Proud to be an Indian

My husband and I were having our usual late night banter on all possible topics under the sun, when we started talking about secularism and India. Actually it started with my relating to him the anecdotes of one of my colleagues who was born and brought up in Saudi Arabia. He was telling me how strict and intolerant they were in Saudi about religious beliefs and practices. During the month of Ramzan none of the shops and restaurants were open during the day..people would go for prayers leaving their shops unattended..no one was allowed to openly practise their religion..you couldn't celebrate a festival at home by inviting people over..idols couldnt be brought into the country..and other such mind boggling nuggets of information that I found completely horrifying and unpalatable.

That is when we commented on how secular India really is. It is the one place where you can practise and live by your religious beliefs with all indepedence and due right. This is the one country where we have been tolerant to all religions from time immemorial. We have embraced every new faith and given it refuge in this land. People of every faith have found India to be a safe haven where they will not be persecuted on the basis of their religion. More importantly we have absorbed them into our social framework so that they have become a part of our land. This is what makes India special. Never will anybody be told that he cannot worship his God. No God shall be decried, no religious called pagan. Except in certain times in History, never has there been a Hindu conversion drive. Because you cannot become a Hindu, you have to be born one.

I am not religious by nature and do not frequent temples. But that notwithstanding I think as Hindus we should be proud of our religion that is all accepting and tolerant and proscribes no rigid laws on what is right and worng and teaches us to do our duty and go with the flow while keeping an open mind about things.

It is hence with digust that I view the recent acts by supposed Hindu harliners who are transgressing this very essence of Hinduism to further their selfish, political agendas. Let them not do in in the name of this timeless religion that was the forerunner of environmentalism in its reverence for all natural forces and elements, that realised the plurality of religious beliefs and truly understood the omniscience and omnipresence of God.