Have you ever faced racism in India, being an Indian?

Yes. I do. Freaking everyday.

About me-

I'm from Arunachal Pradesh. The land of rising sun, aka “the land of dawn-lit mountains”.

I came to Kota last year for pre-medical coaching. I feel privileged to be studying here, as the education system in my state is not as good as it is in here.

I'm the first member from my family to go beyond the state boundry for studies. And since I was an independent girl from the very childhood, my parents had no trouble in sending me to an unknown place, approximately 2,500 km away from them.

Do I face Racism?

As i said. Yes. I do.

And that too. Every. single. day.

There has not been one single day, when I came back to my hostel room without getting commented by atleast a couple of unknown people. By my answer i don't imply to every person. Many are loving too. Many show respect too. But my answer will focus on what the question demands.

Some incidents-

I went to my institute's head office for admission purpose with my “Abo” (meaning father in my language). After paying the fees, I had to collect my attendence card, for which I had to go the basement, where only students were allowed. So I went alone. I went to one of the counter. As I came, the person sitting right in front of the moniter dug his friend's ribs and gestured with his eyes towards me. His friend looked at me and both gave each other a wide freaky smile. I ignored. He then asked my name, so as to fill it in the form. I said my name, as clearly as i can, since I already knew how hard it is for people to get my name correct in one go. He asked me my name again. I told him again. He tried to pronounce. He couldn't. He started laughing. And said “is this your name? What kind of name is it?” I controlled myself and said “humare state me naam aise hote hai”(in our state we have our names like these only.) He was surprised on my fluent hindi. He asked “aapko hindi aati hai? Kaha se ho? Nepal?”(you can speak hindi? Where are you from? Nepal? ). That was my first impression of kota.
We (me and my abo) came out of the institute figuring out the way back. Just then i realised that we both were the centre of attention. Every single person were staring at us. (Its a different story that we kinda felt like celebs. I mean, atleast I did;p ). Out of the many starers, one young boy shouted a word that I had never heard of ‘chinki’ (english language ethnic slur usually reffering to a person of Chinese ethnicity). That was the inauguration to racial comments.
I was in my class. The girl right next to me asked “aap China se ho?”(are you from china?). “nahi, me India se hu” (no, I m from India) i replied. She asked again, “aap sach me China se nahi ho?” (are you really not from China?). I replied again. “Nahi, me bharat se hu”(no, I'm from India.) I thought she would stop. But she asked me again. “Accha, aap Nepal se nahi ho naa?”(okay, so you are not from Nepal?). I lost my patience and I said “ARUNACHAL PRADESH. Kabhi suna hai ye naam? Agar aapne 9-10th me geography padhi hogi to aapko pata hoga. Me wahi se hu. And Arunachal pradesh India me hi hai.”(ARUNACHAL PRADESH. Ever heard of it? If you have studied geography in class 9-10th then you would know. I'm from that place. And Arunachal Pradesh is in India .) We never spoke after that.
I went out to a nearby park for an evening walk. After 5-6 rounds of the park I sat down on a bench. A boy of my age, who was playing cricket, approached towards me and asked. “Aap Nepal se ho?”(are you from nepal?) I said “nahi, me India se hu.”(no I'm from India.) Then he said, “wahi to Nepal se naa. ”(yeah, yeah from Nepal?) I started laughing. This boy didn't even knew that Nepal and India are two different countries. Later, I tried to convince him that these are two different countries sharing common boundaries, but he didn't believe me. I gave up.
I was coming back from market with my other Arunachalee friends. We chose a short-cut which was through a park. Just as we were entered, I saw a group of 10-15 boys coming from opposite direction. Everything was fine till we came close. One of the boy leaned down near my ear, whispered ‘Chinese’ and walked away. I lost my calm. I turned back and went to them. I quarelled with them, and asked them to apologize, but they weren't sorry.

I always cry when I'm too angry. I mean, I can't control my tears when I get angry.

That night I talked to my best friend, who is in Arunachal Pradesh. Told him that I was frustrated and felt like giving up. He suggested me to cry.(he said it helps.)

Probably that was the first time I cried after I came to Kota. I cried like a mourning cat (yes i did.) And sure it helped.

Yet, somewhere deep down my heart, it felt heavy. It still does.

As for now,

I'm tired of being called ‘chinki’.

Tired of being called a ‘Chinese’

Tired of being called ‘Nepali’

Tired of explaining my INDIANNESS.

- an Indian.

Edit : there were some exemplary comments that I would like to highlight.

My fellow brothers who perfectly reminded me of my daily life.