Showing posts with label Massacre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Massacre. Show all posts

Let It Burn
Mumbai is burning! he said as he poured himself another drink. We were at a local bar in Andheri. There was a television mounted high up on the wall behind the manager's counter. It was showing a report on Kasab's trial, when this person on the next table started staring at the television with a rage. Most of the others in the bar ignored the guy because he was inebriated. But this was not just another drunk guy. The guy was in late 50s, with half of his hair turned gray. His face had a character grown in it with every wrinkle on his face trying to tell a story. A story that turned that night into a dead silence.

'Calm down uncle. Don't worry. Kasab will get a death sentence.' I said in a friendly voice to calm down this drunk man who I thought could have created a scene. He turned his head towards me and looked straight down my eyes, with an anger. That really gave me shrills for a second. Why did I take this on to me? I thought. 'And then what? Will Mumbai stop burning?' I took a while to understand the question. It seemed like a rhetoric, but this guy was waiting for a response. Besides, Mumbai was burning a year ago when Kasab massacred innocent people at the Taj Hotel and other areas in town. 'I am just saying ...' I was interrupted before I could finish. He got up and moved next to my friend on the opposite side of our table. For the next half an hour we were just the audience to a drunk man, with a heart full of pain, frustration and anger and a growing rage towards this city of dreams.

 Mumbai has been burning for a while now kid. And it wasn't Kasab who started it. And it's not ending with his death sentence. Mumbai will continue to burn. You know why? Because we can't do anything about it. And even if you try, they will not allow you. [laughs sarcastically]

'Mumbai is burning! Nana, Mumbai is burning! And the Muslims are around the corner killing every Hindu they find. They are coming to kill people in our chawl!' My younger brother came running with this news after the 1992 blasts. I was quite young then, with warm blood running in my veins. I went down with many other young men from our chawl like soldiers on a mission to guard our families. It was the worst war of religions Mumbai had faced since 1947. We were around 25, each equipped with a hockey stick or a cricket bat. We stood by the gate of our chawl creating another wall. I could still feel the adrenalin when I think of that moment. Just then we heard screams from around the corner. We all stared down the road expecting the worst. And worst it was. A man tumbled and fell down near the corner. As he fell down, his head separated from his body and rolled down right in the center of the lane. My hands went numb. Suddenly the weapons in our hands, hockey sticks and cricket bats, seemed meager. We felt weak. Three of the guys ran away, while a couple of them went back in the chawl and came out with knives, hammers and spades. We were still weak in front of the swords. They killed six of us before the police arrived. But their lives did not go in vain. We managed to hold back the mob and keep our families safe. I lost mine though. My brother. He took the blow from the wildly swung sword of the leader of the mob, Abdul Qadir, brother of the then corporator. It slit his throat and the blood came out rushing like a tap left open. He could not scream and I could not help. Within moments his body went pale leaving him dead in the pool of his own blood.

Few days later, I filed a case against Abdul Qadir to get justice for my dead brother. Nothing happened. He was saved. You know by whom? A Hindu! A fucking Marathi Maanus! A minister who got the case closed for a few seats and Muslim votes that were assured to him by Abdul's brother. That's when I realized it wasn't a war of religions, it was a war for powers. Abdul is an MLA now. I feel like killing myself whenever I look at his posters by the road side.

I somehow managed to pull myself out from the dreary memories of those bloody events. I had two beautiful kids. Tanmay and Sakshi. Tanmay has grown into a man now, just like me when I was young, with warm blood. Sakshi [his voice sunk] she was an angel. Beautiful as her mother. She had just turned 18 that day when she went out for a party with her friends at Juhu. The girls were returning back home when they noticed a bunch of guys were harassing a girl in a secluded lane near the beach. The girl seemed from a rich family. Sakshi along with her friends walked into the lane keeping a safe distance from the scene so that if the guys made a move towards them they could run away. She screamed 'Hey! Leave her alone! I have called the police. Go away! Leave her!' What she didn't realize that a part of the gang was standing and entrance of the lane, from where she walked in, keeping a watch and looking out for trouble. They had moved in now blocking their way out. They started screaming out loudly and soon started crying. There were bystanders, and they did their job. By being just the fucking bystanders. Sakshi was brought home by the police, clothes torn and dried blood on her legs. All the girls were raped that night.

We filed a case against the guys, all the guys the girls could recognize. They were all sons of big-shots from Mumbai's richest lot. They all got bailed out. The cases were closed due to no evidence. You know who saved them? The girl who was being raped initially, who Sakshi and her friends tried to save. You know why? She was the daughter of another big-shot who totally put the case under covers without letting her daughter's name out in public. Like it never happened. As if his daughter was never raped. [snaps his fingers] It was that easy for him. But what about my daughter? Who would marry a raped girl from a middle-class family? This thought tortured and tormented my child every day after the incident until one day she decided to put an end to it. She walked down the same lane where she was raped, and she kept walking. She kept walking until she met the sea, which grabbed her into it's depth with a huge roaring wave.

