[Reader-list] The Epitaph of a Mind: Vir Sanghvi

[Rahul Asthana]

Dear Yousuf,
It isn't clear from your email whether you agree or disagree with the writers contention. Can you please clarify?

Thanks
Rahul


--- On Thu, 3/26/09, Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The Epitaph of a Mind: Vir Sanghvi
> To: "Sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>, "Wali Arifi" <waliarifi3 at gmail.com>
> Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009, 12:13 PM
> Thanks Wali Arifi for posting this write-up.
> I am amazed at the shallowness of the analysis made by such
> an experienced journalist. If one can get to know about the
> people of a certain country simply by observing the most
> apparent signs (as seen on TV) of last few days and
> generalize that they are evil or different or whatever,
> compared to us, then I think Vir Sanghvi is right. But I am
> sure such a simple generalization could even be made by a
> 6th grade school student brought up on a diet of TV news.
> 
> If Pakistanis are not the same people as us (Indians)
> simply because over last 60 years they have grown to become
> something else (something of an evil), haven't we
> Indians grown to become something else? What makes
> Mr.Sanghvi think that among the twins separated at birth one
> has gone in the right direction while the other one has been
> spoiled.
> 
> But talking about the same-ness, at one level even the
> residents of Amritsar and Lahore have been very different
> (even before 1947), and at another level, the people of
> Kabul and Kandhamal are the same, even today. Am I not
> right?
> 
> Yousuf
> 
> 
> --- On Thu, 3/26/09, Wali Arifi
> <waliarifi3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: Wali Arifi <waliarifi3 at gmail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] The Epitaph of a Mind: Vir
> Sanghvi
> > To: "Sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009, 11:07 AM
> > Vir Sanghvi, Hindustan Times
> > March 07, 2009
> > First Published: 21:47 IST(7/3/2009)
> > 
> > The same people? Surely not
> > 
> > Few things annoy me as much as the claim often
> advanced by
> > well-meaning but woolly- headed (and usually Punjabi)
> > liberals to the
> > effect that when it comes to India and Pakistan,
> > "We’re all the same
> > people, yaar."
> > 
> > This may have been true once upon a time. Before 1947,
> > Pakistan was
> > part of undivided India and you could claim that
> Punjabis
> > from West
> > Punjab (what is now Pakistan) were as Indian as, say,
> > Tamils from
> > Madras.
> > 
> > But time has a way of moving on. And while the gap
> between
> > our
> > Punjabis (from east Punjab which is now the only
> Punjab
> > left in India)
> > and our Tamils may actually have narrowed, thanks to
> > improved
> > communications, shared popular culture and greater
> physical
> > mobility,
> > the gap between Indians and Pakistanis has now widened
> to
> > the extent
> > that we are no longer the same people in any
> significant
> > sense.
> > 
> > This was brought home to me most clearly by two major
> > events over the
> > last few weeks.
> > 
> > The first of these was the attack on the Sri Lankan
> cricket
> > team on
> > the streets of Lahore. In their defence, Pakistanis
> said
> > that they
> > were powerless to act against the terrorists because
> > religious
> > fanaticism was growing. Each day more misguided
> youngsters
> > joined
> > jihadi outfits and the law and order situation
> worsened.
> > 
> > Further, they added, things had got so bad that in the
> > tribal areas
> > the government of Pakistan had agreed to suspend the
> rule
> > of law under
> > pressure from the Taliban and had conceded that sharia
> law
> > would reign
> > instead. Interestingly, while most civilised liberals
> > should have been
> > appalled by this surrender to the forces of extremism,
> many
> > Pakistanis
> > defended this concession.
> > 
> > Imran Khan (Keble College, Oxford, 1973-76) even
> declared
> > that sharia
> > law would be better because justice would be dispensed
> more
> > swiftly!
> > (I know this is politically incorrect but the Loin of
> the
> > Punjab’s
> > defence of sharia law reminded me of the famous
> Private Eye
> > cover when
> > his marriage to Jemima Goldsmith was announced. The
> Eye
> > carried a
> > picture of Khan speaking to Jemima’s father. “Can
> I
> > have your
> > daughter’s hand?” Imran was supposedly asking
> James
> > Goldsmith. “Why?
> > Has she been caught shoplifting?” Goldsmith replied.
> So
> > much for
> > sharia law.)
> > 
> > The second contrasting event was one that took place
> in Los
> > Angeles
> > but which was perhaps celebrated more in India than in
> any
> > other
> > country in the world. Three Indians won Oscars: A.R.
> > Rahman, Resul
> > Pookutty and Gulzar.
> > 
> > Their victory set off a frenzy of rejoicing. We were
> proud
> > of our
> > countrymen. We were pleased that India’s
> entertainment
> > industry and
> > its veterans had been recognised at an international
> > platform. And all
> > three men became even bigger heroes than they already
> were.
> > 
> > But here’s the thing: Not one of them is a Hindu.
> > 
> > Can you imagine such a thing happening in Pakistan?
> Can you
> > even
> > conceive of a situation where the whole country would
