Eid Mubarak – JAI HIND!

“The Mumbai attack was an attack on the Nation and we condemn it” said Imam Mohammed Yaqub - and the Namaaz-e-Janannza ( mourning prayers) was offered for all those who lost their lives in Mumbai on the 26th. The Hadith was quoted at some places – “Even during war, a Muslim must not kill children, women or innocent people”. “We are against all terrorism,” was the refrain heard during the celebrations of Eid this time. Muslims wore black arms bands and shunned the regular festivity this year, which was a heartening gesture.

I don’t need to thank my Muslim brothers for taking such a stand. This country is as much as theirs to safeguard and love… They must continue to have themselves heard hereon. They must come on the streets in throngs and express their displeasure and cry out from the roof tops of their houses and say “Allah doesn’t want this meaningless killing.” Time to sit and read and understand what the Quran really says - Time to take a strong stand against all conscious misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the same.

Pakistan had sent 30 million people, mostly Hindus, to India in 1970. There were several thousands more who came subsequently – I had the good fortune to be reporting the plight of these people, who flee persecution in Pak and lived in the outskirts of Rajasthan. Hindu Singh Sodha, the convenor of the Pak Visthapith Sangh who spearheaded an entire movement to ensure that these people get Indian citizenship and a good life did a commendable job. I remember how he would often say “Will India ever consider sending back the 130 million Muslims that live as Indians today who keep pouring through the porous borders in the east?” NO! We don’t need to. Though we could if we wanted to. We have taken back the 3 million Tamils that went to Sri Lanka and we have also absorbed the expelled Indians from Uganda, Kenya, Burma….But India need not live in any form of insecurity or in fear. It has an amazing absorption capacity even though the diversity is so stark attimes. It is unfortunate that it has seen a rise in militant behaviour in the recent times, for whatever compulsions/reasons – but Indians are as such not militant by nature or choice (the basic Indian philosophy being steeped in our earliest Vedic roots)

It is time to take some decisions. And we have to take these decisions as Indians – not as Hindus or Muslims. It is important to face certain facts before we do so-
“There is a drive of Hindus is taking place wherever Muslim population crosses 50%. Some examples are Kashmir, Assam, Tripura, Eastern borders of West Bengal, Malegaon, Achalpur, Dhule, Bhiwandi, Konkan Belt, etc” says Chanchal in iVarta. If this is true then like the Australiam PM we have to ensure

• There will be no Muslim Personal Law – what is good for one will have to be good for others – We have to be Indians first.


• The Muslim population must re-evaluate the concept of “Kafir” and put it to backburner, as teach only those parts of Quran that promote peace and happiness for all, as Indians.
• All sorts of religious conversion has to stop and secularism promoted.
• Population control norms should be followed by all Indians - we simply can't see this country burst beyond its seams for economic reasons.
• All prayer meets must end with a National Anthem or atleast a Jai Hind.
  BE AN INDIAN FIRST AND ALWAYS

My Eids prayer was that song from Colonial Cousin
"Religion is the reason, The world is breaking up into pieces -Colour of the people, Keeps us locked in hate. Please release us. So come down and help us, save all the little ones They need a teacher, and you are the only one -We can't rely on, to build a better world -A world that's for children, a world that's for everyone.
So come back as Jesus, Come back and save the world- Bless all the future of every boy and girl - Come back as Rama, Forgive us for what we've done - Come back as Allah, Come back as anyone" Jai Hind!

BECOMING CITIZENS OF THE WORLD FIRST

Abhijit sent this very sensible mail from Dubai which I wish to share with everyone ... I have written a lot about this earlier but it always helps to reiterate that while each one of us must keep our individualim intact, we must work towards becoming global citizens if we wish make any sense of the life we are living ... if we wish to make any progress at all and want peace in the life of our children...

In any religion there are fundamentalists (for lack of a better word) who hijack the religion to further their own ends (political, wealth, power,socio-economic, etc). We can gripe and moan that these guys are ruining the image and philosophy of the religion concerned, they are a minority,etc. etc. However, if the majority are indeed secular, they now need to stand up and get their voices heard - staying under the tortoise shell and watching the world go by is not going to cut it. The Muslims in India took the first step by not allowing the terrorists to be buried as Mulims intheir graveyards - this to me represents a huge step forward in the right direction, and dare I say, a 180 degree turn from previous sentiments issued by their religious heads (Bukhari being a prime example). I am not a Hindu fundamentalist, but the rise of the Hindu fundamentalist movement came at a time when the so called minority were getting way more advantages than the average Indian citizen and that was creating resentment. This was taken advantage of by the politicians leading to the India we now know.

