Dileep was born a hindu. He converts to Islam, bags an academy award and says glory be to god.
Resul is a muslim. Talks about the significance of 'OM' in his acceptance speech and says on TV that his award is a 'Mahashivarathiri' gift to all malayalees.
Anonymous: Not at all. On the contrary, I am actually very scared for us. But then I look at other countries and realize we are doing quite good, given our constraints.
Doing better than other 3rd world countries you mean. We are doing marginally better in the sense that we don't have gun-toting young men on the street. Mainly because of great ideas from the man whose spectacles were auctioned recently, in a spectacle as you pointed out. All that doesn't mean that we aren't one of most divided societies around...religion, caste, north-south, region, attitudes towards women. Oh yes we are united in activities that do not demand introspection, the public outrage against 26/11 for example, but that kind of unity is brittle veneer. I like indexing our divided nature by pointing to a comment board on any topic on a news website like Rediff.com.
- Z Our only hope is the idea of democracy that is imprinted in our national conscience..
OK, Z. You mentioned the 'd word' and have set me off. Now you only have yourself to blame for the verbal diarrhoea below ;)
a. Actually, I did not mean only 3rd world countries. Thankfully, the only one I have lived in is 'mere Bharat mahan'. I actually meant countries like the United States. It is a fantastic place to live in, dont get me wrong. But 'us and them' rules there and in many other super powers. I am not talking about just race or religion. There are other delimiters.
b. Having said that, I am not claiming that we are not screwed up. My only point is: 'it could have been worse'.
c. Democracy is a fucking joke in India. Please don't use it in the same sentence as hope. Look around you!
The idea of democracy has always struggled and stayed alive.. Like in your reply. That is what gives hope. Not what goes in the name of democracy a lot of the time. The reason that hasn't gotten worse is that this idea still thrives, in deep dark corners sometimes, in heart filled with trepidation sometimes..but it is still around.
I never noticed this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I am one of those hopefuls who believe that Muslims and Hindus can co-exist despite the frequent skirmishes, and take my home state Kerala for example during every discussion on it. Cheers, Salil
9 comments:
How come I just don't feel like watching that movie?? I have been sitting on that DVD for quite some time now :(
i always thought of india this way but missed this particular instance. We are such cool people :) :)
Roopa: Could it be because you think you know pretty much how its gonna be?
Arch: We really are. More than we want to believe ;)
your optimism surprises me..
Anonymous: Not at all. On the contrary, I am actually very scared for us. But then I look at other countries and realize we are doing quite good, given our constraints.
Doing better than other 3rd world countries you mean. We are doing marginally better in the sense that we don't have gun-toting young men on the street. Mainly because of great ideas from the man whose spectacles were auctioned recently, in a spectacle as you pointed out.
All that doesn't mean that we aren't one of most divided societies around...religion, caste, north-south, region, attitudes towards women. Oh yes we are united in activities that do not demand introspection, the public outrage against 26/11 for example, but that kind of unity is brittle veneer. I like indexing our divided nature by pointing to a comment board on any topic on a news website like Rediff.com.
- Z
Our only hope is the idea of democracy that is imprinted in our national conscience..
OK, Z. You mentioned the 'd word' and have set me off. Now you only have yourself to blame for the verbal diarrhoea below ;)
a. Actually, I did not mean only 3rd world countries. Thankfully, the only one I have lived in is 'mere Bharat mahan'. I actually meant countries like the United States. It is a fantastic place to live in, dont get me wrong. But 'us and them' rules there and in many other super powers. I am not talking about just race or religion. There are other delimiters.
b. Having said that, I am not claiming that we are not screwed up. My only point is: 'it could have been worse'.
c. Democracy is a fucking joke in India. Please don't use it in the same sentence as hope. Look around you!
The idea of democracy has always struggled and stayed alive.. Like in your reply. That is what gives hope. Not what goes in the name of democracy a lot of the time. The reason that hasn't gotten worse is that this idea still thrives, in deep dark corners sometimes, in heart filled with trepidation sometimes..but it is still around.
I never noticed this. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I am one of those hopefuls who believe that Muslims and Hindus can co-exist despite the frequent skirmishes, and take my home state Kerala for example during every discussion on it.
Cheers,
Salil
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