From a Hindu

With all humility:

In response to:

http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/taj_oak.html

Highly improbable, possibly as fake as the millions of other internet forwards, but fascinating nevertheless!

Just a few points, in case it is true:

1. It is being maintained with more dignity than many other ancient Hindu temples, which are maintained according to the amount of "donations" collected there. Of course, where the "commission" goes is anybody's guess! I am not saying that 100% temples don't give anything back to the community.
2. It is one of the rare examples of a Hindu temple where people of all religions are allowed inside happily, where they can be in awe of, and be inspired by the majesty of the building. I don't think "God" cares whether people are giving "Him" enough credit. That ego is the pride of humans only! I am personally ashamed of the fact that I can enter any dargah/church/gurudwara given that I'm attired properly, but most temples wouldn't allow people from other faiths!
3. It is a rare example of a "temple" where people of all "castes" (that 13th century curse which shamefully exists even today!) are allowed to enter as equals. I can fall to the feet of a "gora saaheb" but can't treat my own fellow country-man well just because his race/colour/creed is different! It is probably a curse of gigantic proportions: "Jaati usey kehte hain jo jaati nahi hai" [Caste is what doesn't go!]
4. No one can stop my mother or sister from entering the "temple", because they are supposedly the "inferior" sex, like some temples do!
5. There are no so called "agents of Gods"/pandaas to try and fleece us there!

No so-called "Hindu" scripture mentions a "Hindu religion"! There is only one definition of Hinduism, which is a noble way of life, pursued by very people today. It allows us to be a melting pot of civilizations, protectors of the weak, and honest and fair traders, but, due to our new-found fascination with building temples, expanding them, and then breaking some ancient monument to bring up some old temple which lay underneath, the gentle and tolerant Hindu way of life has given way to a fanatic version of it! God doesn't demand that we break each other's heads in His name! Hinduism doesn't stand for dowry, Sati [Yes, it exists even today!], rituals, rioting, or honour killings of eloping children [apparently it is only the privilege of Gods and kings!!]!

More important than spreading this message about an ancient temple that lies below a beautiful monument built by a person not belonging to the majority community, is to spread the message that we need to become more intolerant, but to intolerance itself!

If there is a true Hindu reading this, I request him/her to try and spread the message and spirit of Hinduism! An all-powerful God is also all-present! He doesn't need a monument of stone to be shown respect!

One more thing. The current generation, as it comes out of schools, will not know what is the difference between castes and religions! May I humbly request that you don't teach them their meaning. Teach them to become a "Good Hindu" with all your might, but please keep the emphasis on GOOD, and he/she'll become a true HINDU automatically! Yes, we are a weak generation, we can't hold the weight of a centuries old monolith of tradition, orthodoxy and rituals, which is so infallible that we can't question it, simply because it makes no sense! Please spare us! Yes, if you take us back to the true roots of Hinduism and show us the beauty in it, I'm sure more of my generation will be attracted to it! Make it relevant to today and we'll accept it!

A "civilization" that is so weak that it can be destroyed by celebrating Valentine's Day [It comes to my mind first not because I and my generation are fixated by it! I have never even seen a celebration! But, because today's "true" Hindus are over-zealous in preventing it!], or by allowing women to drink [If people can't dare to stop your sons from drinking, at least they shouldn't allow people to bash their daughters on their behalf!], or by allowing some ancient monument to stand over the remains of one of our own, may I suggest that it is already crumbling, and we start looking for a stronger base!

Yes, one should be inspired by history, learn from it, and of course try to re-invent our glorious past, but there are some petty quarrels which were left un-resolved centuries back, and should be left at that!

If anyone reading this disagrees with me, he/she is welcome to do so, but request you not to propagate such faith any further, because, much as it might be nostalgic to re-live those past centuries, it's a different world today!

• When Babri masjid was demolished by some our own "true" Hindu representatives, the ripples were felt in Mumbai, 1993 [Another group of chosen few!]! Things were not perfect before, but it has been very difficult to reconcile the 2 communities, and it's never been the same again! Mumbai itself has never been the same again!
• Now, the ripples are just felt faster! What happened in Vienna 4 days ago has been felt in Punjab and Haryana wrecking havoc and causing massive damage of human life for the last 2-3 days!
• India was forced to indignantly defend itself when the issue of caste was raked up at a summit in Europe. This is the shame our sons/daughters will be forced to face when they step out of the shell of our houses! Let's not let the next generation hang it's head in shame!

Hence, for the sake of human life, human dignity, and prudence itself, may this research never see the light of day! Maybe some people think that maintaining the monuments of religion are more important than the sanctity of their teachings, may I request them to look at their children and tell them what kind of future world/country are they about to give them! Much damage has been done, it doesn't need to be repeated!