Coming to the specific topic of Islam, I ask myself why is it that Muslims world over are Muslims first and citizens of a country second? Why is it that over 90% of the terrorist activities are being carried out in the name of Islam funded by Islamic countries like Saudi? Why do the Muslims in India celebrate Pakistan's victory over India in a cricket or hockey game? Why conflicts between nations are represented as conflict between Islam and "somebody else"? If the true Muslims want to become true global citizens, they need to stop whining about religious discrimination and make their voices heard decrying terrorism and fundamentalism. They need to become like my friend Parvez who prays every Friday at the mosque but walked out with his son last Friday because the mullah was spouting venom and he did not want hisson to be exposed to such garbage. Parvez and his wife did Ganesh/Lakshmipuja with Islamic prayers for the new office - his office credenza has Ganesh sitting next to Allah ho Akbar with an Inukshuk next to that (gotit from Canada for him). He is a true Muslim and more importantly a true global citizen. Seeing guys like him, how can I say that Muslims are bad?

When our son Ankush, was born, there was no family around to help - all our help(and a lot of it) came from our neighbours, all Muslims from B'desh, Pakistan, Palestine and Egypt. So how can I forget those people and simply generalize the negatives of the few and push them on to the majority? But these good humans need to stand up and say enough is enough!

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

This petition is doing its round, but to my mind these are forgone conclusions. We are still thinking on beaten tracks. We need an overhaul not just in our systems but in our thinking as well. And to do that a lot of changes must begin within ourselves. The Prime Minister alone cannot do much ... I think it is time we came together as a country and made some promises to ourselves ... More about that that later. Read the petition first...

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/26novAct/petition.html

I also want you to now read what Shah Rukh has recetly told the press...

Like every secular Muslims, Shah Rukh also finds it hard to digest when he is asked to take a stand such issues as terror or prove his secularism. He says, "Now that when you say, you need to take a stand, that makes me little angry. I have been brought in a Hindu atmosphere in Delhi, my wife is a Hindu, I read the Quran, I do the namaz, I love the religion and I love Hinduism also." But the star actor also accepts the fact most of the terror attacks in the world are carried out by Muslims. "That's a truth that you have to face. The only way to face is, yes they are Muslims but they don't understand Islam properly," he opines. "There is a Islam for muslims and one for the mullahs"... Here is the crux.

I have watched with some trepidition an increasing amount of militant hinduism for sometime. If this carries on and we are constanly expected to take sides to prove our loyalty to our religion, I am afraid I will have to look for a different patch of land where I can live with my secular beliefs. This is the right time to take up our fundamentalism and throw it out of the window... We must come together as one to decide for instance, what we must do when a handful of these rabid, selfish fundamentalist act and speak on behalf of the moderate lot and burn buses, break shops and beat up innocnt people. I am personally tired of this homegrown terrorism and I am sick of taking all this quietly. When I recently went to file an FIR against the MNS here in Mumbai, firstly the local police adviced me to settle it at a personal level. Secondly the MNS staff got furious when I called them terrorits and threatened me with dire consequences...why? because I was a Bong and not a Marathi ? There are hundreds of Marathis like me who are not at all happy with this fundamentalist wing as there are hundreds of secular Muslims like Shah Rukh who are tired of having to prove their allegience to this country.

"I do not agree with some of your views in the later part. The Hindu terrorism that you speak of is the outcome of anger and frustration at the politics of appeasement that Congress has always been following. Displaced Muslims from outside the border are their main vote bank.All its policies are to sustain this vote bank in rank disregard of the majority sentiment. You hv missed the Congress's ugly politics in fomenting this animosity between two major religions. MNS is a canker in the indian politics. But there is an element of truth that Lalu is importing all Biharis to far flung states in the Railways for menial jobs and ignoring the local men," - says my friend K Parthsarathi.

