I had gone to Mystic Mama again. Had been feeling a little anxious around the house so I went there to eat their pahaadi noodles. It was raining outside. I love this city so much. I love Bombay. I love Mumbai. I love whatever name this city gets conjugated into. I love it for the lushness of stories and films and broken down dreams and illusions that hang in its thick, putrid air. I love it because even in its most indolent self, some scrap of trash becomes my North Star.
I sat inside. I was thinking of my last few days in Bangalore. I was thinking about BJP. I do not support its ideology or its goal of bringing about a Hindu Rashtra, etc. But for once, I was not thinking of it with anger or fear. I mean, as a person who does content marketing herself, one can only marvel at the singularity and cohesiveness of it's messaging, the outreach and stickiness, and the gusto with which everybody in the party believes in the overdue triumph of Hinduism. One strong message spoken strongly over and over again is the stuff any content marketer aims for. They did it.
Overall, I do not feel threatened by Christians and Muslims so I don't think Hinduism needs any deep protection. But I meet more and more people who stridently believe in BJP and its message. And not just people - a few who I deeply love and trust. Even in their eyes, I am some stripe of weak, insipid, hypocritical liberal but they do extend their friendship to me.
But J had long ago once said that a lot of people who claim to be liberals are weak and ill-informed about history. They feel ashamed about their legacy and will bend over backwards to appease minorities. They will shun their own legacy but mostly, become really close-minded and arrogant.
I dismissed all of that. Then one day, J had shared an article on Ayurveda and some BJP minister's endorsement of the same. I think the minister had said something to the effect that it's time to reclaim Indian wellness or something. Someone had responded to J's post by saying that it is precisely because of so-called 'Indian' snake medicine that our mortality rates due to certain illnesses are high, etc. J had responded asking whether the person making the comment had tried Ayurveda and if he had not, he should probably comment after experimenting. The gentleman's response was, in my opinion, disgusting. Up until then, he and I shared a lot of views. I personally believe in alternative healing greatly. In fact, I am very opposed to Big Pharma. But I do think if the establishment is so gung-ho bout people using traditional therapies, they should make insurance cover it. When a Reiki session costs Rs.7,000 upwards, it really may be cheaper to just go in for a dialysis.
Anyway, that guy's vitriolic response to my friend actually made me wonder whether we, who are supposed to be open-minded, are not being completely close-minded ourselves. Because the thing is - when you fight generalization with generalization, you really get nowhere. Not all BJP-supporters are uneducated, insecure louts bloated with privilege. In fact, a couple of really close friends and family members have gone out of their way to help individual Muslim friends. A friend who is so vociferous against Muslims actually moved out of his own apartment building because the committee refused to let a Muslim woman and her daughter rent a room. And then on the day of Article 370, there was a tirade against hypocritical, secural liberals - especially Arundhati Roy.
It's so strange. That people can be blind to their own capacity for kindness towards those who they must ideologically hate.
So, I sat at the coffee shop, watching the rain pelt the ground. A three-legged dog snoozes outside the cafe. He woke up and was jumping up and down. A little boy in a blue jersey rushed towards him and hugged him so tight! That dog's tail wagged so hard that he could have actually flown off. I have had very strong opinions about (against) the BJP. But it's getting tiresome.
This evening, watching the joy of a child, the love of a dog, the poetry of the rain, I allowed myself to get a little weary of this struggle. I think it's quite possible to accomodate a dissenting (and sharply dissenting) point of view with a measure of compassion. It's not just possible but I think necessary. One can't hate the haters. Not when you have known them, loved them, and they have known you, and loved you. Maybe I will just regard a BJP supporter the same way one regards a favorite girlfriend who's dating a guy you find very weird. You don't see the appeal...but hey, if he's loving her right, maybe he can't be all that bad.
Or that's the hope I end with today.
(Oh - and you stay very careful of not dating him or his friends.)
I sat inside. I was thinking of my last few days in Bangalore. I was thinking about BJP. I do not support its ideology or its goal of bringing about a Hindu Rashtra, etc. But for once, I was not thinking of it with anger or fear. I mean, as a person who does content marketing herself, one can only marvel at the singularity and cohesiveness of it's messaging, the outreach and stickiness, and the gusto with which everybody in the party believes in the overdue triumph of Hinduism. One strong message spoken strongly over and over again is the stuff any content marketer aims for. They did it.
Overall, I do not feel threatened by Christians and Muslims so I don't think Hinduism needs any deep protection. But I meet more and more people who stridently believe in BJP and its message. And not just people - a few who I deeply love and trust. Even in their eyes, I am some stripe of weak, insipid, hypocritical liberal but they do extend their friendship to me.
But J had long ago once said that a lot of people who claim to be liberals are weak and ill-informed about history. They feel ashamed about their legacy and will bend over backwards to appease minorities. They will shun their own legacy but mostly, become really close-minded and arrogant.
I dismissed all of that. Then one day, J had shared an article on Ayurveda and some BJP minister's endorsement of the same. I think the minister had said something to the effect that it's time to reclaim Indian wellness or something. Someone had responded to J's post by saying that it is precisely because of so-called 'Indian' snake medicine that our mortality rates due to certain illnesses are high, etc. J had responded asking whether the person making the comment had tried Ayurveda and if he had not, he should probably comment after experimenting. The gentleman's response was, in my opinion, disgusting. Up until then, he and I shared a lot of views. I personally believe in alternative healing greatly. In fact, I am very opposed to Big Pharma. But I do think if the establishment is so gung-ho bout people using traditional therapies, they should make insurance cover it. When a Reiki session costs Rs.7,000 upwards, it really may be cheaper to just go in for a dialysis.
Anyway, that guy's vitriolic response to my friend actually made me wonder whether we, who are supposed to be open-minded, are not being completely close-minded ourselves. Because the thing is - when you fight generalization with generalization, you really get nowhere. Not all BJP-supporters are uneducated, insecure louts bloated with privilege. In fact, a couple of really close friends and family members have gone out of their way to help individual Muslim friends. A friend who is so vociferous against Muslims actually moved out of his own apartment building because the committee refused to let a Muslim woman and her daughter rent a room. And then on the day of Article 370, there was a tirade against hypocritical, secural liberals - especially Arundhati Roy.
It's so strange. That people can be blind to their own capacity for kindness towards those who they must ideologically hate.
So, I sat at the coffee shop, watching the rain pelt the ground. A three-legged dog snoozes outside the cafe. He woke up and was jumping up and down. A little boy in a blue jersey rushed towards him and hugged him so tight! That dog's tail wagged so hard that he could have actually flown off. I have had very strong opinions about (against) the BJP. But it's getting tiresome.
This evening, watching the joy of a child, the love of a dog, the poetry of the rain, I allowed myself to get a little weary of this struggle. I think it's quite possible to accomodate a dissenting (and sharply dissenting) point of view with a measure of compassion. It's not just possible but I think necessary. One can't hate the haters. Not when you have known them, loved them, and they have known you, and loved you. Maybe I will just regard a BJP supporter the same way one regards a favorite girlfriend who's dating a guy you find very weird. You don't see the appeal...but hey, if he's loving her right, maybe he can't be all that bad.
Or that's the hope I end with today.
(Oh - and you stay very careful of not dating him or his friends.)
Comments