I think you have a good question: "Why do we call ourselves Indians ... when we cannot stand our neighbours who belong to different religions and cultures?"
Even in big cities, people tend to live in blocks, defined by religion or sometimes caste. I have heard such stories from some Christian friends of mine in Chennai.
Sometimes these boundaries are reinforced by such "physical" issues like the smell of fish, or pork, or beef. I do know of instances of people refusing to sell to Bengalis because they will cook non-veg and therefore defile the house/ society.
There are also fears: Tamils staying in Bangalore, Sikhs in many cities in the North for many years after 1984, Hindus and Muslims in many riot-torn cities. Depending on the place, some fears are real, some are imagined.
But the ghettoisation is real enough. In most cities, you can learn from a local which area is populated by whom. And the boundaries are not too fluid.
I just wish you had had a different title, relating to the question at the end, not just your personal choice.
Let us not pour our hatred and anger, let us not deny the truth, let us ask "What we can do to be better at being Indians?"
All My Brother and Sisters of India. India's Future is in your Hands.
India wants all those posted their views to take India to a Great Nation with out religion.
When we are living in a Joint Family some problems may come,we have to Solve problems with in ourselves instead of Complaining. Indian Family Wants all of you beautiful people.
1) A Nation is Bigger than Individual APJ Abdul Kalam 2) To be Good and to do Good that is the Whole of Religion. Swami Vivekananda
India is Secular. Anybody can Come and Live. Some Problems may have faced by India due to Some Social Elements. But India is Peaceful Country, a Great Nation and India Never wants Religion.
India does not have any Religion. India Will Shine with out it.
Its bad to know about your experience. But do you realise what title have you given. Do you relaise how much difference can few simple words make. I agree with few of your views, but why cant we take it the other way. I have grown in a mixed locality nd have friends from all religions. Its the mindset of people which has to be changed. So..its a question of who changes first. Why cant we try to change in few things..nd iam sure by seeing us..others too will change in few. This is how the growth happens, no matter which field it is.
And one more thing to few gentle man who have messaged. There are many muslims, who do care for the internal happenings. There are muslims who feel bad for all the mis-happenings caused by so called islamic lovers. Its not good to brand evry individual the same. Lets grow up and work towards a better future.
One thing everybody should understand that India is secular country because majority of population is HINDU. Hindus and Hinduism respect and tolerate all other religion whereas it is not there in any other country and religion.
I being a muslim too,have gone through all this.We are discriminated in schools,colleges,work place and most importantly in the passport office.A normal hindu gets their passport easily while a muslim has to go through hell and return to get that thing done.The Hindus should grow up and remember that we also participated in the freedom struggle.Not all muslims are terrorist.
I think you have a good question: "Why do we call ourselves Indians ... when we cannot stand our neighbours who belong to different religions and cultures?"
Even in big cities, people tend to live in blocks, defined by religion or sometimes caste. I have heard such stories from some Christian friends of mine in Chennai.
Sometimes these boundaries are reinforced by such "physical" issues like the smell of fish, or pork, or beef. I do know of instances of people refusing to sell to Bengalis because they will cook non-veg and therefore defile the house/ society.
There are also fears: Tamils staying in Bangalore, Sikhs in many cities in the North for many years after 1984, Hindus and Muslims in many riot-torn cities. Depending on the place, some fears are real, some are imagined.
But the ghettoisation is real enough. In most cities, you can learn from a local which area is populated by whom. And the boundaries are not too fluid.
I just wish you had had a different title, relating to the question at the end, not just your personal choice.
Let us not pour our hatred and anger, let us not deny the truth, let us ask "What we can do to be better at being Indians?"
Even at the risk of being branded as opinionated / prejudiced / biased etc. I would still maintain that there's something inherently wrong with Islam.
All the religion are misfits for this age that we are living in, they preach values which might have been right then but are certainly out of place now.
Somehow, Islam in particular, is still able to appeal (very strongly) to it's followers and it's able to draw them into following all the archaic principles.
