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.