Julia Robert's Hinduism : We don't need to feel guilty about

This was sent to Bangalore Mirror under ' Reader's feedback ' in response to an article in BM Dt Aug 8 , 2010 by Aseem Chhabra on Julia Robert's new found ( reported ) love for Hinduism .  

The tone of the article appeared   ' apologetic  ' , dismissive of  any    ' feel good '  factor  --  implying Hindus to feel guilty if they feel good about the news --- quite in line with political climate in our country .

I felt it was unwarranted & petty , hence my feedback . This was published in BM on Aug 15 , 2010 .

 

I read the article in today's BM by Aseem Chhabra .

In a literary sense , it's a neatly written article & I've no criticism on its content .

However I do have some comments on the tone / tenor behind the article ; even if it may be implied & not by intent .

 

I'm a little curious on what prompted Mr Chhabra to quickly pen down on a seemingly small news item which generally would pass off without much notice or evoking response .

 

To me it connects with a wider sense of ' Guilt of existence ' & a  feeling of      ' Being apologetic about being a Hindu ' ... which exists subliminally anong a large majority of urban Hindus ... primarily as a sinister side effect of a well coordinated  ' Vote bank politics ' cultivated in this country post independence by Congress , Left & some regional political parties .

While demoralising Hindus may not be staring intent of these political parties ; their relentless religiously discriminatory postures have had disastrous effect on Hindu psyche , to the extent that an average Hindu feels ashamed / shy of sapeking anything which can be remotely sound as taking pride in religion or taking up rightful issues on discrimination .... you can see examples abound in day-day media .e.g. It's against freedom of expression to condemn M F Hussain's on intent work humiliating Hindu deities ; but it's O K for a demand by a minister in ( UP ) state cabinet to behead Danish cartoonist on prophet's cartoon , to go by without a murmur of protect by any one upholding freedom . It's also O K to drive off Taslima Nasreen from a ' Democratic ' . 'Secular ' country on behest of some religious fundamentalists .
Point I'm making here is a feel of sadness to note that  a Hindu today ( Aseem Chhabra in this case ) is so conditioned to only accept heaps of insult , humiliation & bad PR that any news which may remotely seem good , let alone flattering , he feels very uneasy & is psychologically conditioned to quickly stand up in disbelief & do his best to negate / erase any positive ' feel good ' impression it may have on our minds .

I see this attempt ( in intent ) as a psychological backdrop in this article , which is really disturbing . J Robert's news ( even if it's a publicity stunt ... difficult to believe this , since audience to an English film in India in itself being limited , evoking Hindu feels is yet a small fraction of it ) is such a small value item it'd would have generally passed off without much notice , had it not been to appear with a positive feel for Hindus .

If it would've been a news in favour of other religion .. say Islam , either there would have been no article , or if any Muslim would have written an article  building on the feel to establish how the religion is egalitarian or profound or in the least there would be nothing in the article to express disbelief or effort to neutralise any possible positive feel about the religion .

This is the most amusing ( & saddening ) feel about a subconscious ' guilt of existence ' feel post independence political circumstances in India have succeeded to do Hindus  !
Thanks very much for your patience in reading this .

 

R Mistery book moving out of Univ --A fresh Non stereotypical perspective

Feedback sent to Bangalore Mirror on Sunday , Oct 24 , 2010 .

Rohinton's Mystery : Where is the balance

A lot has been dished out , almost every day on the subject ; though all on predictably similar lines .... which seems ( to the opinion holders as ) intellectual ; certainly ' politically correct ' . Unfortunately , while the theory of what is being said seems correct ; its validity is primarily confined to the opinion holders ; as usual it lacks flavour from the ground ; is out of depth & mostly irrelevant , as usual  !
Rather than taking on face value , these words of ' condemning ' a ban & upholding ' intellectual freedom ' ; lets get some perspective , add depth to the ( boringly one track ) discussion & in the process try & restore some balance : Consider following points :

