Breaking Stereotypes | Bharat Puniya | TEDxLIS Jodhpur Youth
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAbWSRGpdME Video ID: sAbWSRGpdME ============================================================ Transcriber: Anastasia Ratushniak Reviewer: Ane Alonso Sancho In the hall of noises and the flashing screen. We chase the looks, the likes and the scenes. We try to fit ourselves in the mold. Afraid to break, afraid to fold. A thousand eyes we think they see. But the voice that matters is inside you that whispers soft. You are meant to grow. Stop pleasing the world you know. Stop pleasing the world. You know the world will shift. So will you stop pleasing the world you know. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Bharat Punia and I am a boy who loves pink. Weird, right? I paint my nails black. Weird. I dye my hair. Sometimes blue, sometimes green, sometimes red. Totally a weirdo. And I have been told that I am weird. And I hear that word like a badge now. It isn't an insult. It's a proof that I never gave up on myself. But it wasn't like that. always. Because in the world that I grew up in, maybe the same one you are in. Boys don't like pink. They are not supposed to care about nails, fashion, self-expression. They are supposed to act normal. I never get what's normal, but why do we afraid stepping out of it? So here's a question for you to think about today. How someone like me find courage to be themselves in the world that constantly tells them not to be? Others don't like that. I paint my nails black and I asked them why. They say that nail paints are for girls, but I know that it is for nails. Others comment on my hair, but I know that color will fade, hair will regrow, but I won't be 16 again anyways. They lost because they won't be 35 again. It's me who matters and not them. And something inside me stopped hurting. But as I told you, it wasn't like that. Always. It all started when I was in fifth. I used to dance happily, freely with everything that I got. I loved that. But not everyone loved seeing a boy dance. Boy dance. Boys don't dance like that. Are you a boy? Are you a girl? They made fun of me. They called names. Names meant to make me feel inferior. Names meant to make fun of me. Names meant to question who I was. And for a while it worked. I stopped. I stopped doing the things that made me. Things that made me. Me. To avoid being judged. But here's the thing. If you spend your life fitting in the box built by other people, you slowly disappear. And I reached a point where I couldn't shrink myself anymore. And I asked myself, who gets to decide what's normal anyways? Nevis and I started reclaiming myself I wore pink proudly. I painted my nails black. I wore a flower on my ears like a brand. Ambassador of peace. Yes, people still stared. Some still whispered, but I stopped shrinking. I smiled, not because it's easy, but because hiding myself is harder than being real. Each flower on my ear is a quiet rebellion to this gray world. The world is already gray. Instead of making it greener, we are making it clear. So why do we allow this world to paint us black and white? The actual problem doesn't start with the world. It starts with you. A single phrase that controls everything. Look. What will people say? Don't wear that look. Don't act like that. Look. Don't be too loud. too soft, too different. Lo kya kahenge. Act normal because log kya kahenge. It's not a warning. It's a judgement of fear passed down like a tradition. The harsh truth is Luke will never be satisfied. They will still find a way to talk about you, even though you follow each and every rule of normal. The moment I stop living in the fear of Luke kya kahenge and stereotype. I started actually living. I know stereotypes are really scary, but do you know what's more scary? Following those stereotypes. Stereotypes are the ideology of a particular person or a thing that is not true in reality. For example, imagine a zenzi. You will be thinking of a person wearing oversized shirt. Baggy jeans. Maybe the ripped one on the back. Another stereotype is boys don't cry. Even boys have heart. Sometimes the emotions overflows. And if you don't cry, then it's totally fine. Everyone have their own way to express their emotions. I know it isn't easy. Following that stereotype is easier than breaking it. But what if you are meant for more? If you won't question your step, how would you know that you are walking your path or someone else? I know fighting your fear is harder than living with it. But what if the life you have dreamt of is more exciting than the life you are living right now? I know it isn't easy, but how many dreams have you buried under the weight of normal and the stereotypes? No one has the right to call your softness a weakness, your boldness or aggression and your freedom a rebellion. Not even you. And we need to change. We need to break these stereotypes. We need to bring change in society and to bring change in society. We have to bring change in ourselves. Because we are the part of society, I and society coexist. You and society coexist. We and society coexist. We are the society. If we want them to stop commenting on us, we have to stop commenting on them. Breaking stereotype is not all about rebellion. We also have to respect the place, the people, the tradition, the decorum, the surroundings. I can't go to a funeral wearing funky clothes and say, this is what I am. I can't go to school while my nails are painted red. There is a decorum of a place. There's there are tradition to be followed. There are reason behind them. We have to change in a respectful manner and to change. We need courage because the courage longs for the change, and the change longs for courage. And if you are wondering what is courage? Is it the absence of fear or something far deeper? It's a tremble in your hand before the first step, your fear screaming louder than your dreams and you still move forward. How many times you have stayed silent because your fear spoke louder? Courage does not demand comfort. It wants you to stand at unknown edge, to leap without a net. Which will make you learn how to fly. Ask yourself every choice you have made. Was it born from courage or was it a quiet surrender to what's easy? Use courage to rewrite your story when old one no longer fit in. A moment without courage is a moment lost to who you could have been. Remember. It requires courage to destroy the person you are. To become the person that won't destroy you. Gain courage. The world isn't changed by those who seek for permission or approval. It's changed by those who dares to be storm in the calm sky. And stereotypes are just shadows which will disappear the moment you enter your own light. Break the chains of expectation. Shatter the mirror of stereotype and build a new reality from fragments. The greatest revolution doesn't begin with the world. It starts with you. It starts with you. Live raw. Live loud. Live unapologetically. Until your courage become the anthem that drowns out every doubt. Change isn't coming. Change is already inside you. All you have to do is let it roar. To conclude. If your voice of courage doesn't speak enough, just remember weird and born to shine. So walk your path both strong and kind. The world will shift. So will you. But what is true will still stay true. What if you are meant for more? So stop pleasing the world. You know the world will shift. So will you. Stop pleasing the world. You know. Stop pleasing the world, you know. Thank you.