That is precisely what I am worried about. It is time for allof us to see through the political games around us and scoff at the politicians and not at the people. We have to ensure another Godhra or Malegaon doesn't happen in this beautiful country of ours ever again. We the people of India must promise to remain selfless and secular and work together for the betterment of our country and not just one region.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world"- Mahatma Gandhi

AFGHAN DIARY " Two great religions and one Silk Route"

To most lay men, it is not common knowledge that among the many wonderful things India and Afghanistan share, it is the pre-eminence of being the birthplaces of the two oldest religions, of the world. A fact which could have been our crowning glory but unfortunately we share the irony of a destiny that desecrated and destroyed and eventually banished these religions from their homeland, their greatness and importance reduced and nearly forgotten in the land of their origin today.

The amateur excitement of wanting to write a simple story on how Buddhism went from India and flourished in Afghanistan, along the silk route, turned out to be a major revelation .Like an errant school boy tumbling upon an archaeological find while at play,it unlocked the history of the birth and work of the great prophet of Afghanistan along the same silk route, whose followers are surprisingly found only in Iran and India today.

Zoroaster, the great Iranian thinker, preacher and miracle maker was born some 2000 years before Christ, in the ancient city of Balkh or Bacteria.

Modern day researchers claim this genral area to be none other than the “the holy city” of Mazar-e-Sharif in northwest Afghanistan.Infact Avesta the sacred text of the Zoroastrians is believed to have been composed as early as 1800 BCE and written in ancient Ariana (Aryana), possibly the earliest name of Afghanistan.

Zoroastrianism, like Buddhism holds a place of unique importance, in the history of religion. With its genesis in the Vedic principles, it is hard to find a parallel to the immense popularity of this religion at that time. So huge was its followership and so overpowering its influence that it remained the official religion of Persia for more than a thousand years,through a period of reasonable stability and growth much in the same way as Buddhism harbingered prosperity and peace under Ashoka and Kanishka.

Not in favour of conversion or propagation through persuasion, these two most peace loving religions of the world, never waged any war or had any history of retaliation. Their descendants and disciples suffered persecution instead, fled and survived far away from their places of origin – always contributing richly to wherever they went.

Today with no more than 200,000 surviving descendants in India and Iran ,the Zoroastrian Parsis are still among the most educated and philanthropic lot. They played an instrumental role in the economic development of the sub continent over many decades and continue to do so. Tata, Godrej, Wadia are among the names that have gone down the annals of Indian history for their distinguishing contribution to the prosperity of India, while ironically Afghanistan still struggles amidst poverty and anarchy. The Buddhists too settled in China, Japan and the Far East contribute to the well being of some of the most advanced nations of the modern era.

In another surprising similarity both Mazar-e-Sharif and Nepal seem to be broiling in great unrest. The fourth largest city of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan continue to be a prime target of the Taleban and has already faced untold suffering, major damages and atrocities just as Nepal , the last of the Hindu kingdoms is battling with insurgency and civil wars

Tying up these surprising, hair razing similarities is an interesting link, namely the Silk Road. It played a huge role in spreading the word of wisdom of these great men at one time as also in the process of its survival, later.

Apparently three important caravan routes from China, India and Central Asia met at Kapisa, somewhere near Kabul in Afghanistan, carrying more than just merchandise of silk, ivory, gold precious jems and fruits. This 4500 km web of tracks connecting China in the East and Italy in the West , thrived as a conduit of trade and commerce and cultural exchange, even as far back as 2th century BC. Gradually it filtered in agricultural and metallurgical technologies and information but remained, above all, the chief channel for exchange of religious ideas and philosophies, through traders, travellers and visiting monks.

Mazar-e-Sharif and the Himalayan kingdom of India are both vital nodal points on the Silk route. But when Zoroastrianism faced persecution in the hands of Arabs, in its own home turf ,the silk route in its fledgling state, may not have been an accessible means for mass migration.Probably the reason why only a handful of Zoroastrians survived at that time after feeing to Iran and entering Gujarat along the sea route to Gujarat.

Buddhism was luckier that that. It spread steadily along the silk route that had by then become a busy thoroughfare . Hence even after facing desecration from Hindu kings first and later from the Islamic rulers , it managed to survive and flourish in the East.

Losing out on the rich heritage of our respective religions may not be solely dependent on a highway but the birth of two major religions of the world along a silk route is an uncanny coincidence.It forces one to speculate whether Zoroastrianism had a better chance of survival a few hundred years later when the silk route became an important link to the countries in the East.

More than anything however it makes one wonder how the future of India and Afghanistan may have shaped up had we held on to our ancient faiths in our respective countries.