# Discussions based not on issue but Hatred

Many times opinions on supporting ' intellectual freedom ' ; like in this case are of           ' generic ' nature ( hence are repetitive & add no value to the reader ) ; they are uninformed ( again in case of Mistry's book ) , it'd be interesting to know as to how many of the opinion voicers have read the book . There was hardly any one ( close to zero ) in the ill advising coterie of Rajiv Gandhi who compelled him to order a ban on Satanic Verses , who had actually seen ( forget reading ) the book , In this case too not a single soul seems to have read the book , as apart from seeing ' generic ' frustrations about the ban ; I see no discussions on the content of the book . There is no harm in having a theoretical opinion on freedom of speech -- that hardly requires any intelligence ; it's required to review & ascertain suitability of the book on its content . The discussion / opinion therefore is devoid of an ' issue ' ; it seems probably to be driven by personal bias / prejudice against an organisation / political party ( in this case Shiv Sena / related parties ) This does not make a wrong a right or does not extend support to that organisation . It only means that devoid of merit , it's the personal agenda of anger / hatred of those expressing opinion ( that how much people who do not identify with Maharashtrian ethos , hate Shiv Sena , is no secret )  

Only opinion which seemed to carry value was that of Mr Munagekar -- ex VC of Mumbai University ; who in no uncertain terms expressed his support for freedom of expression --- he has taken efforts to read the book ; in his opinion the language used by Mistry seems to be objectionable , personally abusive & therefore questionable whether we should choose such books for our students .

It's become convenient for many of us to use any such events as ' ripe ' opportunity to grind a political axe ; just as meaninglessly our political parties politicise everything to suit individual party agenda .

# Acid test of  ' Freedom of expression '

It's very easy to criticise any one else's action ; being outside of the arena ; just like it's easy to criticise & advise Sachin Tendulkar on ( if at all he makes any ) his mistake .. it's quite a different matter to be out there & face the ball !

It's very easy to stand up for ' freedom of expression '  as long as the filth is not heaped at us . Most of these staunch looking castles of freedom crumble when the ' defamation ' is directed at them .

It takes neither intelligence nor courage to criticise people who asked for banning Satanic verses or Mistry's book ; when this filth of abuse knocks at their own doors , they become equally weak in the knees ... lets check it out

 - ( Not that we should ) but are we allowed in this country to criticise Mahatma Gandhi , in the name of freedom of expression ? Not only those politicians who have devalued Gandhiji by making him into ( only ) a repeatedly encashable cheque ; but may of us from the crowd will pounce at any one who they see as defaming him

 - Try criticising Dr Ambedkar , even for what may be logical reasons ... would his followers keep quiet & hail freedom of expression

 - Does not Congress party pounce on anything remotely disrespectful to its ruling Dynasty

 - Sikhs vandalised cinema theatres on release of the movie Jo bole so nihal , even though there did not appear any thing objectionable ; Harbhajan singh was ' ordered ' against the ad he did with his open hair . Person of the stature of Sania Mirza was ' disciplined ' by the fundamentalists on her dress code (?) on tennis court --- where is the Freedom of expression ?

Bashing of Sena calling it narrow minded for representing Maharashtrian interests is passé ; on the contrary the most parochial linguistic politics , filled with hatred one has seen in this country is Dravidian politics ... for decades it's fed on one solitary issue of linguistic isolation , fuelling separatism & cultivating hatred v/s Hindi ..... where is the freedom of expression & where are those upholders of freedom

Even in this case , Mistry is certainly not a champion of freedom of expression ... try publishing any matter on his parent , possibly ( may be imaginary ) on some fraud or sexual adultery & see how he comes forward to uphold freedom of expression .

The point is that it's quite OK to advise poor people on morality & virtues when you are well fed ; acid test is what will you do when you are in those shoes .

I can bet my last rupee on a fact that most of us will fail Acid test on freedom of speech when it comes to respective individual to face ( true or otherwise ) the filth directed against us . It's very easy to advise ' logically ' a victim of rape -- try doing that when the victim is you or one very close to you .

It's also very insensitive to not understand the pain / grief of people who have been the target of abuse / filth . One may not agree with them & may certainly not agree with their manner of protest , but can at least make an attempt to empathise with people who are facing the abuse .

