Over the last couple weeks people have been active, through social media, expressing their angst, reservations, thoughts of hope and hopelessness over the perceived situation of intolerance in India.
When public figures make a statement, thinking aloud, the reactions are bound to be amplified. And, therefore, it falls upon them to speak responsibly. But that does not mean to take away from them their right to free speech. Aamir Khan shared his concerns - he did not even for a minute say he was leaving India because he felt Her people were becoming increasingly intolerant. Yet, the people did not take too kindly to his voicing his thoughts. And before him, it was Shahrukh Khan who bore the brunt of people’s ire. It was these very (now, ‘intolerant’) people who helped Aamir rake in the money through PK, many of who may have laughed at themselves after watching his movie.
More recently, it was Vikram Sampath’s comment on why he would not return his award that drew much criticism, ironically so, from the very writers who returned their’s to protest the increasing sense of dissent to free speech!
Political analysts and social philosophers are busy trying to explain what’s apparently wrong with our society; some believe that it is the mores of majoritarianism at play while some believe that its an emergence of a right-thinking population (not to imply that the rest are wrong-thinking!). Irrespective of what the argument for reasoning may be, the fact remains that social thinking is facing churning and it is this process that makes us uncomfortable, not the results of this process, per se.
I was born into a Brahmin family, educated in a missionary school and devoured the biryani from my muslim friends’ lunch box, carefully separating the chunks of meat so as to eat only the rice. At school I was taught the Lord’s Prayer but once home I was always a part of traditional Hindu practices. And I was not the only one who learnt to balance the various aspects of society that I was a part of. Like me, there are many who grew up so! I learnt to respect my space and that of others’; I learnt not to be judgemental; and, most importantly, I learnt to appreciate the variety that life in India had to offer.
My siblings and I are so different, even having been given the same upbringing and values; how, then, can I expect a country with a population of over a billion to have a single mind? Besides, isn’t it our strength that we have such a variety of thinking, that where one falters, another can make up for it?
So, let's listen, let's speak, and, eventually, we shall find a strong sense in it. In the meanwhile, lets be patient. For we are no ordinary nation; we are a nation of a billion moulds….
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