I am assuming that since at least all of use have access to email, etc, we're few of the well off people in our country, maybe some of us have significant status in society, and enough influence on at least a few people so that you can teach them the true message of Hinduism. Yes, there will be opposition, but our own "Bhagwat Gita" preaches that if you have to defend what is right, you may need to fight your own brothers! Please don't kill them mortally [:)]! Just don't give up! The least that can be done is that we don't propagate the wrong interpretation to others! That in itself would be a service to humanity!

I'm not an expert on Hinduism, hence, there might be someone inspired to reply to me with some strong words and against what I've just said. Yes, I might be wrong in some facts and interpretations, but, please take the general message.

If there is someone still wishing to continue this division, I request them to stop being opportunistic and follow what their heart says. Stop interacting with people of different faiths, even if it means monetary loss. Stop driving German vehicles, stop sending their kids to schools and colleges belonging to the government, or to another community! For eg, person belonging to XYZ community should only go to "XYZ Public School", "XYZ College" and when he/she dies, please look for the piece of land made by their God which was made for the "XYZ" community!

Most importantly, please stop eating, because what you're eating might be laced with the sweat of a hard working farmer not belonging to XYZ community! Request you to at least be true to your thoughts, and then decide to justify the classifications that divide me from my own fellow countryman with whom I played in my childhood, went to school together, and interact with on a daily basis!

To put it in probably the most base terms, the idea of India itself was not based on religion. The world doesn't need another Pakistan! Let's not make India one! Let's change what is wrong and stop cribbing about it!

Apologies for wasting your time but even if one person gets the message, I've earned my peaceful sleep for tonight!

Proud? to be an Indian...

Today, I feel very proud to be an Indian, much more than ever before! We have truly surpassed the wildest dreams of the people who gave up their everything in life and beyond, to be able to see (or in some cases, posthumously imagine) a united India, an independent India, an India where there would be no more "gora saahibs" to tell us what to do and what not to do!

It has always been a dream to see every Indian self-sufficient, be able to afford 2 square meals a day, able to celebrate every festival with the same fervour as any other Indian around him, be able to send his children to some of the finest schools, hopefully public! Wouldn't it be wonderful to wake up in a country where only smiling faces abound! Well, it would just be Utopia by another name, but if dreams could be completely realizable, wouldn't they be reality instead?

But, today I am proud to wake up an Indian because every nook and corner has achieved self-sustainability! Our brothers in Maharashtra are out to prove that "they don't need no North Indians", the one's in the North-East have a grudge against every non-local around, the "Silicon Valley" has people who think that they can support the whole Indian IT industry without the "outsiders"!

The most "cosmopolitan" of Indian cities is being violated by a bunch of goons who think that their "master-lord's" wish to cleanse Mumbai of it's North Indian "immigrants" needs to be fulfilled at any cost, public property, law and order, human life, they all have no value attached to them! Of course Mumbai could always have run it's course without the Gujjus, the Marwaris, the Parsis, the teeming millions of "other" Indians who are as less important to Mumbai compared to the "locals" as are any two platelets extracted from a single person's bloodstream!

Of course, the North East has always had an economy of it's own, and the "Hindi-speakers" have only managed to spoil their pristine environment with their ulterior motives of infusing some self-sufficiency in their lives! Most of the people being "thrown out" or outright killed, belong to the "labour-class" of people - construction workers, rickshaw-pullers, factory workers - in short, people who already had a lot to worry about, people who didn't really care which "province" they belonged to, what language the people around them spoke. All they cared about was their day-to-day existence! Not even beyond that! But, of course, the so called "secessionists" (terrorists need sobriquets too, right!!) had better ideas! Now, the youth in the area can live their lives literally on a high, with easy access to narcotics, alcohol, weapons, and what not! They have managed to change an ancient mindset in Indians of being proud of having a "boy-child"! Today, a mother in that region, prays for a girl-child, because there would a lot less "opportunity" for them to fall prey to those newly-manifested evils!

Here in our beloved Bangalore (or is that renamed-at-the-cost-of-80+-crores Bengalooru!), there are people who believe that it is the "immigrant" population that has made conditions un-liveable, prices unaffordable, housing scarce and open spaces rarer still! What they fail to mention that the city itself came on the global map not because some Kannada person decided to make software for the world, but because many Indians, including a lot of smart Kannadigas, came together, and leave alone regional chauvinism, decided to take on the world with their soft-power! Their ideas knew no geographical boundaries, they brought to the average Indian, an opportunity of a life time, to rub shoulders with the best-educated western person, here on his own soil! The very skill of having a good grasp over the English language, made it possible for India to market itself to the world, and at the epicentre of all this, in Bangalore of all places, in order to gain some political mileage, the governing party passes a rule that strips parents of the right to choose the medium of instruction in the schools that their children go to, public or private! First, they decide to charge exorbitant amount of money from the "outsiders", for food, for housing rent, for public transport, etc, and when they themselves face the pinch of the artificial price-rise that was created by them, they blame the "outsiders"! They forget that many of them were lying in some lazy hamlet in some corner of the country and that the IT revolution gave them an opportunity to be a part of India's progress, by any means, be it running an auto-rickshaw, opening a serviced apartment service, a shop selling imported fruits/vegetables, or in the case of some more enterprising individuals, some ancillary start-ups to support the big names in the industry! Instead, they cry about the fact that the "outsiders" are making the city crowded, although they themselves belong to some far off village! They come up with the brilliant idea of marking the public transport buses with only the local language, and then cry about the fact that the "outsiders", with their personal vehicles, are crowding the roads, which are themselves worth another story, by the way!

