To be a Muslim

Few days back, I watched a hindi movie, Aamir. It was a movie about a person who has everything right about him and who deserved a happy and good life. He missed out on it because he is a muslim and his views do not match with religious hatemongers. Irony is that everybody looks at him with suspicion because of the general thinking after 9/11 that every muslim is a terrorist. And his muslim brothers are not ready to embrace him because he is one who is modern. educated and a person with rational thinking.



Leave aside movie, this is true about general atmosphere prevailing in Indian cities. Muslims gave away their identity easily with those burqas and topis. Dangerous thing is that they allowed themselves to be recognized as a saparate group who live as a flock. This perception has never allowed them to become part of mainstream. It is not that hindus are ready to embrace them. When I was in Delhi, I found muslims are limited to certain very old and poor areas. These were sub-standard all-muslim colonies of old delhi and turkman gate. Even in hyderabad, city is properly divided between hindu areas and muslim areas. My friends who were living there for 20 years warns me of going to charminar, the central point of old hyderabad. Even Banglore was same. Media played a special role in it. When a Ishant Sharma become successful, nobody points out that he is a hindu but when a Irfan Pathan became successful, everyone was gung-ho about a muslim doing well for India. Itis not that opportunities are not there but problem is that their co-workers generally practice minimum interaction policy with them and there are very people who can survive that suffocating environment of quite hostility. Reservations will worsen the situation. Indian middle class is paranoid with suspicion and fear. It is our failure that we fail to recognize a sizable section as our own.

We have to protect characters like Aamir because they are they are fighting on two fronts. We have to give power to them, believe to them that they are not alone in their fight against hatemongers and fundamentalists who want a big section of society languishing in dark age. I have found my Aamir long ago. You have to find yours.

Fly Smart

I don't whether you are aware of the title or not but people who frequently travels by air can easily identify it as tag line of a domestic airliner. These days, domestic airlines are raining in India. In every six months, new airlines are coming up. But that does not mean that quality is improving. Well, my experience has told me that at least in airlines industry, quantity and quality are inversely proportional. I think I should return to 'fly smart' airlines. Recently I got a chance to travel from Bombay to Delhi via that airliner. Most of my friends had warned me in advance that these flights are rarely on time. Well, I was lucky that I became a party to that rare occasion. When I boarded the flight, I was searching for those pretty faces and greetings. Well there was none. None pretty faces do not had time to say even a hello. Plane was as worse as it could be. My seat adjuster was absent from its place. Plane was like someone has put it on runway directly from a warehouse. When treatment of passengers by support staff was very rude. They were giving a definite feeling that we were unwanted there. You can say why I am so much fuss about these petty things. After all, I have to tolerate this only for 2 hours. Well, I spent a good amount of money for travel and I have right to expect good service. I was thinking at that time of tag line 'fly smart'. This airliner is owned by a big bollywood actress and a business tycoon. I don't know whether they are taking revenge on us for their own poor traveling experience . It is not that only this airlines provide this kind of treatment. I had a terrible experience with other private airlines when I went to them for cancellation of ticket. I don't know what is qualification for sitting on ticket counters but we can expect them to understand simple english. It was written in terms and condition section that tickets can be cancelled 2 hours prior to departure. Well, those guys were adamant that they will cancel ticket only exactly two hours before departure. I had to don the cap of english tutor to the people who desperately don't want to learn the things. These incidents not one off incidents. Air travel has become a compulsion for the people who are working very far from their home towns and cannot afford two days of travelling in train in a professional environment which is all about time-constraints. I am not against private airlines. these are all responsible for fall in airfares. But they are not providing service for pennies. Airfares are still not that low that you can ignore poor service. Next time, when you try to book a flight, you better check with your friends and relatives and remember the tag line 'fly smart'.