The next day, my hands started shaking as I covered my child with logs of wood. It's not easy to light your loved ones on fire even when they are dead. I could not believe my family was halved in one day. We were four before, now we were just two. Yes, just two! My wife couldn't bare the shock of her daughter's death. She died of a massive heart attack as soon as the news was delivered to us by the police that our daughter's body was found by the shore. I couldn't believe half of my family was watching the other half being burnt to ashes, helplessly. It was devastating.

Since last few years, it's just been the two men at home now. I have learned to cook and so has Tanmay. But he prefers washing the dishes as he doesn't want me to do that work. He is my only hope and the only reason to live for. He doesn't like me drinking, but he doesn't stop me too. He knows ... I know.

[looking at the television in anger] We were at Colaba, feet away from Leopold when this motherfucker blew it up. We ducked down hiding ourselves behind a street-side handcart. Tanmay peeped out from one side. Two guys had flung a couple of grenades into the restaurant and had now ran up the stairs into the restaurant firing rounds of bullets blindly. He turned to me and said 'Anna, they are killing people there. They've blown up the place. They are burning Mumbai Anna! Our Mumbai is burning! We need to help them.' My eyes were wide open with shock, terror and fright. I looked at Tanmay. His eyes had the same rage of a warrior, as I had back in 1992. I held his hand as tightly as I could. I could feel the warm blood rushing through his body. If I let him go now, I might not see him again, just as my other family members. I was weak now. I would not be able to take another ruthless blow from life.

My feet went numb and I was drenched in sweat. My arms started shaking as I held on to his arm and started crying. [a tear trickled down his face as he narrated] 'Let it burn son! Let it burn!'.

2:41 AM | Category: , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 comments

Religion: A Stigma



The Issues

Scene 1:
Jewish Boy: Mother, you said Yahweh is the almighty and looks after and protects the world right?
Mother: Yes son, he is the superpower.
Jewish Boy: And you also said he brings peace upon the world and condemns cruelty?
Mother: Of course son. One should not indulge in any activities that can cause harm to any living being.
Jewish Boy: But then why did Yahweh induce the Ten Plagues on to the Egyptians?
Mother: You see son, Moses was leading his people to the land of Canaan and Pharaoh was not letting Israel go.
Jewish Boy: But mother, why did Yahweh kill all the firstborns of man and animal in Egypt. What had they done wrong?
Mother: Uh! ... Look son, Pharaoh had challenged Yahweh and to show Pharaoh the extents of his power, Yahweh applied the plagues.
Jewish Boy: So you mean Yahweh will kill all the people who challenge him just to show his powers? What happened to the message of 'Let peace dawn upon the world' that Yahweh himself doesn't abide to?
Mother: Uh ... Son ...
Jewish Boy: And what's the difference between Yahweh and a human then? Why do we worship Yahweh if he is just like us?
Mother: Enough son. No one questions the verdict of the almighty. He does what he thinks is right. And we should do what he asks us to do?
Jewish Boy: Ok.

Scene 2:
Hindu Boy: Maa, you always stop me from cheating right?
Mother: Yes beta, God is looking at what you do. If you do anything wrong, he'll punish you one day.
Hindu Boy: But Maa, Krishna also cheated by changing the day into night to help Arjuna kill Jaydrata.
Mother: Everything is fair in love and war beta.
Hindu Boy: The terrorists have posed wars in many countries. Do you mean what they are doing is fair?
Mother: No. They are not right.
Hindu Boy: But their God says it's right. And that is why they are doing what their god asks them to do?
Mother: God is watching them and he'll punish them one day.
Hindu Boy: Maa, do you think Krishna will be punished too for his cheating?
Mother: Shut up son. Sleep now. God is always right. He can do what he wants.
Hindu Boy: Ok.

Scene 3:
Mullah: The verse 8-56 in the holy book of Quran says "Those of them with whom thou madest a treaty, and then at every opportunity they break their treaty. If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them". Furthermore, the verse 8-60 say "Make ready for them all thou canst of force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy."
Student: Maulana, I have read that this verse was followed by the verse 8-61, which says "And if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it". Aren't we in violation of this verse?
Mullah: Those are all incorrect interpretations made by people who could not completely understand Allah's message. They who don't abide to the message of Allah have sinned, and need to be severely punished.
Student: Ok Maulana.
Mullah: The verse 4-56 says "Lo! Those who disbelieve our revelations, we shall expose them to the fire. As often as their skins are consumed we shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever mighty, wise."
Student: Sorry to interrupt you again Maulana, but there is another verse that has been omitted here, verse 4-57 says "And as for those who believe and do good works, we shall make them enter the Gardens underneath which rivers flow - to dwell therein for ever." This means that WE is referring to Allah, and he will punish the disbelievers in afterlife. By punishing them ourselves we would violate the Fitna in three ways, viz. To judge instead of God, To punish instead of God and to do so before the allotted deadline. You see, every warning in the Quran is followed by good tidings.
Mullah: Don't you challenge my knowledge. I have been reading the Quran for 60 years now and this is the message that has been sent across through generations, which came from Allah to the Prophet Mohammed, then to our ancestors, upon to me and now I am passing it to you. This is the real message and if you are a follower of Islam, you need to believe it to make a place for yourself in Jannat.
Student: Ok Maulana. If you say so.


