In the name of God
Just last week, I watched the much talked about Pakistani movie - 'Khuda kay Liye' and I must say that it does change a person's perspective about Islam in the modern day world. At first, it is hard to digest that even today, a lot of educated men could fall victim to the brian-washing of a few fanatic leaders. Whats more disheartening, is to realize that the actions of such soft-minded individuals spells doom for the rest of the people from that community who still tend to reason out some logic from whats taught to them.
To be frank, I don't know how true all this is. I had a few Pakistani friends in Australia. One of them was my classmate and I still remember him telling me that it's a nightmare for him to pass immigration in any country. His ancestors hailed from Gujrat and he told me that it was very difficult for his family to obtain an Indian visa to visit their relatives.
Another distinct memory was of another guy who hailed from a Multan and stayed in the ground floor of my apartment complex. When I first met him and told him that I have come from Mumbai, he asked:
"Arre waah bhaijaan....aapne to Amitabh ko dekha rahega!!.....Waise, hume sunne aya hain ki Shahrukh dikhne mein utna gora nahi hain??"
Little did he know that meeting and greeting these Superstars is as distant a possibility for him, as it is for any Mumbaikar!!
I noticed that these guys prayed mutiple times a day, they refrained from alcohol and pork meat and they studied and worked like any other international student in Melbourne. So, were they different from us??
Lets take another recent example - the terrorist who was caught after the Mumbai attacks. We will never know the truth, but from the news and related stories, Kasab resembles a classic case of brain-washing.
He killed innocent people and must be punished, but does punishing him scare of others from taking up the gun?? .......I really doubt it. It's more likely that most of them will not even know that he is alive!!....For them, like the rest of the terrorist, he is a 'Mujahideen'....a 'shaheed'.
There are millions of kids out there who are victims of poverty and mal-nutrition. When a person comes upto them and asks them to fight for an unknown cause, in-return of which he is promised a lifetime supply of food and money for his family, he will more than readily agree.
The movie Slumdog Millionaire shows another classic example, where poor orphans are picked up from the streets in Mumbai and made to beg in return for food. The are blinded and handicapped with a false promise that "blind beggars earn double".......So, who is really to blame??
Let me not dwelve into the unknown and instead, look at some more cases closer to home. I go to my village and see that an educated man, who successfully runs a grocery store, consults a holy man and not a doctor, regarding his mothers' eye operation. A business success in the villages is largely credited to the pujari who broke the coconut at the start of the project and the main cause of any failure is because, the person failed to donate enough money to the temple trust.
The old lady who works in our ancestral home is still considered a 'harijan' or untouchable. The fact that she wipes makes your home spotlessly clean, washes your clothes and vessels, every single day, is discounted. Her children inherit the 'untouchable' curse from her. They are not allowed to go to school and cannot play with our children.
When I ask questions like "Why these kids don't go to school?", I am looked upon with scorn!!....It's as if those eyes are telling me something -
"Just because you hail from the city and have studied abroad, doesn't mean that you question our faith!!"
Asking questions almost makes me an outcast!!
Yes, I eat meat and occasionally consume alcohol....does that make me a non-Hindu??
I hope not....I continue to wear the janva or holy thread, I have faith in God and pray whenever I can, I refrain from meat on holy days or when I go to temples. I respect my elders and touch their feet when I meet them.
There is a scene in the movie, Khuda kay liye, where Nasseruddin Shah, who plays a elderly Islamic scholar, stands in court and delivers a speech. The scene has been deleted from the movie and can be caught on youtube instead. There he clearly says -
"Having a muslim name, branding a beard and wearing a pathani DOES NOT make you a Muslim!!!. A person needs to understand his responsibilities, have faith in them and then follow them."
I strongly beleive that fact!!!
I am hurt to see educated young men, blindly falling prey to some illogical fact. But who am I to question them?? Whats illogical to me is, hopefully, logical for them.
I am certain that this blog will invite the wrath of many who may read it. But that was not my aim. I am not writing this to hurt anybody. I just thought of writing this because I am still searching for answers to many unanswered questions...........
To be frank, I don't know how true all this is. I had a few Pakistani friends in Australia. One of them was my classmate and I still remember him telling me that it's a nightmare for him to pass immigration in any country. His ancestors hailed from Gujrat and he told me that it was very difficult for his family to obtain an Indian visa to visit their relatives.
Another distinct memory was of another guy who hailed from a Multan and stayed in the ground floor of my apartment complex. When I first met him and told him that I have come from Mumbai, he asked:
"Arre waah bhaijaan....aapne to Amitabh ko dekha rahega!!.....Waise, hume sunne aya hain ki Shahrukh dikhne mein utna gora nahi hain??"
Little did he know that meeting and greeting these Superstars is as distant a possibility for him, as it is for any Mumbaikar!!
I noticed that these guys prayed mutiple times a day, they refrained from alcohol and pork meat and they studied and worked like any other international student in Melbourne. So, were they different from us??
Lets take another recent example - the terrorist who was caught after the Mumbai attacks. We will never know the truth, but from the news and related stories, Kasab resembles a classic case of brain-washing.
He killed innocent people and must be punished, but does punishing him scare of others from taking up the gun?? .......I really doubt it. It's more likely that most of them will not even know that he is alive!!....For them, like the rest of the terrorist, he is a 'Mujahideen'....a 'shaheed'.
There are millions of kids out there who are victims of poverty and mal-nutrition. When a person comes upto them and asks them to fight for an unknown cause, in-return of which he is promised a lifetime supply of food and money for his family, he will more than readily agree.
The movie Slumdog Millionaire shows another classic example, where poor orphans are picked up from the streets in Mumbai and made to beg in return for food. The are blinded and handicapped with a false promise that "blind beggars earn double".......So, who is really to blame??
Let me not dwelve into the unknown and instead, look at some more cases closer to home. I go to my village and see that an educated man, who successfully runs a grocery store, consults a holy man and not a doctor, regarding his mothers' eye operation. A business success in the villages is largely credited to the pujari who broke the coconut at the start of the project and the main cause of any failure is because, the person failed to donate enough money to the temple trust.
The old lady who works in our ancestral home is still considered a 'harijan' or untouchable. The fact that she wipes makes your home spotlessly clean, washes your clothes and vessels, every single day, is discounted. Her children inherit the 'untouchable' curse from her. They are not allowed to go to school and cannot play with our children.
When I ask questions like "Why these kids don't go to school?", I am looked upon with scorn!!....It's as if those eyes are telling me something -
"Just because you hail from the city and have studied abroad, doesn't mean that you question our faith!!"
Asking questions almost makes me an outcast!!
Yes, I eat meat and occasionally consume alcohol....does that make me a non-Hindu??
I hope not....I continue to wear the janva or holy thread, I have faith in God and pray whenever I can, I refrain from meat on holy days or when I go to temples. I respect my elders and touch their feet when I meet them.
There is a scene in the movie, Khuda kay liye, where Nasseruddin Shah, who plays a elderly Islamic scholar, stands in court and delivers a speech. The scene has been deleted from the movie and can be caught on youtube instead. There he clearly says -
"Having a muslim name, branding a beard and wearing a pathani DOES NOT make you a Muslim!!!. A person needs to understand his responsibilities, have faith in them and then follow them."
I strongly beleive that fact!!!
I am hurt to see educated young men, blindly falling prey to some illogical fact. But who am I to question them?? Whats illogical to me is, hopefully, logical for them.
I am certain that this blog will invite the wrath of many who may read it. But that was not my aim. I am not writing this to hurt anybody. I just thought of writing this because I am still searching for answers to many unanswered questions...........
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