Much is written and said about India’s famous ‘Ganga-Yamuna tehzeeb’ or the culture that fuses and embraces different religious identities. Souls such as Kabir have long been revered for exemplifying this very syncretic culture. For me as well, this inclusiveness, this willingness to embrace diversity is an essential characteristic of Indianness; something I find deeply moving and rather marvellous. A few recent headlines took my mind off this interminably long election season and gave me pause to smile a while; to think back to the India of my childhood which I have been so justifiably proud of.
The Jammu and Kashmir police tweeted this video of a CRPF jawan feeding a child; even wiping his mouth for him. Clearly, that is a child with certain disabilities; unable to feed himself. In a state where security forces face hostility on a daily basis, this is generous and quite simply heartwarming.
Another instance was that of a Muslim man in Assam who broke his Ramzan fast in order to donate blood to a Hindu man. During the holy month of Ramzan, devout Muslims are enjoined not to consume any food or water during daylight hours. However, in this instance, Panaullah Ahmed decided to save the life of Ranjan Gogoi upon the request of his friend Tapash Bhagawati; deciding that simple humanity trumps the strict observance of religious ritual.
Where on the one hand auto drivers will slow down, speed up, stop, go without warning; literally driving other road users crazy, on the other they are just like the rest of us. Where on the one hand, each of us has a story about an auto driver refusing to take us to a requested location, in Bangalore, the story unfolded very differently. Babu Mudrappa is an auto driver who helped ferry a pregnant woman – crying for help as she went into labour – to hospital. Not only did he do that, but he also stayed involved in caring for the newborn for 18 days until the child died due to complications.
Helping a complete stranger like this had to have cost the auto driver significantly in terms of time and earnings. The fact that he still chose to do this, goes to the basic decency of people; their essential humanity which tends to trump all other considerations from time to time.
Stories such as these reaffirm my faith in the people of my county and their basic goodness. They prove that regional, social and religious fissures that we read and hear about are not as corrosive as we fear; that the intrinsic faith we have in each other is still alive and well.
We in India are deeply religious, but we are also secular in a way, very different from the way that the west understands the term. Our nation's founders understood this difference very well and were mindful of this during the process of nation-building. Where a western nation such as the USA claims to be a melting pot of cultures, India is a salad bowl. Where western democracies subsume religious identities, we celebrate them.
We are vastly different; we are colourful, diverse and many-hued but we manage to coexist with a certain degree of mutual respect. We retain our distinct identities – religious, social, regional – but find something to admire in those of others with whom we coexist peacefully. A language such as Urdu is proof of this coexistence with mutual tolerance; the Ganga-Yamuna tehzeeb. It is a language that uses the syntax of Hindi; borrowing words liberally from Persian.
When a film such as Amar Akbar Anthony is made, it reflects how religion is certainly important for the common Indian; but isn’t something that divides. The film (and so many other ‘national integration’ films) is an acknowledgement of the fact that we Indians are naturally pluralistic – different, but content to be friends.
It is this inclusive, accepting nature of India and Indians that sets us apart from our recalcitrant neighbours. Our living as one inclusive nation is a daily repudiation of the two-nation theory that our neighbour owes its existence to. It is this idea of India that currently seems to be under threat. However, the idea of India is not so easily vanquished; it is an idea with a timeless resilience and one that crores of Indians – and I – have great faith in.
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