Step by step guide to shut down the leftist in you (for teenagers)
To every Hindu teenager reading this, you know there is a leftist in you. He sips his matcha and asks you to question the Right-Winged government for breathing. He also asks you to stand up for the second largest majority in the country, which is also somehow oppressed. He asks you to empathize with them. Question him back with a simple 'why, and you’re a retard-fascist-Hindutva-hatred-monger.
I know I had a leftist in me, still do(dormant right now) who guilt-tripped me for not posting about Rafah. He also made me believe ‘Mera Abdul alag hai’ (Massive L, I will tell you how it ended, DW).
One day, we were scrolling, and I told him about love jihad and he snapped at me saying I am spreading communal hatred. It was on. I snapped back, told him about the Bangladeshi Hindu women and children, Kashmiri Pandits, vandalized Temples, even Pahalgam.
‘Stop listening to violent hate, propaganda and extremists’ he replied. So I did what he said—I stopped listening. To him.
It was never about humanity, love, tolerance or ‘Hindustan-kisi-ke-baap-ka-nahi-hai’ for him. It was always about making me feel guilty for celebrating my history, my people, my identity, my existence, my Diwali, Holi, Navratri.
Everything he said, I simply questioned. He started hating me, yelling at me and saying how I was ‘better before’. I told him I wanted to be like the Hindus around me. Fierce, strong, unapologetic, who stood firm in their beliefs. He mocked me. But, I started noticing the effect of changing my opinions.
My dearest friends started unfollowing me. They called me insensitive, hater, the same blah blah-RSS-dictator-Brahmanvadi-yadda yadda. Oh, but it did not feel wrong. At the same time, my dear Hindus, they enjoyed my presence. They made me aware. They made me question mine, theirs and everyone else’s opinions around me.
On the days when the clown up there would get angry, my people accepted me even more. He was toying with my emotions too much- asked me to feel, but only for one community. Unidirectional empathy. He does wake up sometimes, yawns, mocks me, gaslights me. A simple ‘source?’ shuts him up. A Little fact-checking and he starts tripping.
"X community’s children are dying 8,000kms away, being ethnically cleansed," he tells me and I reply "A Hindu girl is right now being stalked, impregnated and traded for a few lakhs, Hindu children are killed in Bengal, and don't let me start about Kashmiri Pandits, all in your own country". I reply. He does not reply but gets really mad. Puberty 2.0 maybe.
The leftist never fully goes, he waits for you to soften up, to forget about yourself, your history, your Dharma. He then feeds off of your mind till there’s nothing left.
Don't let him do this to you.
When you become aware of the idiot that’s been sitting in your head, you start becoming aware of all those clowns that have been sitting miles away from you, white-washing everything your religion, your country gave you.
Take, for example, the Scandinavian Scarf. It’s literally a dupatta. Hot yoga? They do it to replicate the hot, humid conditions of India. Turmeric Lattes? It’s literally the Haldi-Doodh that your dear grandma made for you when you were sick. Oil pulling? Well it’s an Ayurvedic practice we have been doing for thousands of years. And need I say anything about ‘Chai tea’?
Just simple questioning: are they trying to build a narrative? Who does it benefit? Facts? Source? Their silence will give you all the answers you need. Just ask the right questions.
Awareness is the first step. Rest follows.
PS:- The Abdul that I loved, well he ended up marrying his cousin.
Editor's Note: This piece is presented in the author's own words to honor her sincere expression of faith and cultural concerns. We value providing space for heartfelt community voices on matters of spiritual and cultural importance.
