Fading racial bias and prejudice among the younger generations abroad!

Children make you want to start life over. ~Muhammad Ali

11:50 AM, 12/5/09
San Francisco suburbs, USA
Location: A kids’ party venue

“Rupa, you are here!,” a pretty little girl in red exclaimed the obvious; her curly blond hair bounce as she shakes her head with a chuckle.
“Happy Birthday, Courtney,” said Rupa, handing over the gift bag. The mothers exchanged a smile, and a hello; and then moved inside to make room for the next young guest arriving with another gift bag.

Kids run around in the play area. All kinds of play stations are spread around, twinkling bright lights filling the large play-room with colorful glow.

Every few minutes, a new kid arrives with a new gift. And, the ‘birthday girl’ – Courtney – runs to the welcome area to greet the newly arrived friend. Smiles, giggles, chuckles and innocent greeting fill the air:
“Hi, how did you get here?”
“I didn’t know you were coming!”
“Did you see the big pile of my gifts?”
“You are here too???”…….a joyful and lively chatter fills the big play room.

In the play area, a clear pattern starts to emerge. The kids are getting on with what they are good at – playing. Boys are crowding the ‘boyish games’ – target shooting, hoops, gun battle, Sponge Bob etc. They are running around – play station to play station, bragging and showing off, making sure that there is someone to witness their great performance.

The little girls have their own things going, mostly with the girly stuff. They are attracted to the ‘mechanical pony rides’, ‘matching games’, ‘the make-up show’ and pink swirly slides…… And, some more adventurous ones are taking up on the boys, playing hoops and shoots. There are no barriers, no rules, no bars. Everybody is a busy in their main goal – having fun.

Yes, everyone, all of them – boys and girls – are busy. Everybody has a purpose – to have as much fun as possible. It does not take a whole lot to please them, to occupy them. Life at it best!

The parents are standing around in the waiting area, watching their kids play. Some are talking on the phones, others chit-chatting. And, a clear pattern emerges among the waiting parents as well:
The Indian parents, mostly mothers, are grouped in one corner talking about something. Other group, mainly white women, have their own gathering. It is a meaningless and trivial segregation, but still very interesting. The grown ups seem to be more aware of the social grouping, than the little kids. There is no separation based on color or race in the play area. The waiting area, however, tells a different story.

One cannot resist the thought; this could be an encouraging sign of the times to come. The racial separations seem to diminish among the new generation. The biases – conscious or unconscious – seem to fade with next generation, a welcome change of time.

Or, may be, we learn to discriminate and segregate, - unknowingly in many cases – once we grow up. Perhaps the life becomes more complicated outside the play room, and we are not as ‘color blind’ as we once were; once, when we were kids!