All muslims somehow tend to have a very strong loyalty towards Islam, which is much much stronger than their loyalty towards the nation. So if I am a Muslim citizen of India, I will feel for Muslims killed in Iraq, Palestine, Chechenya, Iraq, Afghanistan but I am not sure if I will have the same feelings towards 'non-muslim' Indians killed in WTC.
If I am a Muslim Citizen of India, I will tend to blindly support anything that's involving a bunch of Muslims no matter how wrong they are. So I might tacitly support London and WTC bombings, at the same time I will condemn the west for being anti muslim and carrying out a terror attach on Afghanistan and Iraq.
It is really sad but very,very true.I have myself been a victim of such discrimination.When I shifted, for the first time, to Meerut, where my husband was employed, after my marraige,I was very excited to be staying outside my homestate & in a Hindu locality. But all to my shock the residents were not at all welcoming.Most did not want to rent out their houses to a Muslim family.We finally got a house after we decided not to disclose our religion.But after the landlord discovered about it they were not very happy.The landlady made no bones about it & told us the residents were saying to her"pata nahin kaise,kaise log aajaate hain yahan rehne ke liye". Vry soon we had to shift.In my 5 yrs of stay none of my neighbours ever visited me.Barring one or two no one ever spoke to me.It was the same when I joined as a teacher in a nearby school.I was first judged on the basis of my religious practices rather than as a fellow human being or how qualified I was.The last straw was when I got to hear from other sources in the school that the teachers were saying"ab aise log hamare bachchon ko padhaya karenge?"Even though I was a post graduate I was made to teach kindergarden.So we left Meerut.
RE:Sad but very true
by silenzer on Apr 14, 2006 07:08 AM Permalink
Mrs. Farhat,
We wish to know why HIndu population in Pakistan n Bangladesh decreased so rapidly? Why was Pakistan created? Even if you think of migrating to Pakistan, you will be treated as a Mohajir! India is progressing n heading to become a superpower; Most of the muslims always feel that they are oppressed all the time. Look at Palestine, Chechnya, Western Province of China, Bosnia etc--you will realize this. so it is waste to give bogus reasons and say you were discriminated.
RE:Please dont live
by True Indian on Apr 13, 2006 06:16 PM Permalink
Hello Swapan Dey,
Here,things are being discussed what common muslims face in this country,not what celebrety muslims face.Just making Muslim President/PM of hindu majority but secular country,will not resolve all problems concerned with muslims.You are talking about Irphan Pathan,Dr Kalam & Amir Khan- they all had contributed for India in their respective fields.So,it is not favour done by hindus that they made Dr kalam president.
It is amazing that Mr.Syed Firdaus Ashraf has experienced discrimination from Hindus in Mumbai.
People like Syed Firdaus Ashraf should ask how Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan or Aamir Khan are three of the top film stars of India which consists of 90% Hindus. Similarly, he should have asked celebrities like Mohammad Rafi, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Meena Kumari how they could rule the hearts of Indians consisting of 90% Hindus. He should also ask himself how President Abdul Kalam was elected the President of India with 90% electors, who are Members of Parliament and Assembly, being Hindus.
He should ask cricketers Irfan Pathan, Mohammad Kaif and Zaheer Khan how they could be included in the prestigious Indian cricket team with selectors being 99.9% Hindus.
The problem with people like Ashraf is that they simply are violent in their thinking and they expect a similar response so that they can enjoy & profit from controversies.
Hindu Indians never had any problems with Parsees, Jews and many other communities. It will take ages for Ashraf to understand the basic concept of Hinduism.
RE:Choice is yours if you don't wish to stay with Hindus
by Salim on Apr 13, 2006 02:09 PM Permalink
Let us not single out Hindus, Muslims or people from any community for that matter. Good and bad people exist in all communities. All religions preach tolerance, love, brotherhood etc etc.
The point is, notwithstanding all these isolated problems, India is secular. We should celebrate that.