# Freedom is NEVER absolute ; it's always in a frame of reference

There is no freedom , no where in the world , any time in history which is ' Absolute ' . It always has a ' framework ' defined by political / social / cultural / religious thoughts . This is simply because someone's right to freedom can not be abused / misused to encroach on some one else's freedom to peace & privacy .... there is otherwise a clash of Rights to Freedom .Consider this :

Why do we have traffic signals on the road ; it's obviously against our freedom to drive our car on road anywhere in a free democratic country ..... Reason we have traffic signals is because some of us may not exercise caution / discipline to respect some one else's right also to be on the road at the same time ... just imagine what will happen if we remove all signals overnight . Therefore our freedom to use roads comes within a defined framework of traffic rules

Freedom is like a sharp edged sword ; can be killing any one falling over ; unless provided with a cover . Freedom is like the ' Shivdhanushya ' .... it takes a lot of maturity & responsibility to handle .... unlike Lord Raam , not most of us can handle an ' unbounded ' freedom ; Freedom can be like a powerful but wild horse unless tamed with the reins most of us common folk can not ride it . .... moral of the story is that to be able to guarantee free but peaceful use of ' Right to freedom ' to a majority ; it needs to be put into a framework . One may debate & not agree on what should be the framework & who should do it ; though there seems little doubt & less choice that in the interest of freedom it is always relative & never absolute .

Freedom to expression in the literary world also not unbound or ' unchecked ' . Rohinton Mistry's book can be no exception

One World Invitation

Dear Brothers , Sisters , Others

Each of us have many , many thoughts & a lot to say , to share
This is one of your space , an open air place without doors or any thing that prevents entry

However much we try & whatever ingenuous different ways we try to differentiate self from the rest ; the truth of the matter is that at the end of the day the World is ONE !

Each of our life moment is REAL -- our nation , our language , our religion , our looks , our financial status , our need to stand out , the every moment we strive to achieve more ( than some one else ) & feel happy , every moment we feel ' inadequate ' in comparison with some else & resolve to do better ... our efforts , toil , joys , griefs , pains , pleasure , smiles & tears ... all are real & have an important place in life .....
..... & yet through all this preoccupation , through the incessant race in life , we don't get to think , to reflect , how lesser relevant ( if not futile ) all this is in life ; for most of us it takes many more years past the incident to realise how futile , how small that chase , that aggression & insistence was ... how less it means to our life now
Through the maze of some man made distinctions of race / religion / language & some genetic distinctions of skin colour , body shapes & intellect we hardly realise that at the end of it all , we are all one as a human race .... we not only have similar physical features , mental mechanisms , needs / emotions ; but importantly best of our joys , pains are absolute , they have no colour . I've never been able to differentiate pain of a Muslim of losing a near one from that of a Hindu , or a Jew or  Parsi
The sense of contribution out of an invention for an India scientist can't be very different from that of an American or an Indonesian
A musical instrument in the hands of an instrumentalist , plays just as well irrespective of his / her cast / creed / race / religion / language .... the joy of listening to such recitals for a cross section of an audience is just ONE -- -Divine !
It's here , at spiritually uplifting moments we realise that all these distinctions are just like designer lables on clothes , the bodies inside are identical
In Hindus we believe that that World is One ( Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ) & that the living element in each  living being ( not just human beings ) -- our ' souls ' is a part of one whole ' SOUL '  --- The reality can't be any different !

While I do not discount innate need some of us feel to ' differentiate ' -- that's what gives many  a purpose in life  ( raison d'etre ) -- I urge that we learn to keep this chase in perspective -- that we don't let this obsession make us forget the real thing .... & that at the end of the day we ( like clothes ) remove this facade & wear our soul . That though all the compulsions & pressures of life we don't forget to connect Soul to Soul ....remember in whichever form & fraction it may exist in our respective bodies ; the soul is only one , which makes us a part of a Bigger Whole  . If the soul is one , you & me can't be different .

It's inevitable for em to remember Swami Vivekanand & his famous address of teh gathering at Chicago ( Brothers  & Sisters ) , with apologies , I modified it to also include ' Others '  ... don't get me wrong ; it's not to divide on genders , but to unite all ; since for me , technically speaking some don't come under Brothers, Sisters


Pl do write in ; I appreciate your comments , feedback , suggestions . Love you All