Innovative Religious Activism!

Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “The secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for”. A recent experience made me believe that  the purpose of our lives  is to contribute something positive to society and to the spiritual evolution of humankind. We should leave the world a better place than we found it.  I was provided with an opportunity to serve the society spiritually and religiously recently.

A group of people unknown to me visited my house recently. I had to entertain them as they were respectable people from the colony I reside in. I inquired about their purpose of visit. There is no temple for our community in the neighborhood and the elders  have to travel a long distance to pray, one of them said. We should do something about it. I was curious, land prices in our part of Delhi are high and it won’t be easy to get that much donation. Construction cost could be affordable for their newly formed association (they were all rich people) but they wouldn’t be ready to part with that much money, I thought. But apparently starting a religious enterprise is no less than setting up a business. They had an innovative idea for a start-up.

They planned to identify a piece of public land in a park or other community area. Every morning and evening some people would sit there, sing bhajans and offer prayers. After sometime they would put up a temporary structure, a shamiana or tent to save the devotees from sun and rain. A few months later a permanent structure would replace the temporary structure. Gradually but surely they will expand it as much as possible. Once a religious structure is formed nobody will dare touch it, law enforcing agencies will look the other way. You can get away with murder but nobody dares to hurt religious sentiments in India. This exercise is easier when elections are round the corner, I was told.

I  can understand many intricate human emotions but these overzealous followers of God are beyond me. Hakim Agha Jan Aish, a well- known Delhi poet and Ghalib’s contemporary said this about Ghalib’s poetry but I think it describes the religious activists of today very well.

Kalam-i-Mir samjhay aur zabaan-i-Mirza samjhay
Magar in-ka kaha yeh aap samjhain ya Khuda samjhay

(We understand the verse of Mir, we understand what Mirza [Sauda] wrote;
But Ghalib’s verse! — either he understands or God!)

PS – If I am not  liable to any legal action this is a true story, otherwise it is a figment of imagination.

Private Liberty, Public Nuisance

As a child whenever I was in a bratty mood I would swing my arms and scream, I am doing what I want to with my arms and if I end up hurting anybody it is your problem (the audience was mainly my siblings and friends). That was my definition of liberty till my father once quoted the cardinal priciple of civic sense and liberty- “Your liberty to swing your arms ends where my nose begins” (Stuart Chase). I am glad my father sermonised about civic sense, wish all parents did.

Shefaly once commented on somebody’s  blog,  how in certain apartment buildings in Switzerland a flat dweller cannot flush his/her toilet after 10 pm lest it interfere with the serenity prevailing in the flat just below. This sounds too much to an average Indian including me but the other extreme is also not easy to accept. Just get out of your house to travel to the nearest market in Delhi and you will understand what I mean. Over-speeding, honking, littering the road, opening the door while driving a vehicle and disregarding road safety rules is common occurence. Motorists accelerate even before traffic lights turn to yellow from red. The most flagrant traffic violation is to be seen in parking. You leave your car in the parking lot and  on your return, you find another car blocking your way. The vehicle owner is in too much of a hurry to park his car properly. After putting you through a long, agonising wait, he comes walking in a leisurely manner as though strolling in his lawn. Then he smilingly unlocks the door of his car, gets into it, fixes the key into the ignition and drives off as if nothing has happened. I have protested very vocally to the parking attendant a few times but it seems he was just left wondering why was I wasting my energy on such a frivolous issue.

Any marriage/birthday party or wedding anniversary in your neighbourhood is nothing short of a pain in your neck. The guests will not hesitate to park their vehicles against your main gate with the result that you have to leave your vehicle outside totally unprotected. This is in addition to the deafening noise of the musical evening which is an integral part of such ceremonies. In some extreme cases streets are sometimes blocked by erecting  shamianas. Once I recieved a beautiful box of chocolotes along with a very beautiful card from a neighbour whom I had never met or heard of. There was no reason to attend the wedding because the card was delivered by the security card to the domestic help. I was left wondering why somebody would do that. I got my answer a few days later when I was forced to enjoy live music till after midnight. The rule book says that you are not allowed to play loud music after 10 but then who bothers. I never ever sleep before well past midnight and sound doesn’t bother me when I am sleepy but for children who have exams or people who are sick this could be a major inconvenience. A friend of mine had to sound proof the roof of her house because the family living upstairs were very noisy and she was not interested in following every conversation between her neighbours and their domestic helps.

