Someone narrated a "joke" the other day- An Icelander came a-visiting India and spent a month travelling north to south, east to west.. on the day he was leaving, some reporters in the departure lounge asked him, "So, wha do you think of Indians and their hospitality?" The Icelander replied,"But I didn't meet any Indians!" ..... "In Gujarat, I met Gujaratis, in Maharashtra I met Marathi Manoos, In Punjab, Punjabis... In Kashmir, Kashmiris... and in Soth India, I was very confused since there wasnt a single Indian anywhere! And to confuse me further, there were aliens living amidst the Madrasis, Punjabis, Gujaratis, etc. They were tribes with strange names -- Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis, Hindus, Christians..."
The "joke" was truly on US- The People of this great land! 63 years of independence...and how we have twisted and defiled its very meaning into an ugly and scarred face of Incredible India!
Me and my family have always been the most ardent and vociferous secular citizens in all of our world. The slingshots of the aam aadmi in the small town of Uttar Pradesh I live in, is taking its toll on my "secularity"! And that upsets me tremendously! I run a school, and have a 60/40 ratio of Hindu/Muslim kids. Today is a PTM, and we have a rule that the staff wears formal sarees on all PTMs. My muslim teachers came up with yet another slingshot ... that it is forbidden in Islam to don sarees during the month of Ramzan!! Sarees??? Are clothes really diverse in the name of religion?? So does that mean Hindus dont wear salvaar-kameez on Diwali?? How tragic it is, to divide ourselves more and more with every passing year of being free citizens of a free nation? Did the founders of Islam / Hinduism?Christianity all those centuries ago, lay down the dress code of their followers for all eternity?
A muslim maid-servant I have, sits in my room cutting vegetables and listening to her favourite soap on TV, but wont look at it, since watching TV is forbidden in the month of Ramzan. Did the founders of Islam envisage the creation on TV??? Who sets these rules and unleashes them on society? Why is society so unsure of itself?
Why have we reached this sordid state? Why have we not evolved as a People? Why do we glorify our faith? Why do we demean the others faith? WHY are we not ONE PEOPLE even now? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?
We aren't "one people" even now because it is in the interests of some people to keep others illiterate and divided. And it's for all the rest of us to not lose hope and keep at it, staying secular and rational. No?
ReplyDeleteWe, the people of India have to stand up and take action against these beliefs. There is an SOS village near my home. In SOS a widow normally becomes a house mom and she has a family comprising of orphans who take up her religion and way of life. I have seen a widow of a slain policeman (killed by terrorists) nurture her family which has the children of terrorists too. If that lady can embrace the child and call it her own - why cant we embrace someone of different faith and call him/her our brother and sister?
ReplyDeleteTHATS IT you hit it on the head .. i have been saying it for ages we need to work together and ALL OF US.. to make india the best place to live in..
ReplyDeleteproblem is we follow religion as the Leaders want us to.. religion doesnot say that at all.. no where is it written about not to see TV, it is Assumed that was ... ISLAM doesnot teach voilence or hatred yet we do...
we say we have progressed Which GOVT or leader has dont anything to UNITE indians NO BODY , we ran after money filling our pockets yet we say we have progressed.
if only our leaders the so called Gandhi's and Nehru's and Badals, and Mulayams and LAlooo's etc etc etc had worked this hard in uniting us ... we would have been a different nation , the nation which gained so much in the intial years of independance .. since the whole country moved togehter NOW no matter what we say progress is for FEW , hand fuls NOt the majority
oooops i seems to have taken a lot of your spcae Sorry if i said anything wrong ...
Ritu -Thats a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing it... Makes me want to visit the lady in question. Wish there were more like her around!
ReplyDeleteBikramjeet - You are absolutely right! The question now becomes WHEN? WHEN will we learn from our mistakes? WHEN will we exercise our rights and duties and choose the correct leaders? WHEN will we stop following others blindly? WHEN will we evolve as memebers of the human race.. and attain the self-confidence to stand up for our own choices?
What makes me hopeful is the ray of hope that lies in you all, and others like you-- who at least think about such problems in front of us!