The Aftermath


There are many other incidents that will take hundreds of pages to be listed here. These all incidents have been outbursts caused due to religious provoking, or to show whose God is more powerful and whose God's definition is the most truthful. I have not seen anything good done in the world by following a certain religion, rather I have just seen destruction. Then what's the use of such a belief that has proved time and again as a stigma to the world?


The Root Cause

The problem here lies at various levels, starting from the grass root to the peak. The people behind these incidents are blind followers as described in the first section of this post. They had the ability to pose questions such as Why do we do this? and Why don't we do this? but they were suppressed right from their childhood. When questioned by a young chap, the elder fear of losing what they have achieved over the years, the thing they call the enlightened soul. This fear of losing their God, losing their religion, losing their rock-solid beliefs, leading to losing their own identity and self respect, is the root cause behind today's chaos.

It upsets, or rather angers me when I see a mother from today's generation asking a young kid, who has not even learned to understand languages yet, to bow to the almighty or join hands to pray to God. What does the kid know about God? Why is he doing what his mother told him to? He will never get the answers to these questions as by the time he starts understanding, these small things would have already been a daily chores.

Moreover, the child grows up within the closed boundaries of the religion, not open to other religions or the people from other religions. No one taught us to judge people by their names, but then as the child grows in the society, this sense inadvertently starts building up. Have you ever felt an unintentional wince or a recoil of your muscles when you meet a person from another religion? This is because with the name one judges the religion, with the religion one judges the past history about that religion, and with that past history (something that happened over a hundred years ago and could be nowhere related to this person) we judge the person. It's quite unsettling and sad.

I am not against any religion nor do I believe in any religion. I believe every human being has certain fears within him/her and to face those fears, one needs something or someone to rely on. Some people call it God, some call it the spirits, some call it the vibes, some call it the influence of magnetic fields generated by each human being. It's up to every person to have the right to what he wants to believe in. What I am against is this right being violated by thrusting your decision on a new born child. You seal his fate the moment the young one enters this world.

These children then grow up and face the same questions about their religion. And what you see today is the result of their fears and frustration about not knowing the answers to those questions. And to hide these fears, people turn to offensive strategies rather than defensive, and choose dominance over confronting. Believe me majority of the arguments in the world, be it an argument with your wife, your friend, your boss or the arguments between governments and countries end with suppression of one of the parties involved and by dominance of the other.


Solution

There are several solutions to this. I can not say which one is the most effective, but I believe any one can make a huge difference to this world for the future generations.

A. Let the child grow up, build up his own understanding about each religion (and also the evolution theory) and then either choose a religion or choose to be an atheist. It is by doing this we can make people more resistant to sensitive questions on the religion, since by then they would already have the answers to those questions, or would research more to get to the core of their religion.

B. Stop racial profiling. This is the most difficult part as it runs through our blood. However, by allowing your child to make his own decision about religion and ethnicity, the effect would gradually reduce. I was glad to see that the US SSN application form has the ethnicity field, but has made it optional. In a similar way, I think the parents need to give this option to their young ones.

C. Rather than fighting over religions, try to find a common solution, align all the religions (including the evolution theory, Big Bang theory. After all, no religion can deny evolution today. Don't Dis Darwin!) to form a common understanding about the God and the Universe. There are already many similarities between Christianity and Islam, Islam and Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism. It's just that the stories have changed and interpreted in different ways over the centuries. The problem with religious scriptures is that they cannot evolve. Once written down, they cannot be changed. If we broaden our horizon, accept the criticism and be open to improvements, many of the crisis that the world faces today would get resolved.


Disclaimer

All the facts mentioned here are based on what I have read, seen, interpreted and understood. It's just my perspective towards the world today and the plague that's affecting the humankind. My beliefs are open to criticism in the same way as I have been saying throughout this post.

I also know it's not fair to blame the religions completely for the conflicts today. It's more about politics and power. However, these powerful people and politicians fire the guns from the shoulders of religions. My question is, Why are our religions so sensitive that even a spark can cause massive fires and destruction? There must be definitely something wrong in the religious teachings, don't you think so?


12:13 PM | Category: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 0 comments