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

[Yousuf]

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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