random thoughts

Somewhat damp and cloudy Independence Day in Bangalore! What with the Swine Flu, inflation, recession and all, there is lack of enthusiasm in most people. The morning news paper says that there is a new outfit based in Dubai and UAE called the Malabar Mujahidin, demanding a separate state carved out of the small state Kerala, exclusively for the Muslims!! Is that the limit or not?

Religious frenzy and fanaticism are the prerogatives of the Indian Minorities! There is this small State of Kerala which has a history of a very peaceful and harmonious co-existence of different religions, tolerance and accommodation of various religious customs and traditions. The Malayali Muslim is known in the local language as Moplah (a term for brother-in-law) probably because the people from distant lands established themselves in Kerals as brothers-in-law by marrying the sisters of the locals! A well known ex-captain of the Pakistani cricket team once (jokingly) said that, the Moghuls established themselves in the Gangetic plains because the women of the region liked to be screwed by the invading Pathans! Probably the coastal women of Kerala also welcomed the trading Arabs who gradually became Moplahs. The Moplahs were treated with respect by the locals and they flourished in trading and other business with the full support of the Hindus of the region. But in their revolt against the British during the Khilafat movement (in support of the Caliph of Turkey) they went on a murderous spree of killing Hindu women and children of Malabar, which is termed as the Moplah mutiny of Malabar. Is there a crisis of identity? Being the pet minority of the country, the Government of India has wrongly given the Mutiny the status of freedom struggle against the British!

Identity! That is the problem created by the religious fervor. The Moplah women of Kerala never wore burkha until about 15-20 years ago. But today a majority of women wear full black burkhas in Malabar region of Kerala. Many Moplahs of Kerala have become rich in the recent past from employment in Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia, where Muslims get preference for jobs and they have bought land belonging to Hindus and built palatial bungalows all over Malabar and other places. With the new found wealth the Moplahs are buying properties even in distant locations like in Trivandrum where their numbers are few. Wealth has also brought political power for them and now they want a separate state!

Years ago, a Times of India columnist had predicted that the new found wealth and identity problem of the Moplahs would one day lead to such demands which have disastrous outcome in the end.

Independence from identity; that is what free Indians should strive for. Transcend all limiting identities and become world citizens. If he were still alive Mahatma Gandhi would have strived for that, because human beings are all the time striving for a higher state of consciousness, knowingly or unknowingly.

Discrimination and prejudices are facts of life but no one wants to accept that it exists. All of us discriminate at one level or the other and get discriminated too. When we get discriminated in some way, we feel hurt. Though the Americans have chosen a black man as their President, that did not stop an American cop from arresting a high profile black American professor mistaking him for a burglar, when he was actually entering his own house in a predominantly wealthy area. The cop arrested him without knowing his credentials and though the professor showed his ID he did not spare him. The professor is known to the president and when the matter was brought to the knowledge of the President, it is said, he dismissed the matter saying that the cop was stupid. Does the black President have to call a white cop, a stupid cop? Is he not hurting the sentiments of a lot of whites, who feel that the cop was innocent and did not do anything out of racial feelings but why does the President not see it in the same spirit and call him a stupid cop? Discussions, allegations and counter allegation will fly for many days!!

In India too we discriminate on many counts. Apart from colour, we have religions, casts and creeds, professions, gender, class, language and region etc to discriminate and divide people. Following the Vedas, Upanishads etc, the Hindu thought is the most egalitarian and universal of religions of the world but extreme types of discriminations were practiced by the Hindu Society, some of which are prevalent even today! Over a period of many years Hindus have discarded many of these prejudices and a majority of people who profess to be Hindus do not even know that many such prejudices existed till some 30 or 40 years ago. Discarding prejudices are part of growing and progress, transcending from a lower state of consciousness to higher. Well that is a different topic altogether!

Take for example the recent experience of a film personality of the “minority” community! He could not get an apartment in Mumbai in a building of his choice because he happens to be a Muslim! The entire media see it as a terrible case of discrimination. It is a rejection of the man’s fundamental rights as written down in the Indian Constitution. Wow!! But is it something new? This unwritten rule, denying membership in Housing Societies for some communities, is in existence in Mumbai from time immemorial. So the man has gone to the court to demand his rights by the constitution. Well, well! Is that something everyone would do? Is it uncommon for birds of the same feather to flock together and not allow other birds to cohabit in the same nest? If forty-nine out of fifty members in a society do not want you to be living in their midsts, why the hell do you want to live with them? I lived in Mumbai for 40 years and there were no Muslims in our building. Next to our building there was one where no Hindus lived. Whether it was due to some pressure or due to free choice, I never enquired and we used to intermingle without restraint. In fact, during the communal riots of 1992 in Mumbai the Hindu residents of our building went out of their way to protect the Muslims living in the adjacent building. There never seemed to be any problem for any one. Now there is the question of the rights of one man as against the rights of so many others. Are there no Societies where Hindus are not allowed? There are of course societies where Non-vegetarians are not allowed. Is that also aimed at bashing the minorities?

All over the world minority groups live together for various reasons, including safety. In Trivandrum where I grew up, there are three or four localities where only Brahmins live. No one from other communities would be allowed to live there. Their life styles and food habits are all different from the others and therefore they prefer to stick together, neither any one from other communities would want to be in their midst!! I do not know why anyone would want to go and live there asserting his right to be there? A Christian friend of mine put in all his savings and some borrowed funds to buy a flat in a Mumbai Suburb and moved in with much celebration. Within about 5 years he found that most of the flats in the building were occupied by Muslims from various backgrounds and soon he found it difficult to live in the building because their ways were different and he could not take it. He had no other alternative but leave the building which he did eventually. In this case can any one blame others just because he is denied his choice?

Discrimination per se is not bad, it depends on how one does it.

South Mumbai, Colaba to be exact, is where I lived for nearly 40 years. Every nook and corner of the place is familiar to me. I was stunned and numbed when I saw the television pictures of the mayhem Caused by the mindless Pakistanis. I say emphatically Pakistanis because not only are the perpetrators from Pakistan but they have had the active support of some elements of the Pakistan Government too.

The Pakistan Government is shamelessly harping on showing them credible proof which will stand in their court of law. What court of law are they talking about? Is there any credible institution in that country which can face truth? Telling lies has become so natural to the Pakistani establishment that the officials do not have any qualms in doing so. Their Presidents, past and present never heard of Dawood Abrahim who lives next door!! Ask Miandad, the ex-cricketer for details of Dawood’s whereabouts if the Pak Government really wants to know the address!! One does not know whether to laugh or cry when heads of states, who are supposed to be ruling the country, tell such blatant lies. Don’t they have the courage to openly say that they do not want to send them to India because these persons are protected by their Government?

What proof did the US Government give when the Pakistani Government handed over the 9/11 suspects to be tortured in Guantanamo Bay. Pakistanis understand only the power of the gun. What they deserve is a bloody nose. Pakistani Government is an opportunistic Government. They will suck up to US or China shamelessly and they think that India is afraid of them because of their might!!

Arun Shourie very rightly said in the Parliament that there is no point in going to mummy (US) crying for help. India must help herself. India should do what is right by its conscience. Other countries will come to our help only if we act decisively and not dither. Every country has its own interests and compulsions and therefore we should stand strong and vanquish the enemy. No alternative to that.

The following cartoons(done on MS Paint, on the computer) are inspired by Ponnappa's cartoons which appeared in the Times of India daily recently. It is shabby work; never the less I am publishing them!

Independence Day is the day of freedom,
The freedom that came to Indians on 15th August 1947,
Celebrated ever since every year without fail,
Politicians making speeches and hoisting the tricolour.

Innocent children singing patriotic songs,
March in formations neat and disciplined,
The army and police display their resolve
To defend the Borders and maintain the peace.

