One world - one nation

I saw 'Paa' with a Pakistani friend. Incidentally in the morning we were discussing about our religions and how we were similar in most ways than not. The first scene in the movie showcased how Auro won the first prize when he depicted the globe as one entire nation without any boundaries.

I come from a country where we learned to live comfortably with different kinds of people from the very beginning. We went to a Christian school, had a Hindu teacher, made friends without even knowing the caste/culture/religion, celebrated eid, christmas, diwali and gurupurab with equal fervor and the works. As we grew up, we saw friends falling in love with the person and not the religion. Some are married now, some bowed down before the society.

Today I'm living in a country where we have people from almost every corner of the world. As always, the host nation is quite unfriendly to the vast majority of immigrants from the subcontinent. I don't blame them considering what was said about people who migrated from UP and Bihar to Mumbai. If tolerance is so weak within a nation, its unfair to expect anything from across borders. But I've noticed a silver lining in this whole Us v/s Them drama. The victims unite disregarding their nationality. So, between us, there is no India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Most of us like each other's company and are fascinated by the similarities between us. Language creates a wonderful bond and we find solace in knowing how we enjoy and dislike the same things. My Pakistani friend told me a lot of things about Islam and I shared my knowledge with her. And we both drew the obvious conclusion that its the extremists who plant seeds of hatred in us.

The idea of One-world, one-nation is possible only when we are not rigid in our minds.Considering the big divide between North Indians and South Indians within and outside the country, the one-nation theory sounds highly unrealistic. It can be the subject matter of great speeches and outstanding movies, but in practice it is hard to imagine.

Lets forget the technical problems that can arise, can you imagine us tolerating and accepting each other like we really are and removing all the barriers?