Have you ever thought that the famous rhyme “Nani Teri Morni” was racist AF, No? Think Again!
If you grew up in India like me, you had probably heard several nursery rhymes and lullabies that you just couldn’t avoid being played around. One such popular nursery rhyme is “Nani Teri Morni” a rhyme about children informing their grandmother that she’s been robbed.
What wrong with this nursery rhyme you say? Well think again one more time, think about the lyrics. Well, the first line is not harmless if you ignore the pervert peacocks; my problem is with the second line. The line about “Kaale” thieves really should’ve promoted better discretion from the adults around us.
I’m not the first one, who pointed out the racist undertone in the nursery rhyme, why is it needed to specify the thieves skin colour?
There’s a reason why children got scared when they saw a black man or woman in the crowd. Our Bollywood always used blackface as a comedic device for decades. Like this one;
Even in our mythology, we have seen the black colour’s association with evil. They often portrayed as demonic rakshasas.
Anyways back to the topic, the nursery rhyme ends with the two thieves getting caught and brutalised by (FAT) Police Man. Why do you need to include Fat again?
It’s 2017 can we guys tweak some racist undertones from nursery rhymes like this one and inform our children more about humanity and racism.
Watch the rhyme here: