The Ant and the Grasshopper

Got this mail from one of my friends. Couldn’t help but post it here. Just a continuation of few of my earlier blogs like ‘I am an upper caste, Hindu, Brahmin North Indian‘. Its a very interesting read – an old story with a new angle to it.

 

 Original
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The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter ,the Ant is warm and well fed.

The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version
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The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant’s a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering
Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food..

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant’s house .

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ‘Bharat Bandh’ in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

Arjun Singh makes ‘Special Reservation ‘ for Grasshoppers in
Educational Institutions & in Government Services.

Many years later…

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley ..

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation
somewhere in India …And….

As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the
Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country !!!

 

Lets clean our own house first

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each racial group possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or racial groups.

The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular racial group, and that it is also the prejudice based on such a belief.

Google trends tells me that ‘racism’ is one of the most ‘googled’ words in the recent times – thanks to the recent racists attacks on Indian students in Australia. All the news channels have suddenly got another ‘breaking news’ soon after the elections got over. Arnab Goswami, with his new found confidence of being the Number-1 English News channel, has been discussing these attacks with different guests on “Newshour debate”. Other channels are also following the story regularly and the whole racism saga has managed enough media attention in the last couple of days.

It seems that the whole country has come together to condemn these attacks on our citizens. Angry reactions are coming from all parts of the country, including the normal citizens as well as the politicians. Newly appointed External Affairs Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna wasted no time in talking to his Australian counterpart and even PM Mr. Manmohan Singh condemn the racists attacks on the Indians in Australia.

Everyone seems to be accusing the Australians of being racists. They are racists because few of them hate the Indians (for whatever reasons) and want them out of their country.

Now compare the situation to that in our own country. I could take many examples but I’ll take the most recent one. Australians are racists because they don’t like Indians and want them out of their country. There are few in Mumbai who don’t want ‘North Indians’ in Mumbai and want them out of here.

Australians are racists because few of them attacked Indians. What about those who have been using violence against the North Indians in Mumbai?

Australians are racists because few of them make ‘racist comments’ on Indians. What about those who make ‘hate speeches’ against the North Indians in India?

We Indians, with our new found confidence, thanks to our growing economic power, have this habit of condemning everything that happens against us in other countries. We leave no stone unturned to make sure that no injustice is done to any Indian abroad. All of us are accusing the whole of Australia of being a racist nation. But what about our own country? Are we not a racist nation?

According to United Nations, the term “racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

Well, going by the UN definition of racial discrimination, we are one of the most racist Nations on Earth. How many times we discriminate our own countrymen based on race, color, descent or ethnic origin? Its everywhere in our country.

The Australians don’t want us there and are trying to throw us out of their country. Aren’t we used to such behavior in our own country? We do face discrimination and we do discriminate, based on caste, religion, regionalism etc.

So, do we have the right to brand a whole country (in this case Australia) as racist when we also practice the same? I think we need to clean our house first before accusing others. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘ There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self’.

 

Someday..I’ll have good options!

Few months ago, when I was keenly following the U.S. Presidential elections, I never missed a single Obama / McCain debate. For somebody like me who’s grown up watching our leaders swearing at each other and even fighting during the Parliament session, it was nothing less then a pleasant surprise to see the debate between the two hopefuls.

Both of them behaved like gentlemen, spoke politely without raising their voices, gave each other chance to answer the queries, and talked as if they knew what they were saying.

Now compare that to our politicians – most of them cannot talk properly, have absolutely no idea whats happening in the world ( I won’t be surprised if they have no idea whats happening in their constituencies), are ready for a fistfight if given a chance, and use provocative speeches to their advantage.

I always thought that the first thing we needed to do was to choose an educated politician (this obviously is not going to change much, but should be the first step towards choosing the right leadership).

Off late, few of our well educated, well spoken young politicians have risen to prominence in India’s political landscape. I personally see it as a catalyst of change (and I’m not giving a thumbs-up to all the young politicians – they have a long way to go and need to learn a lot). These are young, fresh minds who talk sense, have macro level understanding of the political, social and economical landscape.

Politicians like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Omar Abdullah, Milind Deora might be naive when it comes to true understanding of politics, but they do bring the much needed enthusiasm, energy and fresh ideas to the table.

Rahul Gandhi’s matured handling of provocative comments made by BJP president Rajnath Singh, or the emotional and heart-touching speech by Omar Abdullah in the Parliament during the trust vote recently (when the so called matured and experienced politicians were busy shouting at each other), reinforced my belief that we need a change in our political outlook.

I have nothing against the old generation of politicians. Many of them are well educated also. But lets face it - we do have a sizable number of uneducated politicians and leaders who have either used their caste, religion, connections, or muscle power to fulfill their political and personal agendas.

An overwhelming majority of our population is below 35 years old. But our political set-up is largely a gerontocracy. In such a set-up, a widening generation rift between the citizens and the politicians is inevitable.

I’m not trying to say that this is the only way out. Neither do I intend to ridicule the old generation of politicians. I’m also not giving a thumbs-up to all the younger politicians. I’m sure a majority of these politicians are not even worth it. We will have to be very careful with this, but few of these guys do deserve a chance.

And when I say we need to be careful, the point I’m trying to make is that age and education shouldn’t be the biggest factor. These should be a few of the many traits that we should look at.

A very good example of a young, well educated politician trying to gain some advantage using the age old method of divide and rule, is none other then Varun, who has the most famous surname in the South-East Asia’s political history – Gandhi.

I had no doubts that Varun Gandhi has the potential to rise and create a space for himself along with his more famous cousin Rahul Gandhi in the Indian political landscape. I first heard him on TV, addressing a rally in MP few years ago and I instantly liked his enthusiasm and passion. And his main agenda was development and better standard of living for the poor.

He studied law and economics at the London School of Economics and completed his Masters from School of Oriental & African Studies in London. He has written widely on issues of National security and external affairs. He also wrote a book of poems titled “The otherness of self” which became an instant bestseller and one of the bestselling books of the year.

With such a background and thought process, I never expected him to chose such path to fulfill his political ambitions. In fact, I heard an expert on politics in India saying he is, afterall, his father’s son – like father like son.

Sanjay Gandhi, as we all know, had this special affinity for controversies. He courted controversies all the time – the emergency, Jama Masjid slums, the Maruti Udyog, and the Family planning programs, to name a few.

Anyways, the idea is not to ponder over Varun’s remarks. Its just a very good reminder that our quest for well educated, well spoken and sensible politicians with fresh ideas and vision to guide our country to next level, is going to be very very tough. And its going to take time – its a slow process.

But I’m sure that some day, I’ll also get to see well educated, sensible candidates with a vision and passion to serve my country and its people, presenting their cases to me and million others, answering the questions properly and debating peacefully without throwing chairs at each other. And I’ll chose my candidate based on his qualifications, work ethics and vision for the whole country – not because he represents a particular caste, community or region.

I am a racist too

‘Pratyush? Oh my God! Is that really you?’ I was peacefully enjoying my train journey, reading my book, when I heard this. I glanced up and found myself looking at a young familiar face. Standing in front of me was this good looking young man who was looking at me with a big smile on his face.

I smiled at him, trying to remember his name. Thankfully, he himself said, ‘ Hey I’m Faisal, from Kolkotta, Remember me?’ And then I recognized him. I had met him a couple of times in the mid-nineties.

He needed no invitation. He gave me a tight hug and made himself comfortable on my seat.

If not pressed for time, I love train journey. Because it gives me time away from my day to day routine. I can read and sleep peacefully without my phone ringing continuously. And before Faisal saw me, I was reading Betty Mahmoody’s book ‘Not without my daughter’. Its a true story of a woman who was trapped in Iran with her daughter for years before she could finally get back to U.S.A. In the book, she has narrated in detail the life in Iran in the eighties. One thing she emphasized throughout her book was the unhygienic condition that they live in and the food that they cook.

This was fresh in my mind and hence, while trying to answer Faisal’s queries, I was also trying to notice his appearance. He looked clean and tidy. He had very long hair which he had tied neatly, was clean-shaven, wearing fresh clothes, and I couldn’t help but notice the Tag Heuer watch.

Faisal’s family was in the next compartment and he forced me to come and meet them. He was traveling with his parents and a sister. His family seemed very pleased to meet me and his mother also remembered my name. It was late evening and hence his mother and sister started preparing for dinner. His father explained that they prefer home food and hence carry the dinner with them whenever they travel. The dinner was neatly packed and they were traveling with paper plates also. And though I tried my best to excuse myself, his sister handed over a paper plate to me. I must admit that I was very hungry and the smell of the food was too inviting. But then also I took only one chapati and when I was offered chicken (it smelled and looked delicious), I lied – telling them that I no longer eat chicken (the content of the book I was reading was still fresh in my mind).

And though the food and the preparation looked very neat and hygienic, I had a tough time getting that chapati down my throat with the help of dal. I somehow finished that chapati, thanked them, excused myself and came back to my seat.

For some reason, I was feeling terrible and I wasn’t sure why. Was it the food that I had or was it my behavior? The food that I had, looked more hygienic then the dabba that I have here in Mumbai.

And no matter what excuse I give, the fact is that I refused the food which was offered because Faisal was a Muslim. And I assumed that all Muslims are like those mentioned in the book that I was reading.

I really felt sorry for my behavior. My judgment was biased – based on the experience of one lady who was trapped against her wishes in a country which is far away from my country and its people.

And I immediately hated this part of mine. I had always believed that I’ve been brought up in such a way that social evils like these would never affect me. But circumstances did play their part and I did behave like a racist.

Adolf Hitler once said, “If I can send the flower of the German Nation into the hell of the war without the smallest pity for the shedding of precious German blood, then surely I’ve the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin.”

As a child, I had always admired Hitler for few of the qualities that he had. But when I read this comment he once made, I hated him from the bottom of my heart. I wondered how can one hate an entire race to this extent. I hated Hitler for being a racist.

And that faithful day, sitting on my seat in the train, when I thought about what had just happened, I hated myself too. I was ashamed. Because I realized, somewhere inside, I am a racist too.

 

An eye for an eye makes the world blind

 

“An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind.” But nobody seemed to be bothered at this point of time. Thanks to few fanatics and our politicians (no less fanatics themselves), we are slowly becoming an extremist society. Though the use of the word ‘extremist’ might raise a few eyebrows.

 

For long, the word extremist had been attached to ‘Islam’. If you do a google, 8 out of first 10 results refer to Islam. Invariably, we relate these terms like extremist and fundamentalists to Islam.

 

But lets face it – we are no exception. No matter how much we deny it, every now and then, we, as a society, show glimpses of extremism in our behavior. What is more worrying is the ever increasing frequency of such behavior in recent times. We have had two very disturbing incidents recently which corroborate the history of our extremist behavior.

 

• Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested for her alleged involvement in the recent Malegaon and Modasa blasts

   

• A young man from Bihar Rahul Raj was killed when he was trying to hijack a bus to protest against the recent violence against the North Indians in Mumbai

 

Mumbai ATS arrested the Sadhvi from Surat. Apparently, Pragya Singh Thakur was part of a Hindu right wing group which carried out the blasts to avenge the killings of Hindus by Muslim extremists.

 

What is more scary is the fact that people are coming out in open to support the Sadhvi and her acts. I’m not going very far – my cousin thinks this was needed to teach a lesson to the ‘Muslim fanatics’. And everyday, while traveling in the local train, I hear people supporting the Sadhvi. The disturbing fact is that these are all educated people who, somewhere inside, support the usage of violence.

 

Not the ones to be left behind – the political parties are all geared up to reap the maximum out of the situation. The Sangh pariwar has openly come out in support of the Sadhvi and Bajrang Dal has already branded her as her modern day Goddess Durga.

 

In case of Rahul Raj, a 25 year old young man from Bihar was killed by policemen when he was trying to protest (?) against the recent attacks on North Indians by a political party.

 

His method of protesting – hijacking a bus full of innocent commuters with the help of a country made pistol. I don’t know what his intentions were or what was he trying to achieve. To be very honest, i doubt we’ll ever come to know what was going through his mind or what exactly happened there – thanks to the ’swift’ action by our police, who, on other occasions have been found wanting.

 

Though personally I condemn the action taken by the police (they didn’t even try to catch him alive), I don’t want to get into the debate – simply because we don’t even know what happened there. Did the boy actually fired 3 rounds of bullets on public (if he did, then what the police did was right), was he just trying to protest against a particular political party (even in this case, I personally don’t approve his method) with no intention of harming anyone..there are so many questions that need to be answered before justifying or condemn the action taken by the police.

 

To be honest, not many people know what conspired at ground zero. But my point is that there is no way you can hijack a bus, point a pistol at people and then justify your actions. This was totally uncalled for.

 

And as usual, our politicians left no stone unturned to add fuel to the fire. Without knowing the details, almost all of them tried very hard to take the centre stage by hogging the limelight. All of them gave interviews and addressed the news hungry media without any proper knowledge on the incident.

 

The State Home Minister justified the killing by saying that the ‘mad’ man deserved to be shot and that bullets were an answer to the bullet shot by the young man (wonder why he has double standards while dealing with the goons of a particular political party which started the whole drama).

 

All the Bihari leaders got together for the first time to justify the young man’s action by saying it was the result of the hatred caused by the political parties in Maharashtra (they simply ignored the fact that the young man hijacked the bus and was pointing pistol at local commuters).

 

Next day, another leader came up with another shocker. He expressed his satisfaction by stating that a Bihari goon was killed Bihari style (not to mention that it was his party which started this whole communal and regional divide). He is the mastermind behind many of the Hindu – muslim & Marathi – north Indians riots.

 

The bottomline is that both these incidences have set a dangerous precedent. In the first case, we saw a Hindu Right Wing party using violence to get back at the Muslim fundamentalists. The second one is equally horrifying. A young man deciding to prove a point against the constant acts of violence against a section of the society.

 

In fact, slowly but surely, all of us are getting involved in it. We need to save our society not only from muslim extremists but also from Hindu extremists, Bihari extremists and marathi extremists now. Because an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

 

We must act now. This must stop. We need to realise that this dirty politics of caste, community and regionalism is taking us nowhere. We must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

 

Pratyush – a helpless Indian

Switch to any News Channel these days and you will find them talking about the “War against terror”. Yesterday, almost all of them were talking about the possible mastermind of the recent blasts in Delhi and Ahmedabad. This guy, named Taquir has been branded as India’s Osama Bin Laden. He is the latest face of terror in the country.

 

I don’t know if he is behind the killing of so many innocent lives. In all probability, he is! But knowing that doesn’t help. He’s still free. And even if we mange to catch him, we will have many people and organisations (including some political parties) who would stand behind him, citing various reasons like human rights, minority issues, alienation of a section of the society and dozens of other reasons.

 

We still have not decided what to do with the man who attacked our parliament – because few of the human rights people think its inhuman to hang somebody, few politicians think hanging him would mean further polarization of Muslims, some leaders think this would result in Kashmiris revolting against the system.

 

The other day, I read a statement by a senior Muslim clerk who claimed that the Muslims fundamentalists are not behind these attacks and its a work of “Mossad” and we should stop blaming SIMI for this.

 

When I read or hear these people talking and giving all possibles excuses so that they can get the best out of the present situation, I feel helpless. After all, these are the people who are supposed to be representing us in their different fields like politics, strategy, religion etc.

 

The politician represent my political views because I’ve made him a Minister, a human right activist represents me against the social injustice, and the so called religious experts represent my religious beliefs.

 

But how can I win my war against such inhuman acts when people representing me are more concerned about their own or group’s interests. How do i win my battle against terrorism if it has no face. How can I win a war when I don’t even know who my enemy is?

 

Whom do I fight against? When I close my eyes and think about it, I get many answers. Do i fight against the Muslim fundamentalists who believe its their moral duty to fight a jihad against all other religions (beyond countries) and are being guided by their imams who select the worst part of the holy Koran to brainwash them?

 

Or do i fight against the Sangh pariwar or the Bajrang Dal who think they are the only well wishers of Hindus and that gives them the right to attack the Church?

 

Or do i fight against the self proclaimed leaders who come on National TV to make statement like I’m not an Indian but a Kashmiri?

 

Or can i shoot the politician who says strong anti terror laws would result in polarization of a particular section of the society and hence we cannot have strict laws to save thousands of innocent lives.

 

Since 9/11 (where apparently the Muslim fundamentalists declared jihad against the “West”), my country has recorded the maximum number of deaths due to terror attacks. There has been no major attack in USA after 9/11 (and they are the prime target). Maybe because they all stood up together and had the audacity to crush everything that came in between them and their National pride (I’m not saying what they did was correct – but we all know that they are not impotent and wouldn’t let anyone dictate terms and hurt their national pride).

 

We cannot have strict laws, cannot hang the terrorists, cannot questions the fundamentalists, cannot stand up together against the faceless enemy who has a single point agenda of taking away my fundamental right to live my life peacefully in my own country.

 

Today, I feel like a helpless, impotent Indian because I know there are few people who want to hurt my country, my fundamental beliefs and the very foundation of my existence, but I cannot do anything.

 

I wish I could start by shooting the politicians, the so called activists and the fundamentalist preachers of different religions, before shooting those fanatics who have been given a free hand to shake the very foundation of my country.

Pratyush

 

I’m an upper caste, Hindu, Brahmin, North indian

The first thing that people ask me when i introduce myself is why is my name Pratyush Pankaj and why don’t i have a surname. There is a very simple answer to that. Its because my Father didn’t want me to use our surname. He believes that surnames are used to distinguish people on the basis of their caste and religion. A Sharma or a Singh would be an upper caste and Mahto or Ahir would be a lower caste. He never believed in Caste system and he didn’t want his children to get into this either. Hence, none of us has a surname.

 

When I was a young kid, I only knew i was an Indian and I very firmly believed that. I didn’t even know what my caste was. I realized that I’m a Hindu during my history lessons in school when I was told that people in India are mainly divided into four religions – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christians. It was somewhere in early nineties that I realized that apart from being a Hindu, I’m also a Brahmin – which means an upper caste (thanks to Mandal Commission).

 

 

These things were irrelevant to me until I witnessed a riot after the Babri Masjid demolition where I lost one of my best friends who was a Muslim. I realized the implications of being an upper caste when I was denied admission in city’s top college despite getting very good marks in my Boards exams, and another friend of mine who got much less then me, got through on ‘Quota’ (he was a ’schedule caste’ – incidentally, he was always this rich spoilt kid)

 

As a young boy, I never understood this logic of treating the citizens of same country in different manner. I never understood the logic behind “special treatment” to these poor (?) minorities (?). I don’t know if my forefathers didn’t let them enter the temples or to fetch waters from the well (I’ve heard people narrating such stories on TV – specially the politicians). All I know is that by virtue of being born in an upper caste Brahmin family, I couldn’t get through the best college in the city even after securing much higher marks (trust me – much higher) then the so called lower caste kids (who would zoom around on their bikes and waste time everywhere except studying).

 

So, by the time I came to Pune for higher studies, I knew I was an upper caste, Hindu, Brahmin boy and not just an Indian which I always thought I was. And then, after spending almost 10 years in Maharashtra, I got a new identity. I was told that I was a North Indian and hence I shall go back to North India.

 

So now, In 25 years of my life in India, where my father wanted me to be a proud Indian, I’ve been given different identities. Thanks to politicians, so called social activists, Human rights activists and few others, I feel like an outsider in my own country because I’ve realized that I’m not just an Indian. I’m an upper caste, Hindu, Brahmin, North Indian and I’m not very sure how many more tags I’ll have to add to my identity.

 

I always wondered if my father has failed. He wanted to give me one identity but now I’ve so many. But i when i think about it, its not my father’s fault. He had a very noble intention. He wanted his children to be above caste, religion and regionalism. But thanks to the dirty politics of dividing the country into castes religion and regions, none of us is just an Indian – we all have multiple identities.

 

I Don’t have Muslim friends!

 Last heard, we have had 7 blasts in the heart of our “Garden city”. Lately, Bangalore has become a prime target of some lunatics. As expected, initial reports suggest LeT and SIMI’s involvement. At times I wonder how can people commit such inhuman crimes? How can people plant a bomb knowing that it might kill an innocent child or a helpless woman? Where do such organizations get their people? I don’t have in-depth knowledge about these organizations nor am I an expert in religious outfits. But there is something which I’ve felt as an individual, growing up in a secular society -a social phenomenon which might be responsible for all these animal like killings by these religious outfits.

 

During my growing up years (and I’m talking about the time when I thought I was just an Indian – later I realized that I am an upper caste Brahmin, a Hindu and a Non Marathi North Indian), I had many friends from different sections of the society including the Muslims. Infact a couple of my best friends were Muslims.

 

At that point of time, I always thought that there was something fundamentally wrong with our system. This belief was based on my experience with my Muslim friends. They all were well educated young boys who would sit with me and watch India – Pakistan cricket match, and I never had any doubts which team they were supporting. I still remember watching an India Pakistan match at one of my Muslim friend’s house. We won (wins against Pakistan were rare those days) and we all (including his parents) were jumping with joy.

 

But with the passage of time, as I grew up, went to college, then to a B School and then I started working, I suddenly realized that I hardly know any Muslims. Its not that I don’t like them or I avoid them. The reason of me not having Muslim friends was very simple. I hardly met any at high school, or college, or B School or at work.

 

The point that I’m trying to make is (and it can be my assumption) that the total number of Muslims in high school and college reduced significantly as compared to the Basic school. And we are talking about a section which represents close to 15% of the total population of our country (compare this to around 2% of Christens and 1.8% Sikhs). So my chance of bumping into a Muslim is much more then that of meeting a Christen or a Sikh in a normal society (I would like to believe that I live in a normal society).

 

As mentioned earlier, it might be a personal observation but I very firmly believe that Muslims have been marginalized. They are no longer part of the mainstream life in India. And they are as responsible for this as anyone else. Is it a mere co incidence that I didn’t meet a single Muslim in my high school or in college? And if what I’m thinking is true (fewer number of Muslims attended high schools and colleges), then we know why I don’t have many Muslims working with me at my work place. Its a very simple equation – good education is directly proportional to good job which is directly proportional to your mainstream (read social) life.

 

I have nothing against religious faiths and beliefs. And to be very honest, I don’t have much idea what they teach at Madarsaas. But you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the Madarsaas have failed to keep up the pace with the this ever changing world.

 

No wonder young Muslim boys coming out of Madarsaa system have no basic knowledge required to stand on the same platform given to other young boys and girls who are the products of the modern education system in India.

 

No wonder the socio economic condition of Muslims in India is deteriorating. No wonder Muslims are suffering from social evils like unemployment, poverty and marginalization. No wonder, there is an alarming trend of increase in numbers of inhuman activities like the Mumbai and Bangalore serial blasts by Muslim terrorist organization like SIMI and Let.

 

Lets not forget that these organizations have stood up against the very foundation of our country and they do manage to carry out their inhuman activities against the whole Nation. And we all are responsible for it one way or the other. But something inside me says that the root cause of all this evil is the absence of Muslims around me – in colleges and at the work place. And nobody else but Muslims themselves are responsible for this because they themselves chose to marginalized themselves from the general education system.

 

It was not about holiday

It was 6th December, 1992. I was on a school picnic to a nearby place called Rajgir. Everyone was having a good time there. Boys were playing cricket (in India, boys have to play cricket) and the girls were singing and playing other games.

 
Suddenly, we saw our teachers running towards us. They all looked worried and ordered us to board the school bus because we had to go back immediately. I was surprised, like everyone else. We were supposed to leave in the evening. The cricket match was also not over. Infact, even the first inning wasn’t completed. I was fielding for more then an hour and was waiting eagerly for my batting to come. But here they are (as usual), our teachers, playing the villains.
One big disadvantage of being in school is that you have to listen to your teachers, even if they are being unreasonable (take a vote – they would be unreasonable 99 times out of hundred).
So we all boarded the bus. And soon the excitement of singing and dancing with the girls overshadowed the disappointment of missing my batting. In between, somebody heard the teachers talking about the demolition of some Babri Masjid.

 
Babri Masjid, we all had heard about it from different sources. We all knew that it was the same thing for which a gentleman called Mr. Advani had toured the whole country on his “Rath”. It had something to do with pleasing “bhagwaan Ram”. And now, when it had been done (the babri masjid was demolished), we all assumed that “bhagwaan Ram” would be a happy man. Which was a very good news for all of us – afterall, its not easy to please the gods.
So we all started dancing and singing with joy. In between we also shouted the slogans of “Bhagwaan Ram ki jai” (we all learn that very early in life). One of my best friends , Salim Akhtar, was also dancing with joy. We were a happy lot that day.
I reached home late evening and saw the worried faces of my parents (For some reason, Indian parents are always worried when their children are out of their sight – even when “Bhagwaan Ram” was happy).

 
Next few days I didn’t go to the school as for some reason, all the schools were shut for a week. Now I was sure “bhagwaan Ram” was happy. How on earth do you get a whole week off from school? I was sure there would be more good news now when the gods were happy.
But it had to come to an end. so the schools reopened after a week (and to be honest, I was happy because staying inside your house for a week was boring). We all met each other and were happy to be back together. I noticed that Salim was absent. I thought he might be taking another day off (lucky him).

 
During the lunch break, we had this custom of having an ice-cream from our “ice-cream waale Khan bhaiya”. We used to buy 3-4 ice-creams from him everyday and eat them all between all of us.

 
That day, we didn’t see Khan bhaiya at his customary place outside the school gate. Few people were still on holiday, I thought. The next day, Salim still didn’t come. Neither did Khan bhaiya! Infact both of them didn’t come for 2 more days. Now this extended holiday thing was irritating me. You get your holidays when the god is happy, but why do people extend it further?
On the fifth day, our teacher told us that Salim has left the School and he will never be coming back. We all were surprised, and sad to an extent. And when we didn’t see khan bhaiya during the lunch break again, I couldn’t help but ask our gatekeeper if he knew about his holiday plans. It was then that the gate keeper told us that Khan Bhaiya, along with his wife and two children, was killed in the riot that broke out after the Babri masjid was demolished.
We were shattered. How on earth could something like happen? It was supposed to be a good thing. God was happy because of it and it was about fun and holidays. Why was he killed?

 
That day when I went home, I asked my parents. They had no answers. For some reason, I cried for hours in front of them. I still couldn’t understand why it happened. I was not even sure if “Bhagwaan Ram” was happy about it. Then why did it happen? Nobody had any answer. My best friend was missing and Khan bhaiya was killed with his family but I didn’t know why.
More then 15 years after the Babri masjid was demolished, I still think about Salim and Khan bhaiya. I still don’t know why it happened. I still don’t what happened to Salim or why was Khan Bhaiya killed, or for that matter, why was the masjid demolished?

 
Maybe, someday, if I meet the the tagodias or the Singhals or the advanis or the Imams of the world, I’ll ask them for an answer. Maybe, they will give me an answer. As of now, I still don’t know why it happened. All I know is my best friend went missing and Khan bahiya along with his family was killed because Babri masjid was demolished on 6th December, 1992, and it was definitely not about holidays.