> > celebrate the
> > victory of three members of two religious minorities?
> For
> > that matter,
> > can you even imagine a situation where people from
> > religious
> > minorities would have got to the top of their fields
> and
> > were,
> > therefore, in the running for international awards?
> > 
> > On the one hand, you have Pakistan imposing sharia
> law,
> > doing deals
> > with the Taliban, teaching hatred in madrasas,
> declaring
> > jihad on the
> > world and trying to kill innocent Sri Lankan
> cricketers. On
> > the other,
> > you have the triumph of Indian secularism.
> > 
> > The same people?
> > 
> > Surely not.
> > 
> > We are defined by our nationality. They choose to
> define
> > themselves by
> > their religion.
> > 
> > But it gets even more complicated. As you probably
> know,
> > Rahman was
> > born Dilip Kumar. He converted to Islam when he was
> 21. His
> > religious
> > preferences made no difference to his prospects. Even
> now,
> > his music
> > cuts across all religious boundaries. He’s as much
> at
> > home with Sufi
> > music as he is with
> > bhajans. Nor does he have any problem with saying
> ‘Vande
> > Mataram’.
> > 
> > Now, think of a similar situation in Pakistan. Can you
> > conceive of a
> > Pakistani composer who converted to Hinduism at the
> age of
> > 21 and
> > still went on to become a national hero? Under sharia
> law,
> > they’d
> > probably have to execute him.
> > 
> > Resul Pookutty’s is an even more interesting case.
> Until
> > you realise
> > that Malayalis tend to put an ‘e’ where the rest
> of us
> > would put an
> > ‘a,’ (Ravi becomes Revi and sometimes the Gulf
> becomes
> > the Gelf), you
> > cannot work out that his name derives from Rasool, a
> fairly
> > obviously
> > Islamic name.
> > 
> > But here’s the point: even when you point out to
> people
> > that Pookutty
> > is in fact a Muslim, they don’t really care. It
> makes no
> > difference to
> > them. He’s an authentic Indian hero, his religion is
> > irrelevant.
> > 
> > Can you imagine Pakistan being indifferent to a
> man’s
> > religion? Can
> > you believe that Pakistanis would not know that one of
> > their Oscar
> > winners came from a religious minority? And would any
> > Pakistani have
> > dared bridge the religious divide in the manner Resul
> did
> > by referring
> > to the primeval power of Om in his acceptance speech?
> > 
> > The same people?
> > 
> > Surely not.
> > 
> > Most interesting of all is the case of Gulzar who many
> > Indians believe
> > is a Muslim. He is not. He is a Sikh. And his real
> name is
> > Sampooran
> > Singh Kalra.
> > 
> > So why does he have a Muslim name?
> > 
> > It’s a good story and he told it on my TV show some
> years
> > ago. He was
> > born in West Pakistan and came over the border during
> the
> > bloody days
> > of Partition. He had seen so much hatred and religious
> > violence on
> > both sides, he said, that he was determined never to
> lose
> > himself to
> > that kind of blind religious prejudice and fanaticism.
> > 
> > Rather than blame Muslims for the violence inflicted
> on his
> > community
> > — after all, Hindus and Sikhs behaved with equal
> ferocity
> > — he adopted
> > a Muslim pen name to remind himself that his identity
> was
> > beyond
> > religion. He still writes in Urdu and considers it
> > irrelevant whether
> > a person is a Sikh, a Muslim or a Hindu.
> > 
> > Let’s forget about political correctness and come
> clean:
> > can you see
> > such a thing happening in Pakistan? Can you actually
> > conceive of a
> > famous Pakistani Muslim who adopts a Hindu or Sikh
> name out
> > of choice
> > to demonstrate the irrelevance of religion?
> > 
> > My point, exactly.
> > 
> > What all those misguided liberals who keep blathering
> on
> > about us
> > being the same people forget is that in the 60-odd
> years
> > since
> > Independence, our two nations have traversed very
> different
> > paths.
> > 
> > Pakistan was founded on the basis of Islam. It still
> > defines itself in
> > terms of Islam. And over the next decade as it
> destroys
> > itself, it
> > will be because of Islamic extremism.
> > 
> > India was founded on the basis that religion had no
> role in
> > determining citizenship or nationhood. An Indian can
> belong
> > to any
> > religion in the world and face no discrimination in
> his
> > rights as a
> > citizen.
> > 
> > It is nobody’s case that India is a perfect society
> or
> > that Muslims
> > face no discrimination. But only a fool would deny
> that in
> > the last
> > six decades, we have travelled a long way towards
> religious
> > equality.
> > In the early days of independent India, a Yusuf Khan
> had to
> > call
> > himself Dilip Kumar for fear of attracting religious
> > prejudice.
> > 
> > In today’s India, a Dilip Kumar can change his name
> to
> > A.R. Rahman and
> > nobody really gives a damn either way.
> > 
> > So think back to the events of the last few weeks. To
> the
> > murderous
> > attack on innocent Sri Lankan cricketers by jihadi
> fanatics
> > in a
> > society that is being buried by Islamic extremism. And
> to
> > the triumphs
> > of Indian secularism.
> > 
> > Same people?
> > 
> > Don’t make me laugh.
> > _________________________________________
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