mon memoir

Some hindu Indonesian pilgrims were thrown out of the Jagannath temple in Orissa sometime in December 2007.  The temple priests doubted the visitors religion because they did not look like hindus. The priests remained unconvinced even after the poor Indonesian devotees showed their proof of religion. This incident reminds me of another incident that happened to one of my peers years back in Delhi. A student with mongoloid look was mocked by his friends as he claimed himself to be a hindu. His friends felt that he did not look like a hindu. They also made fun of the fact that he did not eat beef. What the student did to recover his identity crisis is another story.  I don’t know if any other religion in this world as its own look!

Few days later, again in Orissa, violence erupted disturbing christmas celebrations of the tribal christians. Violence against christians is not rare in Orissa. Who can forget the murder of the Steins? I do not know what political motive was there behind the orissa carnage, neither I want to know. However these  two incidents in Orissa offers a wonderful parallelism to understand the hindu psyche. The hindu society is a caste divided society where the so-called  lower-castes live in social isolation.  Ambedkar and his followers’ conversion to Bhuddism is the strongest opposition to such social isolation. Though till very recently hindus were not so much worried about the christian proselyting of the lower caste marginalised hindus, but of late the dwindling number of Indian hindus in definitely worrying the hindu fundamentalist. Conversion being of the reasons for such decrease in number of hindus. You cannot persecute a person and and then prevent him/her from reacting against the persecution meted out. If hinduism is to survive in India, we need to open our arms like Islam or Chriantianity. Few days back  I saw the video of endless ocean of haj pilgrims in Mecca. I was surprised to see people with all skin colours and ethnicity making beeline to visit the most holy place of Islam. Will the hindus be able to replicate this picture ever?

  After reading media review of Goal, I found that not only did the movie copy the idea of sport as a part of the narrative but also the curse of racism, in a different way altogether: 

Chak De: Two hockey players from the remote north-eastern part of the country come to Delhi to be a part of the national hockey team . They are ridiculed and are almost molested because they look chini-mini and are clad in western outfits. They can NOT be indians because they look like Chinese.

Goal: An Indian origin footballer, in a country of the Whites, is not selected by a football club because of his skin colour.

How many of us admit or are aware of the fact that mongoloid indians, the so called “chinkies” are harassed in their own coutry, most notoriousy in the northern part of the country? Shilpa Shetty’s much hyped racial assault in the Big Brother show becomes a national and political issue.  Bipasha and her co-star became the victim of racism while shooting for Goal in London, we blame the whites. Thanks to Chak De makers for making such a candid attempt of showing that indians are no less. Gandhi himself was a victim of racism and launched his crusade against apartheid in South Africa. Just think once, how you would feel if someone calls you “pakki”, before you call someone chinki.