nicely written. thoughtful insights. but two things, if i may add... an incredible number of indians, across religions are unaware, ignorant, indifferent to the past. whatever number are, are heavily influenced by shades of communalism. they see things the way a few people want them to see. the starting dates back to the era of jwaharlal nehru, maybe even past that. it is a humonguous task to ensure communicating the 'right' message, where the difference between right n wrong often lies within a huge grey area. david frawley's findings of the fact that the aryans never invaded us, they are of INDIAN STOCK only, who migrated to the rest of the world is true. this finding dated back to early 20th century, while we have been kept ignorant about it. india didnt have to 'fight' for its independence, it was a natural process following de-colonization, post world war II, guided by USA n UN, but we are deliberately taught the 'greatness' of our pre-independant leaders. there was a time when the nation needed an image to instill confidence in the mass, but it seems that that habit has become an obsession now. n obsessions, like SRK in the movie DARR is semi-permanent.
two, islam as a religion is founded on contempt for other monotheistic or polytheistic religions. with sufism, n contemporary institutions like IRF, headed by Dr Zakir Naik, there are stray instances of endeavors to mellow down the hardline element in it, but the fact of the matter is, the fundamental change agents or leaders of the religion still dont examine islam under modern light. to do so is another humonguous task, for obvious 'human' reason.
with two such mammoth task at hand, where illusions about past presently roadblocks a conducive future its a near impossible task to promote fellow feeling or 'indian'ness, as some people like to use the word.
