Intimacies Remapped

re: Harish Nambiar

This was a very insightful article. It offered a slice of a very unique perspective on India. Since the article was based on personal experiences, it did spotlight a very interesting topic; the nature of Indian perceptions about India itself.

Harish, I have question, which is more a point of clarification.

It seems that there is a very fine line between communalism and prejudice. It is a known fact that prejudice; religious, social or cultural, has existed in India for centuries and is as common as it is in the rest of the world. Communalism, in my understanding of the term, is when politics is infused into this equation and the problem becomes more pronounced.

Therefore, when you suggested an increase in communalism in India, you are simply reacting to the vocalization of an already existing problem of prejudice. Again, based on what I understood, Nehru`s brand of socialist secularism brushed many issues under the carpet and these issues were not allowed to be said aloud and recently, all these issues became a part of the public debate and re-surfaced into the Indian political discourse. It seems that Nehru`s secularism was based on the idea of denying the chacteristics of a Hindu majority and BJP`s vision of Hinduvta politics simply removed that restriction. Hence, there has been no tangible increase in communalism in India, but what has really happened is that there has been a more increased awareness of the prejudices, which already existed in the Indian society as a result of the majority reclaiming its dominant status in Indian politics.

If you are friends are taken as a barometer of Indian public opinion, which is a highly prolematic proposal in its own right, it would seem that people are not reacting to the politically correct secularism of Nehru, but are openly voicing their opinions on issues facing India and affecting Indians in particular.

Thus, the questions remain; was it your reaction, while listening to the conversations of your friends, which made you aware of this issue? I am sure, you might be aware of the problem, as a reporter, but you might not be aware or were not ready to accept the fact, with which ease the issue of ``communalism`` was discussed in a company, which you understood to be free of such prejudices?

Would that be fair question to ask?

Ciao

harish,

there is so much here. . . i like the way you have described all your friends and their importance in the unfolding of this journey you are on, and the commonalities among you in the midst of communality.

look forward to reading more. . .perhaps then i can voice more thoughts, and not be so quick to judge what the proper context is here.

--ana

Dear Mr. Nambiar,
You have a nice narrative style. I would like to urge you to analyse the communal problem in India in its proper context i.e. analyse it with the past history of 1000 years, and not with the events of last 50 or 100 years. Has it ever occurred to anybody amongst the ``elite`` in India that the collective Hindu psyche has deep gashes and scars? When somebody like V.S. Naipaul points out these gashes and scars, he is branded as ``communal``. That`s the problem. Pakistanis and I suspect Muslims in general are clear in one respect: they did not simply coexist with the Hindus, they ``ruled`` Hindus for 700 years. There is no confusion in their mind about that.
I would like to see prominent Muslim religious and political leaders in India to come out and admit that a lot of wrongdoings took place during the Muslim period and they feel really ``sorry`` about it. But can they do it? I suspect not. The fundamental problem is that Islam is a confrontational proselytising faith. It does not recognise the validity of any other way of life. Islam can never be assimilated and Islam has failed to convert Hindusthan into ``Land of Islam`` in 1000 years whereas it took Islam around 100 years to convert the whole of Middle East and North Africa into ``Land of Islam``. Therefore I think that unless these are some dogmatic changes within Islam, this confrontation will carry on until one side is decisively defeated. What side are you on Mr. Nambiar?