On Saturday I watched Rang De Basanti one more time. Still I am hung on the way the characters have been etched, the way songs blend, the way editing makes the movie weave....I can go on.
The movie also focusses on religious harmony in addition to the defense scandal which is the main theme. The gang camraderie is shown to exercise more influence over religion and family. That set me thinking. Among my friends there is nobody who practises Islam. Wondering whether this could be a weird thing, I embarked on some preliminary back-of-the-envelope research.
Total Indian population as of 2003 - 1065462000
The Muslim population of India is said to be anywhere between 13% to 20% depending on whom you read. Assuming 15 %, they come to 159819300 in 2003 itself. They form the second largest religious community. Not only that, Indian Muslims are among the biggest in countrywide Muslim population demographics of the world.
So even if not 15% atleast 5 % of my friends should be Muslims, right? No!! I have Christian friends whose religion comes only after Islam in numerical strength in India. But no Muslims among my friends. Thinking further, I could not recollect beyond 2,3 people as Muslims even among my acquaintances.
It seems strange to me.
Is it that we have been segregating ourselves, even without fundamentalist bigots egging us on?
Or is it that ancient caste divide has manifested itself into a religious divide too, with only select communities adopting religious conversion?
Are we practising any kind of apartheid here?
The word "apartheid" is obnoxious, but truth is seldom sweet. I am sure some of us may have differing religious statistics of their friends, but I am looking at the normal distribution pattern, and that doesn't bode well to me.
The more I am distant away from a thing, the more I would be misinformed about that. More the distortion, the more easier my mindset can be turned against a thing. I can easily be "made" biased against something which I am unfamiliar of. I can be brought to hate something which in my mind is sinister.
Ofcourse, here "I" refers to my countrymen of all religions.
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8 comments:
Thats an interesting point. I have a few muslim friends. These things happen all the time, i think. These invisible borders seemed to show up all the time.Language borders.
Well some how I do see the cultural gap in people who come from a strict religoius environment it may be Hindus Muslims or christinas or even Jews but yeah i do find a gap which prevent me to break the barrier and cross the bridge
Interesting blog, sir...good that you think about such religious issues...One wonders whether this segregation occurs at the subconcious level or not...
And regarding India House - I was told that that was the best in Chicago...Of course I did not have the privilege of hanging out with you there :)
I would disagree to some extent... that we dont choose non-muslim friends. Sometimes, we just dont know people. Like in my school, there were very very few muslims. And we make friends from the pool of people we are in contact with. However, when I started working, I came in contact with lots of pakis, and they are all great friends now. And that's coz they are so easy to relate to, given how much Indians and Pakis share.
Time for a new post wht do ya say buddy ?
@totti - not language borders. Goes beyond that.
@viewer - you are mostly right.
@sudarpunsey - It would have been nice to meet you. You come out as an interesting person on the net.
@Casa - you are actually buttressing my case. You are able to make friends with Pakis in Singapore. Our country has more Muslims than Pakistan and definitely than Singapore. But that didn't happen to you here, right? You also mention of very few muslims in your school. Definitely they would've been lesser than the social percentage. So we are not able to reach out to them in our country while we are able to do so outside where they are fewer in number!! That speaks for itself, lady!
@viewer - lol. You are right. Noblesse oblige.
No, you didnt get me... What I was trying to say is that the reason many of us dont have any many muslim friends is because we dont get an opportunity in many Indian schools. And unless you seek them out to make friends, it doesnt happen. So its not a deliberate personal choice...
The reason I can make friends with Pakis here is because I meet them at my workplace. You make friends, when you interact with them. What if circumstances dont even give you a chance to interact?
@casa - :-) Peace!
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