Former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said in one of his famous speeches, why do we Indians as a whole score so poorly on civic sense? What intrigued him was that the same Indian who let his dog dirty the pavement would not as little as throw a bus ticket on the pavements of Singapore! Gutka addicts consider it their right to spit anywhere absolutely ignoring the presence of other people at the scene of crime.  ‘Do Not Spit’ and ‘Yahaan Thookhna Mana Hai” boards fully tainted and painted in deep red by pan loving citizens is a regular sight. In the hospital zone motorists are cautioned not to honk but who bothers to think about where they are now when they have somewhere else to be? Queue-making is against our temperament as a nation. At supermarkets’ cash counters, customers  spend hours selecting their stuff but go berserk while making payment. They wouldn’t mind jumping over others standing ahead to get to the cashier first. My daughters got over their craze to “come first” in everything when they were 5 but most Indians find their childhood again when it comes to availing turn-based services as adults.

Ignorance of law is no excuse so most people don’t bother making the excuse, they just break the law knowingly. And there seems to be no way to tackle this problem! All these rantings and ramblings because it is marriage season in Delhi and this is the time when maximum inconvenience is caused to people (me).

The Bigger Threat, Fanatics Or Vote Bank Politics?

I loved getting up late as a young girl and like  parents of  all good girls my parents never approved of it and conveyed it to me nearly every day. The best excuse I could come up was, the moment I open my eyes in the morning I want my newspaper, without that,  it is difficult for me to open my eyes. The only newspaper we bought was Hindustan Times and before eight o clock it belonged to my dad. He may not like the idea of my waking up late but handing me the newspaper before he read it was too much of a sacrifice and fortunately he never made it. My parents efforts to wake me continued as did my resistance. After I got married the problem of the newspaper continued. My father-in-law tried to adjust by sharing the newspaper but we had to order another newspaper because I like to read the whole thing at the same time.

Now after 24/7 news channels and internet we switch on the TV or the internet  the moment we open our eyes in the morning. We have no appetite for breakfast till we come to know what happened in the world while we were sleeping. Why is it so important to know what others are thinking, saying or doing, no matter how trivial, nonsensical or destructive. Not only that, we are also ever ready to lend our eyes and ears to the ‘experts’ offering their expert comments on the  happenings, the analysis of which takes us nowhere. We want to know what has happened, is about to happen, what can happen or what should have happened. Spending time on daily news, especially current political affairs was a complete waste of time, some of my learned friends would always tell me and I would agree with them most of the time and continue with the addiction. We may curse the media for going berserk about trivial details of our political and other celebrities but the truth is that our newspapers and news channels have opened our eyes many times to the lurking dangers in our cities.

My friends from Mumbai always used to point out that I am living in a dangerous city where people are rowdy, push each other, break the ques  and are not bothered about rules. In defense of  Delhi,  in a typical meri Dilli meri shaan style I would tell them that Delhi is a lively city, people may be loud but that is because they are large hearted (Dilli dil walon ki). Thanks to our news channels I found a lot of fodder to counter my Mumbai friends and relatives. The Thackeray clan came to my rescue. I gloated about how we in Delhi are Indians first and treat people from all over the country in the same way (North Eastern Indians please forgive, you might not agree with me). My expectation was that Mumbaikars will be apologetic about it and explain the merits and demerits of the case, I myself understand a few of these things. They could not be cowed down, Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit  proved that aam Mumbaikar is as civil as they claim to be. Once armed with the greatest media story of the year, Rahul ji’s travel in the Mumbai locals and the famous ATM story,  it was the Mumbaikar’s turn to be on the offensive now.

You Delhiwallahs can never feel safe! as long as you have the likes of Digvijay Singh reside and flourish in your city, I was told. They will defend terrorists and accuse the police for killing them. Somebody tweeted yesterday “I suspect after every terrorist attack, humanrights wallahs check dead list for their own name and if its not there they get after policemen”, read Digvijay Singh instead of human rights wallahs and you will understand what we Dilliwallahs are suffering. I feel like requesting Rahul ji’s political advisor Digvijay Singh ji that vote bank politics is an acceptable fact and we have to live with it  but sometimes listen to this poet- Lazim hai dil ke pas rahe pasban-i-aql; lekin kabhi kabhi issey tanha bhi chhod dain (it is important that brain should guard the heart but sometime the heart should be left alone)  in your case forget sometimes and let the brain, rest in peace! As the elected Chief Minster of Madhya Pradesh for more than a  decade you sure understand that your voters need to survive in order to vote . Rahul Gandhi derailed the divisive and aggressive Sena without resorting to bad language and cheap tactics and you need some good advise from him. By trying to create a doubt about Batla house encounter Digvijay Singh has not only hurt Inspector MC Sharma’s family but also the Hindus, Muslims and other religions of India. When a terrorist strikes he doesn’t differentiate between a Muslim or a non- Muslim.You have embarrassed your party and hurt the law abiding citizens of India.

Mumbai, Delhi or any other city of India, we all desperately need  peace and security and mere lip service from any body across the political spectrum will not work. People need jobs, clean water, houses and other basic amenities and that is what matters most to them. A Shahid Afridi or Shoaib Tanveer is  not a threat to India but the pseudo secularists and fanatics definitely are.