Disclaimer :"This post is not meant for sentimental fanatics,neither this side nor on the opposite.It is meant for reasonable practical human beings,which I sincerely believe every common man is."
From times since I began my revolution aroun the sun and now about to complete the 19th iteration, I have never been able to identify myself completely with any rigid social group,friend circle,society or coterie. I believe I have never been competent enough and acutely lack the temperament to belong to these institutions.
Let no stranger assume by the above statement that I am a reticent or reclusive person on the contrary people who know me would vouch for my gregariousness and affability but still when it comes to formalizing and proudly proclaiming ones association I have been a laggard.
I have taken birth in a quintessential modern middle class Hindu family,hence was never troubled with learning the Vedas,Smritis et al ; spirituality at its acme meant chanting Hanuman Chalisa on tuesday in my childhood and fervently praying that the teacher spares the rod on me tomorrow. But slowly and gradually ,call it the grace of god or my sheer disinterest in school curriculum, my wanderings led me to the University Library where I encountered a few authorative texts on Hinduism which made me realize that this faith is neither about asking God for making 2+2=5 in lieu of 1 Kg of laddus nor about just renunciating Moh-Maya and becoming a Bal Brahmachari Baba.I got hooked to Hinduism and this dalliance lasted till the fag end of my schooling (occasional flirting still continues). Thus a natural choice would have been atleast a token and passive membership of some right wing organization but that choice never saw light of the day. I could not reconcile with their line of thought that one can wash-off his sins by dying in Benares or cleanse ones soul by having a dip in MODIfied Ganges. I could not share their contempt and disdain for the four earthly pleasures. I was not able to appreciate ManuSmritis erudition which sometimes appeared draconian to me.Lastly I had a Muslim girlfriend(or closest to ever having a girlfriend) and these bodies would have definitely kicked me out solely on this reason.Hence saffron remained only an acquaintance.
My teenage infatuation for the girl inspired me to do a crash course in Islam.To be brutally honest,it had less to do with knowing about Allah than about flaunting my newfound Islamic rudimentary scholarship to her.Eventually I came to admire the unfliching faith in Allah a true muslim holds. I looked upon Prophet(pbuh) as an idol to emulate.The noble concept of Zakat and the five pillar hold a true testimony to the maganimity of Islam. Islamic Banking always fascinated me. But here also the red lines had already been made : I believed in Idol worship( a strict no in Islam+tolerated in Hinduism) . I always had the grudge that Islam does not provide a level playing field,for instance it encouraged the conversion of Kafirs to Islam but severely condemned the opposite. Thus this questioning mind was not able to find solace in the singularity of Islam.
"Workers of the world unite!! You have nothing to loose but your chains !! "-Those rallying cries were my first contact with Communism/Socialism/Leftism spoken by a Rickshaw puller 6-7 years back at a strike in Badi Market.The passion those words carried moved me. I daresay no modern politicans or speakers word can move me that much. Marx and Engel appeared to me the saviour of these Rickshaw Pullers. Their vision of a casteless society, equal status of men and women;these ideas were the bedrock of modern world. The maxim " From each according to his ability; To each according to his need" has been a gospel truth which should be applied on government policies every now and then.The rendezvous with Leftism ended when I realized that it overlooked a very fundamental natural law-The law of competition.Communists despised competition thus an industrious person would have no place in such a system. Entrepreneurship would have been a distant dream if I would have stayed a Marxist.
Capitalism was never a choice, it was forced down the throat, I was born when India was espousing the capitalistic creed and going gaga over its spillover effects(Effects which are yet to be seen).I never felt attracted to it because I humbly believe it breeds insatiable greed and creates an overtly consumeristic, materialistic world and in its westernized form is completely incogruous for India.
Thus I have always declined to be bound by any interpretation however learned it may be, if it is repugnant to my reason and moral sense. This may seem haughty and might be the reason that I am considered "An Outsider Everywhere" !
From times since I began my revolution aroun the sun and now about to complete the 19th iteration, I have never been able to identify myself completely with any rigid social group,friend circle,society or coterie. I believe I have never been competent enough and acutely lack the temperament to belong to these institutions.
Let no stranger assume by the above statement that I am a reticent or reclusive person on the contrary people who know me would vouch for my gregariousness and affability but still when it comes to formalizing and proudly proclaiming ones association I have been a laggard.
I have taken birth in a quintessential modern middle class Hindu family,hence was never troubled with learning the Vedas,Smritis et al ; spirituality at its acme meant chanting Hanuman Chalisa on tuesday in my childhood and fervently praying that the teacher spares the rod on me tomorrow. But slowly and gradually ,call it the grace of god or my sheer disinterest in school curriculum, my wanderings led me to the University Library where I encountered a few authorative texts on Hinduism which made me realize that this faith is neither about asking God for making 2+2=5 in lieu of 1 Kg of laddus nor about just renunciating Moh-Maya and becoming a Bal Brahmachari Baba.I got hooked to Hinduism and this dalliance lasted till the fag end of my schooling (occasional flirting still continues). Thus a natural choice would have been atleast a token and passive membership of some right wing organization but that choice never saw light of the day. I could not reconcile with their line of thought that one can wash-off his sins by dying in Benares or cleanse ones soul by having a dip in MODIfied Ganges. I could not share their contempt and disdain for the four earthly pleasures. I was not able to appreciate ManuSmritis erudition which sometimes appeared draconian to me.Lastly I had a Muslim girlfriend(or closest to ever having a girlfriend) and these bodies would have definitely kicked me out solely on this reason.Hence saffron remained only an acquaintance.
My teenage infatuation for the girl inspired me to do a crash course in Islam.To be brutally honest,it had less to do with knowing about Allah than about flaunting my newfound Islamic rudimentary scholarship to her.Eventually I came to admire the unfliching faith in Allah a true muslim holds. I looked upon Prophet(pbuh) as an idol to emulate.The noble concept of Zakat and the five pillar hold a true testimony to the maganimity of Islam. Islamic Banking always fascinated me. But here also the red lines had already been made : I believed in Idol worship( a strict no in Islam+tolerated in Hinduism) . I always had the grudge that Islam does not provide a level playing field,for instance it encouraged the conversion of Kafirs to Islam but severely condemned the opposite. Thus this questioning mind was not able to find solace in the singularity of Islam.
"Workers of the world unite!! You have nothing to loose but your chains !! "-Those rallying cries were my first contact with Communism/Socialism/Leftism spoken by a Rickshaw puller 6-7 years back at a strike in Badi Market.The passion those words carried moved me. I daresay no modern politicans or speakers word can move me that much. Marx and Engel appeared to me the saviour of these Rickshaw Pullers. Their vision of a casteless society, equal status of men and women;these ideas were the bedrock of modern world. The maxim " From each according to his ability; To each according to his need" has been a gospel truth which should be applied on government policies every now and then.The rendezvous with Leftism ended when I realized that it overlooked a very fundamental natural law-The law of competition.Communists despised competition thus an industrious person would have no place in such a system. Entrepreneurship would have been a distant dream if I would have stayed a Marxist.
Capitalism was never a choice, it was forced down the throat, I was born when India was espousing the capitalistic creed and going gaga over its spillover effects(Effects which are yet to be seen).I never felt attracted to it because I humbly believe it breeds insatiable greed and creates an overtly consumeristic, materialistic world and in its westernized form is completely incogruous for India.
Thus I have always declined to be bound by any interpretation however learned it may be, if it is repugnant to my reason and moral sense. This may seem haughty and might be the reason that I am considered "An Outsider Everywhere" !
