Opinion A ear for an eye

Romil Parikh’s father was trapped in the Trident hotel for 36 hours. He was having dinner with two friends when the militants struck the hotel’s Kandahar restaurant. Along with a dozen others,they were marched up fifteen flights of stairs to a landing in the fire escape,lined together and fired at with AK 47s. A bullet grazed his father’s neck and he collapsed with the other bodies piling up on top of him. His father and three others survived after playing dead for the next two days. After attending a mob-like angry protest march at Mumbai’s Gateway of India post the attacks,where over a lakh citizens arrived (some from suburbs that took an hour’s train ride to reach),Parikh recounted his father’s story on Facebook. His essay was an enriching prose,one that spoke of constructive anger. Of action not guided by passions of a frustrated youth blaming the ineptness of the government and of machinations of Pakistan,but of not preaching violence without understanding its true nature. He wrote of not succumbing to corruption,as it is the cancer of our society. And very importantly,he wrote of reaching across communal borders and getting to know other religions. “It is only after we start this dialogue on a basic level,will we be able to be undivided when the terrorists try to divide us.” Within 24 hours,over 100 people had responded to him.

A few days ago,a very orthodox Gujarati man I know got into a taxi I was alighting. “Walkeshwar leke jana,chacha,” he smiled wide at the taxi driver,a bearded,fez-donning man,touching the man’s elbow warmly. A Muslim friend just returned home from New York City,with his new Pakistani bride. The airport was a cakewalk,they said,even their luggage wasn’t profiled. A non-Muslim India’s reaction to Islam is far more measured and even sympathetic than it had ever been. Kavita Karkare,wife of Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare,who was slain in the terror attacks at Cama Hospital,made a remarkable statement beseeching the country to hold on tight to its secular ethic. Imrana Khera,a Pakistani American researcher and programme officer for the Asia Society,New York City,was visiting Mumbai. “Being in Mumbai now after 26/11,it seems that the backlash against Muslims is not happening here,which I am relieved to see. If people learn more about the Islamic faith,I hope they will realise that the people who have committed these acts of terrorism call themselves Muslim,but the majority of the world’s Muslims do not condone these acts,and in fact,think of their behaviour as going against all the ideals and principles of Islam.”

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This year will see two film releases by the king of candyfloss entertainment,Karan Johar,both about the Muslim today. Jihad stars India’s sweethearts Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan and is being directed by Rensil De Silva who made a strong political statement with his erstwhile Rang De Basanti,while Shah Rukh Khan stars in the provocatively titled My Name is Khan. A devout Muslim convert,AR Rahman,is on the threshold of bringing India top-lining awards in entertainment,the Golden Globe and hopefully the Academy Award. (Interestingly,his composition for Jodhaa Akbar ,that married Sufi dervish chants with Krishna bhajans,is still a hot-seller a whole year later). William Dalrymple’s 2002 White Mughals is an ode to the beauty in Islam. The historical tale that Salman Rushdie says has contemporary echoes,is of those British officers posted in India who converted to Islam for love,adapting the dress,mores and the language of the Deccan,and promoting trans-culturalisation that seems odd today.

An eye for an eye is for the blind,the new Indian wants to lend his ear instead.

namrata.sharma@expressindia.com