I have personally lived, studied, worked in 8 different states of our great? country, including the north-east, the south and the north of India! In some places, people were quite affable, in some, very obnoxious! But, to be honest, wherever there was warmth, I was drawn to their culture, learnt their languages and with genuine interest participated with them in their festivals, celebrations, etc! But, now the new policy seems to be of "Command and Conquer"! Treat me with respect, show off what is good about your culture, show the brighter side of your lifestyle, and maybe I will be interested enough to add to the list of 8 Indian languages that I already have learnt! But, if you start pushing people, insulting them for not learning your language, making sure that because of your frustration, the next generation will be able to read/write in your language, which it would probably have anyway, but unable to mingle with the global market, let me assure you that you will only gain alienation! You will only be squandering the only chance you ever got!

I have always been proud of being an Indian, what with our vast heritage, the unity in diversity concept, the many unexplored corners of the country to discover! But, today, I am forced to think that this pride is only left in the text-books! Our people will only be sold to the concepts of caste, race, religion, language! Barriers all, but the only identity many under-achievers have! They will cling on to these with their lives, and take others' if need be! Most of us literates (by my definition, not every literate is an educated person) consider it a waste of time to enroll for the elections and to vote but raise a lot of hue and cry about the political manifestoes, the work that the politicians do or not! We are a nation of hypocrites, and lets face it, many of us are no longer proud of it, although they would love to do so again!

Let's not let the 3% idiots "rule" the 80% brilliant minds! Let's not let the country be held to ransom by another team of "Gujjars" who made their backwardness official at gun-point! All you need to do is stand up and be counted - at the polling booth, at every public place where order should be maintained, by not looking away when someone needs help, or something needs to be stopped! Let's give up for one, on the "chalta hai" attitude! Let's, for once, decide what will it be, a proud and mighty nation in the text-books, but a collection of warring factions in reality, or maybe the Utopia that it could have been!

Bengalooru-ed

Bangalore!

If there's one thing common amongst new-comers to this place, it is HighExpectations.com! Even before one steps into this place, you probably visualise a city that has the teeming millions, that is part of any Indian city, but, that all of them carry laptops and hold Blackberries! One assumes that with the high concentration of educated people that was always true for the Southern states of India, the atmosphere in this city must be one of the most intellectually charged!

Even before one steps in, one dreams of the glitzy malls where one can only wish to afford to shop, the reference for the expected urban facade being, none other than the Times Square, NY! One is told to prepare for the cultural shock as soon as one comes here, as this would be the most cosmopolitan city at least in India, because here, as they say, "The night never ends!" One hears of a place which will be the ultimate amalgam of the urban landscape with nature. The "City of Gardens" they call it!

For a place where the government itself left no stone unturned to invite the finest examples of entrepreneurial spirit along with the biggest establishments in the fields of engineering and technology, it would be natural to expect to see mega-projects like the "Namma Metro" coming up! A world class international airport would be the best way of inviting a new-comer, giving the impression that the city one has reached is second to none in the international arena!

From being a "Pensioner's Paradise", it has evolved to become a city were millions earn their daily bread, the city with more Engineering colleges than most lesser countries have in all! One can imagine an almost university like atmosphere wherever one goes, simply because of the sheer numbers of the educated minds present!

A city proud of its nightlife! A city proud of its ever ready-to-help citizens! A city proud of the number of highly educated professionals it churns out! A city proud of the fact that people from all walks of life and every cultural background can settle and assimilate here as one of their own! A city proud of the ever-pleasant weather! A foodie's dream city! A city with the finest multiplexes in the country! A city with the most swanky malls! A city with the highest penetration of Information Technology, in the form of cellular phones, Wimax, high-speed internet connections, computers, etc.

If one has seen a lot of "Monster car madness" on the streets (they call their 100-feet "roads" streets!!) of the (road-rage) capital of India, one might be delightfully smacking their steering wheels in the expectation of finally being on roads with sane drivers who know what a lane looks like! (Its straight, and with a white line for demarcation for you outsiders!)

And, above all, one looks forward to a life-time of living in a weather that doesn't make you melt as soon as you step out! Also, gone are the days of killing yourself under tonnes of woollens when the mercury is low enough to send the last shudder of your life down your spine if you step out without them on! One can already smell the fresh air filtered aromatically through the flowers of the myriad gardens in this "Garden City" of our country!!

Hail B'lore, I am coming...