The media debate the achievements and failures
Of the Government and the Institutions,
And suggest a remedy for every problem
Like Terrorism, corruption nuclear deal et all.

Saints and clerics dabble in politics
Setting man against man in the name of God.
Old traditions and customs, superstitions and prejudices
Are all in the way of peace and progress.

While the leaders are speaking of peace and harmony
Their followers are stocking guns and bombs
Dividing the people by caste and creed
Building walls and fences separating the lot.

A former minister laughs at corruption plaguing the polity
And declares that no one can do anything about it!
The judges in the Supreme Court cries out in shame
That even God cannot help our beloved country!!

Come election time and the largesse is spread thick and juicy
For the Babus and the file pushers
And on second thoughts for those defending our borders too
But the poor and needy turn cynics and bear the brunt!

In spite of the parasites and thugs that rule the country
A ray of hope shone through the clouds
Bringing joy to every Indian
As Abhinav Bindra brought us a gold.

The other day I was watching a TV debate on terrorism. Politicians and experts aired their views. The Congress spokesperson said that under the circumstances he could very well say that this is the handiwork of the BJP so that they could blame the opposition Congress in Bangalore and Ahmedabad! But he said that he is not saying it! Then what was he doing? - the Channel moderator asked and so on and so forth, and that is the way our politicians speak.
The next day I heard a BJP spokesperson saying just the opposite. She said that the planning of the bomb explosions in the BJP ruled states was the work of the Congress in order to divert the attention of the public from the money for votes scandal which shook the Parliament only a few days ago. The Congress spokesperson was immediately back on the TV rubbishing the allegation and condemning the desperation of the BJP and so on!!!
It was however refreshing to hear Mr. Bandookwala (who suffered great personal loss during the Gujarat riots), speak without any animosity towards the establishment or the Hindus who are seen to be the wrong doer.
Mr. Bandookwala quoted several passages from the Holy Koran to establish that Islam is against killing of innocents. This is true of all religions because human welfare and spiritual upliftment is the purpose of all religions. The problem arises because the definition of “innocents” is not clear and experts in the matter give different meanings to the word, like those whom we Indians call terrorists are freedom fighters according to our neighbour Pakistan!
A learned man explained (in a TV debate) that the word “Kafir” is not at all a bad word and it means only “non-believer”. Why should one get offended by the word, like if you call lady a “bitch”, why should it offend her!!
A former Chief Minister (who is no more) compared himself to Lord Krishna to explain his love for wine and women. But his explanations neither absolved him of his gross misdemeanor nor diminished the love the Hindus have for Lord Krishna! Only the chief Minister looked a joker!
Omar Abdulla made a fiery speech in the Parliament and every one spoke highly of it. He was scathing in his attack of BJP and said he made a mistake joining the NDA in the last Lok Sabha. He rubbished the BJP sponsored strikes in Jammu regarding the Amarnath land deal and gave a solemn undertaking that the Kashmiri Muslims would see to it that not a single pilgrim will be harmed. But what worth are promises? How many thousands of Hindu Pandits have been driven out of their homes in the valley during the past decade and a half? Who is responsible for their safety?
Kashmiris are afraid that people from other parts of the country would go there and settle there if they are not checked and the “Kashmiriath” would get polluted or diluted!! This is a specious argument because, in the present times, it is only at the cost of progress and a higher standard of living can any community isolate themselves from the rest of the world. The Kashmiri leaders have all the fun in the wide open world but when it comes to the poor and needy the “Kashmiriath” need to be preserved. The leaders enjoy all the fun and they want to protect their fiefdom back home!
I am a Malayali by birth and I know the richness of the Malayali culture, the language and traditions which are very different from those of other parts of the country. I am very proud of the Malayali ethos and sometimes I feel very sad the way the lifestyles and traditions have changed in the past fifty/sixty years. How can anyone hold on to traditions and progress in life at the same time. Resisting change is our instinctive behavior but stubbornness is cussed.