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| Image from Xinature |
Last
year during Onam Amit Shah greeted Malayalis in the name of Vamana Jayanti. The
Malayalis not only pooh-poohed him but also trolled him left and right, up and
down, so much so that the BJP President was left black and blue in the social
media. Wishing the Malayali Happy Vamana Jayanti on the occasion of Onam is
like asking the Bengali to celebrate the Durga Puja as the martyrdom of
Mahishasura. There are people in India who worship Ravana as a divine entity.
Imagine telling that to the North Indian who burns the effigy of the ten-headed
villain during Dussehra.
In
short, India is a country with an infinite variety of festivals as well as
cultures. Hinduism is not at all a monolithic religion. The gods worshipped in
one part of the country may be demons in another and vice-versa. That is the
fantastic diversity that India is even within the single religion of Hinduism,
let alone the diversity contributed by other religions such as Islam, Sikhism,
Christianity, and so on.
Culturally
too, India has a similar diversity. Culturally, there is very little in common
between the beef-eating Malayali and cow-worshipping North Indian. The
differences are not confined to the bovine milieu alone. Most of the festivals
of the North don’t ring a bell in Kerala and vice-versa.
The
North-east is similarly quite a different world compared to the rest of India. The
people there may play the political games much like their counterparts
elsewhere in the country and vote even BJP (a party that is totally alien to
the cultures in North-east) to power, but when it comes to celebrations they
will sway to western rock and pop music as much as to their indigenous,
seductive rhythms. Most of the festivals
of the rest of the country don’t mean anything in that domain.
India
is a potpourri of diverse cultures, languages and ways of living. Trying to
homogenise it under the bulldozer of Hindutva is not only reckless but also would
be (if at all the attempt succeeds) a tragic decimation of amazing variety.
Why
would anyone want to decimate variety from a garden, for example? Why would
anyone want to have just one kind of people everywhere? I for one can’t
comprehend that. I would love my garden to have roses and marigolds, daisies
and pansies, and a whole lot of vibrating colours and fragrances. I admire the
rich variety of cultures in my country. I find that variety fascinating,
scintillating, breath-taking. Let no one
pulverise that beauty into a monotonous monochrome monolith.
I like your perspective and also argument.
ReplyDeleteLove to hear that. Many people won't say that aloud for fear of certain powers that have risen too high in the country today.
Deleteinteresting thoughtful post sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteSo true. For me, religion and anything associated with it, is way down in my priority list. I am actually blissfully ignorant about many things religious.
ReplyDeleteBlissful ignorance is good in this one area, at least. Most secular people I know are far better human beings than religious people.
DeleteVery logical view points.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteBeautiful
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Delete