short airline flight, the captain proudly announces that the crew represent five or six countries and speaks more than that many languages.
Diversity may be the new success mantra but it needs a special quality to succeed – and that is acceptance.
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