I remember writing an essay in school. India: Unity in Diversity.
A melting pot of all religions living in harmony, making it unique and severely complicated at the same time. Complications?!! Nah!! Never heard of that while growing up.
Making friends was always based on the principle : The many the children,the better games we get to play as part of our evening play time.
No one ever questioned why we crowded in front of a Ganesh pandal?? We just stood there waiting for the tasty prasad. There were no restrictions as to who Santa was allowed to dance with as he went on distributing goodies. I don't remember missing out on a single Eid celebration in India, savoring the tasty kheer and the biryani. Almost everyone of us has lit a sparkler for Diwali, even though we complain about the noisy crackers now. I would be lying if I said that I did not enjoy seeing colored faces at Holi (though I'm not a big fan of colour).
The point that I am trying to make desperately here is : we all love the thought of a vibrant and a multi-cultural India. After all we all have grown up in such an environment, that we have learnt to make friends outside our religious circle constantly and never has once RELIGION been an issue for fights among us. ( though we did fight over who could bat first once we won the toss)
As much as we loved listening to animated sermons and singing hymns at mass in church, I remember being super excited to catch an episode of "Jai Hanuman" on Doordarshan. As each other patriotic citizen of India, I loved waking up to the tunes of " Ae mere Vatan ke Logon" on 15th August and getting goosebumps every time Roja played on TV. I proudly proclaim my Indian citizenship every single time I fly in and out of the country. You feel all the more patriotic when you land in a nation full of white skinned people and suddenly spot one of your own. My eyes still instantly light up when an Indian smiles back at me in a heavily crowded Subway. Its a connection which will always make you feel one with all your fellow Indians no matter which part of the world we are in, we will always cheer for India, in a cricket match.
Our ancestors saw India fall because of the ultimate weapon of hatred : DIVIDE and RULE.
Nearly 70 years after becoming independent, we are still falling prey to such tricks,albeit utilized by a few politicians for their own selfish needs. We are still separating ourselves from the thought of a vibrant superpower and regressing ourselves to being mere puppets. Waging wars over social media, blocking our friends on Facebook because they don't agree with the opinion generated by your pea sized brain and plastering supremacist views all over your wall so that someone takes notice of your views finally - if that's what its boiled down to, then its probably a good idea to take a refund on your education.
What India is, is because of ALL its citizens. Not one less, not one more. Religion is a matter of a personal choice. And its high time we set our personal choices aside and view our people just as Indians first. And lets admit it- India has much bigger problems awaiting solutions than just sticking our noses up into religious meddles.
What India is, is because of ALL its citizens. Not one less, not one more. Religion is a matter of a personal choice. And its high time we set our personal choices aside and view our people just as Indians first. And lets admit it- India has much bigger problems awaiting solutions than just sticking our noses up into religious meddles.
At the end of the day, Religion is not evil, its evil people who corrupt it.
