Polyglot India

    The truth is what we call “India” is a massive polyglot of several thousands of “tribes” (based on religions,     languages, castes, other factors). The very fact that such a large population with such diversity was brought     together under a constitution and a functioning system was achieved is a huge testament to the founders.

A lofty tone of “unity in diversity” is the only way that place can survive, the moment populism is used to invoke divisions (for political gains), the place starts to regress and fragment. All through post-Independent history, various politicians have used divisive politics to win votes, but the big difference now is a very systematic process of creating a big chasm (sadly invoking religion) across a huge divide and also undermining the independent institutions that afforded some bulwark for democracy to succeed.

Some years ago, commemorating the 50th anniversary of modern India, the National Geographic described India as a political success and called it the “boldest experiment in democracy ever attempted”.

Undoing this is easy, and the price will be paid in ways unimaginable. All said and done, sense may yet prevail, and as Mrs. Gandhi once said in an interview “India somehow always manages to rise to the occasion even at the brink of self-created disaster” or as Edward Luce in his book “India: In Spite of the Gods” time again refers to the marvels of innovative survival that characterizes that place – may these truisms be true!

Venkat

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 Eid Mubarak 2021

As Eid sets a somber visitation on India this year, my mind travels back to some beautiful memories growing up as a young boy in a simple India where humanity trumped superficial differences. My class-mates, Moosa and Osman would bring “Mittai” to school and share with their favorite friends (I remain one still). Basith Uncle (my uncle’s friend) would visit us and deliver sweets to my grandparents, and I would be among the first to taste the Halwa. Naseer Uncle (my mother’s close friend) would visit to greet “Jaya Sister” and would take the kids for a masala dosa. The highlight one year was an Eid party at the palatial home of my friend Farook Sait, and it was the sort of wealth that someone like me from a lower middle-class home would be dazzled by.

Brigade Road, Commercial Street, Avenue Road would all be so festive, and no one cared who was Muslim or who was Hindu or who was Christian. Everyone wished everyone else “Eid Mubarak”, and there was never any barrier between people. Humans just cared for one another. The same happened on Diwali or Christmas.

Now, the India of our past seems at loggerheads with the pluralism that has defined that civilization for millennia – but I was heartened from the many Eid greetings that I received today, and the best of them all from Rukhshana Basith Lakshman, who simply said “Pray for India, as we ache over the fact that more shrouds are sold on Eid than new clothes.” This too shall pass. Eid Mubarak to all.

– Venkat

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