Naxalites and overeating..
By vanny
@vandana7 (98520)
India
July 15, 2018 2:26am CST
Ok..during college days my knowledge about naxalites was pretty limited. I just knew that they were for poor and not for rich. Give me a break will you - in those days we had no Internet..let alone Wikipedia.
So my cousin took me to his friend, who was a former naxalite. Did I panic? You bet.
He ordered food. It was not looking good ...I mean I like North Indian meal, and that was typical South Indian fare............and he ordered three plates..sigh..
If I leave something in my plate, will he kill me...that fear gripped me.
After all, he must hold some beliefs as far as food and poor are concerned.
I ate and ate rapidly ...hoping never to see his gun.
Thankfully it was vegan food. But that said, eating something and eating in excess just because you fear somebody was new to me. In the hostel, I would have happily tossed it out of dining hall window.
And so I ate. In retrospect, I feel like laughing at how naive I was in those days.
Edit: Naxalites are Maoists ..radical "far-left" communists...They were from Naxalbari (something I learned now) which is a village in India's West Bengal. But nowadays they can be from other States in the country as well. Yes, they carry big guns, and if they feel a person is rich and exploiting poor, they do use it. I just thought if I did not eat the food, and made any fuss, the person would presume I was rich and given to wasting food, which is why poor do not have enough. I was plain scared. It is only when I was introduced, I came to know his background. Till then, I just presumed he was another friend of my cousin.
9 people like this
8 responses
@arunima25 (84953)
• Bangalore, India
15 Jul 18
I was going through the same feeling as of yours as I read your post here. I am still not comfortable being around with a naxalite.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (98520)
• India
17 Jul 18
@arunima25 I try to give fair chance nowadays. I hope I succeed. I do understand politicians, media and personal upbringing can affect my judgment. That said, I am just human, and can go wrong too.
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@arunima25 (84953)
• Bangalore, India
17 Jul 18
@vandana7 Some prejudiced makes us feel bad or uncertain with some kind of people.
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@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
15 Jul 18
There you go Lanny mixing with the wrong sort! Thankfully he did not expect you to become his wifet!
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@vandana7 (98520)
• India
15 Jul 18
It is an experience..LOL. Oh great..basically they are not the rapists kind, in fact they are fighting those type of atrocities that people within the system can't because of political pressures or rich exercising their muscles. That said, they are not known to be patient people who listen to others. It is just shoot down type of thing. No time for reasoning. :(
@responsiveme (22932)
• India
15 Jul 18
Is he in the mainstream now. This was a big thing in Bengal in the late 70s...I was only a kid but like you was very scared even to hear their names
Having said that there are always two sides to a story as I now understand
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@Jessabuma (31706)
• Baguio, Philippines
15 Jul 18
Hehe!!! I can understand your reaction that time.. you pressured eat excess just because you're afraid to somebody..
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@Jessabuma (31706)
• Baguio, Philippines
16 Jul 18
@vandana7
I will surely feel the same way if I were you.
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