Empathy and sympathy: two words which are often misunderstood by many. Rather, the former is often misunderstood as the latter, probably because they both sound alike. They however convey different meanings, infact much more different than it appears at first. Empathy, to take definition from one of the dictionaries, is intellectual identification with feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of others. Very few know when to sympathise and when to empathise. One of the key differences is that suffering or pain is the sine qua non for sympathy, but not empathy. Sometimes one needs to look beyond the obvious to empathise and then act accordingly.
You might be wondering that what has empathy to do with aliens? And when did aliens come to India? Or are they planning to come to India?
The next few sentences talks about issues beyond the obvious meaning of aliens. It talks about the not-so-often-obvious pain of not being from the mainland India and more importantly the pain of not being recognized and treated as 'other' Indians. It tries to look into India and Indians from the eyes of those who are increasingly considering themselves to be less Indian than ever. It talks about the potential danger which India and Indians might have to face if they continue to remain oblivious of something which will in sometime appear very apparent. It talks about what is lacking in all of us.
It talks about the need for empathy.
It talks about the need for empathy.
