On an average I get about 50 – 60 calls a day, of which,
several are from unknown numbers. One such call from an unknown number flashed
on my screen at about 5:30 pm today. I should say that the phone call left me
feeling very uneasy about myself. The 4 minute conversation has left me
thinking if I’m indeed the “forward thinking” guy living in a metropolitan
city.
The caller was a guy called Abu who was interested in my
renting my apartment in Mira road. Due to the housing society rules and fear of
unknown on my part, I ended up telling him that the flat is let out only to
Hindus. He promptly apologized for having “wasted my time”
What is in a name? You may ask. Well, if you are a Muslim,
try getting a house on rent in Mumbai, The city that never sleeps, the financial capital of India is divided over
religion and cast behind the veneer of glamour. It is a daunting task for a
non-Hindu, especially a Muslim, to go about looking for a house on rent. While
there are enough and more flats available, they are out of bounds for Muslims
due to a multitude of reasons.
In the forward-looking India, secularism has become
a slave of religious lobbies. Religious
open-mindedness is measured in economic and cultural terms. Ironically, the
Muslims who are aired as examples of the ‘good’ ones are not in a position to
speak on behalf of a large community who live lives of abject poverty and fear.
They are also dehumanized by the media. The media creates
the larger part of most people’s reality here and they look to it as almost the
sole source of their information and reality and wait to be told what to think The
world media has portrayed minority communities as being opposed to modernity,
women, and world peace. Such ideas have percolated deeply everywhere, including
India, and destroyed the centuries-old bonds of friendship and tolerance. The
state should make efforts through the media and educational programmes to
change this scenario. Political parties should ask their cadres to propagate
Hindu-Muslim unity. Only persistent and organized effort with a
considerable measure of internal order and purposeful orientation, maintaining
group solidarity, a successful political activism can yield results.
Just to let whoever is reading this blog, I’m yet to find
a tenant L
Its all starts From "I" First... And Then we can expect it from Others.... :) :)
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - Sure. Trying to fight the devil inside!!
DeleteSome thoughts on this. While looking for a house have faced some obstacles ( rare I would say ). But met far far more welcome open minded people than the conservatives.
ReplyDeleteMy belief is that the religious divide is surely coming down (and it is inspite of the political parties). What brings people together is commonality of mindset. I have a equal unwillingness to share lifestyle with a conservative who practices my religion.
Being brought up in a family who always had pride in the Maharashtrian culture, think adapting commanality of cultures is very important keeping religion in a separate bucket.