I am fortunate to have grown up in the city of Lucknow.
While the world sings glory of its Tunde Kebab, Awadhi Biryani, Chikankari and
beautiful architecture, I have another beautiful story to tell. And it began
right from when I was in kindergarten.
My parents enrolled me in a co-education convent school
situated right in the middle of the city. This school was constructed in the
premises of a huge church which was frequented by all Christians in the city.
Every year we celebrated Christmas with great fervor. Come
December and we had a dedicated class for Christmas carols. I grew up singing
Silent Night more than I recited the Gayatri Mantra. We sold stamps and raised
funds for some Christian organisation. We also read many stories about Jesus
Christ in our Moral Science lessons.
During this time, we were allowed one visit to the main
church with the whole class. This day was looked forward to with great
excitement since this church had beautiful sculptures which told the story of
Jesus Christ. After the prayer session, we even got some prasad by the
Bishop.
Since this school was in the centre of the town, we had
people from all walks of life. Come Eid and my class smelled of biryani and
kababs. We would huddle in a corner and fight for seviyaan and sheermal. Each
class had many a Khan, Hasan, Abbas and Mohammad to fulfil its own culinary
needs. We never had to look beyond.
Lucknow is also home to many karigars who specialise in
zardozi and chikankari. Being from a family that deals in hand-embroidered
Indian clothes, we were fortunate to get our own tiffin during Eid which lasted
us many days. And well, how can I forget my eidi.. an envelope with
money that we got on visiting one of these families on Eid.
Diwali was always special. We made new clothes every year
and wore them with great enthusiasm. First, we went to our shop to do the
pooja, then my cousin’s shop, followed by their home and then my own. Food,
crackers, Diwali lights, cards, pooja, the works made Diwali a much-awaited
festival.
How can I not include Gurupurab in this? Being worshipers
of Gurunanak, we visited the gurdwara religiously. My father helped serve the
langar each year on the auspicious occasion of birth of Gurunanak. We listened
to Granthis singing, and then hummed along. Ek Onkar has helped me sail through
many a difficult time…
Having grown up in this environment, I find it hard to
understand how people in our country have suddenly become intolerant towards
each other. Didn’t we all have friends from all religions or was it just my city?
I have always loved the fact that our country is so varied in every way – food,
culture, people, flora, fauna and architecture. Our culture would not be the
way it is if it wasn’t for our diversity. And without our culture, we are just
a massive population of 1.3 billion people fighting poverty, hunger, dirt and
increasing population.
I hope we can find common grounds and start celebrating with
each other rather than finding flaws in every small thing. I wish to see my
country exactly how I saw it as a kid. Today, we are either right wing or left wing. The seemingly tolerant ones trying to bring peace are called names, bigots to be precise. Whatsapp groups are filled with hate messages. Friends become foes and cousins become enemies on simplest of discussions.
It saddens me that we are no more a tolerant nation. Will this bring us a brighter tomorrow? Only time will tell...
The title of the post made me take a note and stand in reverence to our beloved motherland!
ReplyDeleteAnd what followed was the pouring of a true nationalist's heart that embraces all faiths with equal love and respect. India was, and will remain all inclusive. No pseudo nationalism can change its fine thread structure of tolerance. India has survived many upheavals and come out stronger. So will it now.
Now aren't we lucky to have grown up in lucknow where we learnt to love all religions and equality. This post is so true , even though I am hindu I grew up visiting Gurudwara, Church, Dargah along with Temples. I no longer understand what went wrong with few of my classmates and why are they fighting just to prove each other wrong instead of understanding the situation. Social media accounts are full of hate and blame, these unknown trolls have been replaced by frnds we know.
ReplyDeleteIt is really sad that we now use religion as a benchmark to decide who we can be friends with.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if people have become more intolerant now, or because of social media we are getting to know their intolerant views much more than in pre-internet days.
ReplyDeleteBut surely a lot of people are intolerant.
May be internet and social media could be helping that.
People don't think twice before putting out extreme views and opinions.
No one cares for other people's sensitivities. '
And there is lot of unverified information that is biased and provocative.
All this must be triggering intolerant reactions from others.
I hear you Nisha and having lived away from India for more than twenty years, every trip back home makes me nostalgic about the way things were.
ReplyDeleteThe sad reality is that the whole world seems to have become more and more polarised. Of course, we have a direct comparison to make with the India of our childhood to the reality of today, so it seems stark.
I concur with Pradeep's views here. We've always had tolerant/intolerant people in the world. Perhaps, it's all the extra time we have on our hands mixed with greed that politicians use to their advantage to divide and rule--They've always done it (all through human history). Only now, thanks to social media platforms, its more visible to the common man. Then again--how much of what we see is real and how much is fake news is anybody's guess.
Nostalgic post... Reminded me of my childhood too... I think the intolerance that we are seeing now is because of more access to social platforms... Where everyone has right to post in an instant second what goes on in their head... May be next instant they are sane but that insane message which they posted started making rounds... And then there is desperate class participation... And then big discussion debates and fights!! In earlier days we didn't have this evil in our lives... So those whose mind was calm remained so... And we could all mingle together enjoying each other's festivals cuisines friendships and more!!
ReplyDeleteIn recent times, the internet has been misused by bigots to spread their message of hatred. For so many years, we Indians with distinct languages, religions, cultures, food habits, festivals...etc, found a common ground in our Indianness. Suddenly, we're being fed with filth about how 'they' are different from 'us' - hpw 'they' invaded 'our' lands, how 'they' oppressed 'our' people, how 'we' have been 'tolerant and foolish' all these years.
ReplyDeleteIndia (and perhaps the whole of the Indian subcontinent) is one unique country where even invaders who came in stayed back and made the country their home...they eventually became sons and daughters of the soil. Show me any other place in the world where Christian brides wear the Mangalsutra, or where Muslim girls wear bindis and alta (Bangladesh). These are just a couple of examples.
We should see through this 'Us vs Them' agenda that is shamelessly being peddled by pseudo-Nationalists.
Glad you addressed this topic.
Cheers,
CRD
http://scriptedinsanity.blogspot.com/