Intolerant Indians
Do you know that Constitution of India itself has nurtured and fastened the intolerance among its citizens towards other religions and casts? I had no clue of this until the other day when I was attending a get-together at a friend’s place in Mumbai.
During a casual chat, he said that the housing society where he lives in one of the flats on rental basis, has all the Christian flat owners. This is because the flats are not sold to people of any other religion. When we raised eyebrows over this, one of our other friends said that legally a housing society can observe such segregation based on race and religion and there is a provision in the country’s constitution to have such ghettos.
No wonder why the flat owners in Walkeshwar, an uptown area in Mumbai dominated by people of Jain and Gujarathi communities can prevent the nonvegetarian people from staying in that area. Both the communities strictly follow vegetarian lifestyle.
While I knew that Mumbai does have such ghettos, what surprised me was the constitutional support to such demarcation. And, if there are people who observe and promote the system of ghettos, what moral right do they possess to raise their voice against the fundamentalists? Do the Christians in the apartment where my friend stays and those who sell their property only to other Christians have any moral right to protest against the intolerance of people of other religions towards Christians in other part of the country?
As a kid, I used to hear my father saying that we Indians are hypocrites. I now realize what he meant by that.
Labels: Society
Movie review: Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Don't Miss
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye unfolds into either a pleasant surprise or a shock for a typical Bollywood movie buff. The response depends upon what the viewer is looking for. But in either case, it hooks the viewer till the end.
The two-hour long celluloid work goes on revealing one incredible thing after another supported by stunning performances by all the artists. May it be Abhay Deol, the protagonist Sikh young man or Paresh Rawal who makes three surprise entries and continues to play all the three roles till the end, everyone has put up a good show.
Another element to watch for is the way the story captures the nuances of life and ways of common people in Delhi. Most of the story takes shape in and around Delhi.
All and all, don’t miss it.
Labels: Movies
The Economist cover page- Hats off to humanity
The cover photo on the latest edition (Nov29-Dec5’08) of The Economist hogs attention. The photo accompanied by the headline ‘Terror in India’ is about a police officer in the Maharashtra State squad helping a badly bruised infant with some water.
The Indian and international media is abuzz with pictures of last week’s terror attacks on Mumbai, the capital city of the western state of Maharashtra and the financial hub of India. But the one chosen by The Economist on its front page stands out among all. No other photo captures the theme of the moment as nicely as this one.
While other images capture the gross vandalism and a sense of anarchy created by the terrorists, the one carried by The Economist simply narrates that at the end of all the violence what remains is a touch of humanity. While other images in a way tell how well the job was done thus encouraging the evil, the one used by The Economist mocks and snaps at the very mission of the evil to ruin humanity.
Those who regularly read The Economist would be familiar with the style of the British weekly newspaper to put the human aspect forth in starkest of the calamities. I still remember the cover of the Tsunami related edition of the 165 year old chronicle. It featured a small kid with tears almost frozen in his eyes, left hand holding a half eaten piece of bread and the other hand clasped by an elderly person. Again the picture was about the hope that is eternal rather than the devastation caused by the deadly ocean waves.
The Economist’s philosophy of admiring and saluting the indomitable human spirit is worth an applause.
Labels: Matters of life
