My American hospitality

There comes a time not so often when you are shaken to your core. I went through such an experience recently - a very humbling experience it was....

I arrived in West Lafayette, a small teeny weeny university town. Upon arrival, I heard from my fellow GISMAites about a certain Michael Mullen and his Thursday dinners, which are free for all who wish to drop by. I was intrgued and secretly hoped to get invited. And I did get invited ...

Ok, to begin with, I share some classes with Michael who is almost twice my age and a Coast Guard veteran. He is an affable guy - a proud American. So, there was always some respect that I developed for him because of his age and his sometimes funny and direct comments in class - all of which were pretty thoughtful and insightful ...

Now, let's cut back to the dinner.

I and Viveik were picked up by Javier and his wife (who I suppose are regulars to these dinners) and we made a detour to Walmart on our way to Michael's house. Javier and his wife were shopping for something which they were supposed to use to make a special Peruvian drink. Caius brought some real German beer - the Becks.

We were greeted by Michael at the gate and he seemed so excited to have us and ushered us in and offered us drinks. We were later joined by Masa and his wife, Jeri (who happens to be my team mate in a subject). This couple is unique as Masa is Japanese and Jeri a Texan. Both equally warm and likable. Not to mention Ben and his girlfriend and Eric Schwarzkopf who also were in attendance.

Once the dinner was prepared, Michael called us all to assemble around the food and prayed for all and sundry in the world. His prayer was so simple and so touching - wanting the good of all. It reminded me of the times that we are living in. The simple, yet warm, hospitality that the Mullens extended to us - who were complete strangers to them till yesterday - humbled me no end. The food didn't matter. The bonding did. With Masa, with Jeri, with Michael himself and his wife, with Javier and his wife, with Ben, with Eric - I was feeling at home in the company of complete strangers. At home and liberated ....

I realized that the world needs more people like the Mullens. If it so happens, then the world can become a real society of humans - as the world deserves to be.

My heart prayed for the noble people I met and I hope that I can imbibe some of that goodness in me. I will say what Michael did at the end of his prayer that day ... Amen!

Freedom ...

Just read a rivetting column by Tarun Vijay (timesofindia.com) about Hindus being slaughtered and no one making any noise about it - not the media, not any one in ruling or opposition parties. He makes an important point about the death of a Hindu being politically 'discountable' and not worth even mentioning anywhere. He laments the Indian dream as it is today.

Also, I came across the Indian government's proclamation that they won't allow the anti-China protests to be carried out on Indian soil. I was taken aback a bit by this bit not because India was clearly trying to please a nation which doesn't give a damn about India and it's interests, but, because most of the anti-China protestors are basically peace loving Tibetans who basically carry out peaceful protests.

I thought I lived in a country of free speech and free expression. The only thing that is abhorrable is anti-national expression which should be condemned and banned by all means. But, it so appears to me that we are banning the very way of criticising evil that we and our political forefathers endorsed and made it our own - that of Satyagraha. Isn't what the Tibetans carrying out a Satyagraha? - a demand that truth prevail!

In this country of freedom of speech and expression, the government banning such protests - and also protests by doctors for disagreeing with the political elites and their votebank propagandas - leaves a very bad taste for a youngster like me and frightens me as to what and where are we taking this country to?

Today, I see that death of a human being in India is an utterly discountable commodity. Just open the papers and you will find countless tales of murders, arson, gang rapes, societal killings, honour killings, communist killings... you name it and you have it. We have become a society which has accepted as this being a part and parcel of our daily existence. I shudder to think of what we are trying to tell the little ones in India by behaving this way. Should they know that it is ok if a fellow citizen loses his life just because he is ideologically opposed to something?

What is freedom for us? Or is it that we have accepted that it is a word to be used extensively in the History and Civics textbooks till standard 10? There is very little that I see today which tells me that I have freedom of expression and/or speech. It is available to me if it is in the interests of the ruling elite and if not, I am so going to be condemned or worse still, killed.

There is a big splash by the Human Rights people who claim the Gujarat riots and their voicing against it a matter of great deeds by them. But, why are they not speaking against the Bengal and Kerala governments where countless Indians are losing lives daily - just because they are not communists or because they are opposed to the ruling ideology?

There were a few hundreds who died on 9/11 in USA and USA went to war with Afghanistan because of it. We have lost lakhs of brethren in the proxy wars that have been thrust on Indian populace by its ultra-idiotic politicians. Why is it that not a single Human Rights activist taken the case of the Kashmiri Pandits or the Buddhist from the Leh and Laddakh region who are being forcibly converted to Islam or of those RSS activists who are losing lives in Kerala just because they believe in an ideology? Why is India not waging a war against the real fudamentalists like the stupid fatwa-issuing mullahs who don't like that a Muslim girl can play great tennis and against those communists who are hell bent on damaging India's secular fabric and falsely claim that they are the secularist?

I think that we are losing it as a nation. The doctors who were protesting for various issues had a very vital point and none of their protests were violent and the consequence - they were water-cannoned! The Tibetans who protested faced with a similar consequence - jailed! But, the political parties that stage a protest, which is almost always violent with loss of National Property and yet their consequence - they are congratulated and hailed in public and media as great deeds!

I am sick of all this and truly speaking, losing my interest in going out and voting in the elections. But then I remind myself, this is my only way left to disagree with what I do not like and my only weapon of trying to create a change in the mass way. I wish that we go back to the real freedom as envisaged by the great political minds who sought to shape the way India should be. Let's go back to what Dr. Ambedkar envisaged for this young country. He had warned about the wrong use of factionalism by tools like reservations. We have amongst us today a monster - not just of factionalism, but also of religionism, regionalism, ideologism. It's about time that this monster is halted in its tracks and the clock reversed on the events - unfortunate events - of the recent past.

Otherwise, we are in danger of losing our freedom - once and for all .....