Harmony

Image Source

On normal days I don't watch news at all. I think it must be more than 3 or 4 years now. To be informed with current affairs I read news online for few minutes and be on twitter. Screeching anchors, breaking news readers, prime time debaters have made me to turn down the television forever.

Currently I'm at in-laws' place. Here I am reintroduced to news again and nothing changed much. I'm shocked beyond my wit about how they communalize an issue at the time of a pandemic. No surprise here. India is a country that runs most on religious sentiments. At least the current situation made me to believe so.

Let's go back to my growing up years. Nothing to brag about, but neither my parents nor my grandmother were bigots.

On Christmas eve we used to walk over to friends' house to check the Christmas crib and tree. The first ever piece of cake I had was at their home. Still I vaguely remember the Carols sung by them during the moral period. Yes, those days were simple. Visiting church was an extravagant affair back then. And mind you I was not even studying in Christian convent. Bible, Jesus, Mary, Joseph stories were narrated by them in great detail. We used to giggle and whisper whether bride and groom would kiss on their wedding day. Diana, Dorita Winnie, Pinto, Fernadez, D'Souza, Chaco were very common in the class and neighbors.

Same goes for Afrin, Naseeba, Musrat, Rajiya, Nishreen, Nawaaz, Asif, Sadiq, Nehreen, and many others. At the time of Hindi Antakshari competition everybody wanted them on their team because their knowledge of songs from 50s to retro to 90s was impeccable. Since I'm a vegetarian I was always kept away from kebabs and biriyani. Only dish I was given was Sheer Khurma on Eid. I was part of their beach picnic most weekends as I was not allowed to go near water body without adult supervision because of a freak accident many moons ago.

In the same way all of them were part of our festivals be it Ganesha Chaturti or Deepavali. We all participated in large number of cultural activities as one. We were not taught to differentiate one another based on the religion, at home, at school, or in society. Partaking in town fairs with friends was the fanciful event each year.

I'm the person who has changed many schools, had different sets of friends belonging to different communities, stayed in different towns and neighborhoods, yet my experience remained same. And suddenly from the past few years all I see is hateful messages towards particular community in all forums. Even in social gatherings people spew venom as if it is the most natural thing to do. Hubby cuts down such malicious arguments then and there with logic, for that I'm proud of him. 

I've completely stopped interacting with fanatic friends and acquaintances. I've disowned bigot cousins and family members. I've tried my best to educate them on religious harmony in vain. It must be easy for them to hate somebody based on religion, caste, class, creed, or gender, but that is not me. The alarming issue is they all have children and I dread to think whom they are going to raise with so much hatred in their heart. If this hostility is passed on to next generation there is no hope for this country and we are all doomed.

History has never been kind to people who often tend to forget it.