Tags:
Journalism of Courage
One of the saddest cultural casualties in the Tiranga Wars is our natural irreverence, our delicious freedom to joke about with God and godly matters. Nowadays, we actively LOOK for insults and reasons to be offended, even where none exist. The most illiterate example of this last week was the idiotic ban, now revoked, on Thiruvalluvar8217;s Thirukkural, an outstanding secular work. It is our cultural and constitutional right to read these books 8212; yes, even the Vedanta. To cut us off from them is to perpetuate Macaulay8217;s 8220;infamous8221; Minute on Education. How could you, Mr Singh? Must the 8220;believing8221; modern Hindu, whose faith survived the centuries but was battered beyond belief by Saffronist poverty of imagination, scuttle back into the closet? An action replay of when the Left ruled media and academia? The reason Hindutva is hated by so many Hindus is that it is a mirror image of the jihadi belief system: 8220;One way, my way8221;. Please don8217;t mirror Murli Manohar Joshi, Mr Singh. Or Mullah Omar.
Instead, let8217;s put away religion for a while from political scrutiny and try getting back to an easy, happy familiarity with the Divine. Many of us remember laughing about God in public without anyone getting hyper. The Swiss laugh at their own kanjoosi with the joke that once, God came down to visit Switzerland. He went to a shepherd8217;s hut and tenderly enquired if all was well. 8220;Everything is wonderful!8221; gushed the man, offering God a glass of fresh milk. 8220;You have really provided so well for the Swiss: lush meadows, great mountains, cows and goats that yield rich milk, no political trouble8230;thank You, Lord!8221; Highly pleased, the Almighty prepared to depart, at which the Swiss automatically said: 8220;Ein und schwanzig, bitte One-twenty francs, please.8221;
