National integration of a kind!

In the early sixties in the one ox town where I lived, barring the equivalent of the French nobility in the town, people moved about naked waist up. The first of saris in Kerala was known as chela. It was always of red colour and the length did not matter except when it had to be spread out to dry after a wash…many owned only one chela. While that one was drying on the shores of the pond the nubile wearers had to swim in the buff until the chela was dried. Unfortunately the dressing patterns have changed over the years forcing less exposure because of more exposure.

The exodus of Malayalees to the ‘gulf’ spread over a period from 1972 to 1983. If Haryana had at least one member from a ‘feuding’ family in the Army there was at least one ‘saviour’ in the gulf from each family in Kerala by the late 1980s. The off shore malayalees pumped in the much required cash to rejuvenate the perennially impoverished state economy if ever there was one.  The state then had no real industry to boast – not even the currently thriving “tourism” economy in the God’s own country. So it was in the late 1980s during one of my infrequent visits to my erstwhile ‘country’ where I had rubbed shoulders with the Gods and partook in the ‘toddy’ rituals which followed local acts of appeasement of deities known to the world as ‘Theyyam’, ‘Thira’ et al, I found that most women wore ‘maxis’. Maxi as is known popularly is a loose and colourful dress resembling the outer cassocks worn by the Christian clergy. This initial import from gulf into Kerala, the maxi, served as an all-purpose dress for all occasions. Women wore it to bed as well as to attend weddings!!! The general refrain those days was ‘uski maxi meri maxi se rangeen kaise?’ (hindi translation from Malayalam for better assimilation and picturisation in the vein of the popular ad echoing similar sentiments). The similarity of the dress with the traditional mundu (which is a white lungi, for better understanding by the uninitiated) that when donning either one had the option of wearing nothing underneath, for that forever liberated feeling. But the similarity ended there. The maxi can never be as elegant and appealing as a mundu.

These days salwar-kameez is the National dress of all Indian women! There was a time in the South when the unmarried wore half sari, the married wore sari and grandmothers wore the long sari(nine yards)…now everybody wears salwar-kameez in the South as the women  have been doing for ages in the Punjab…

“Things from the heart don't have an explanation."

Political thinkers have opined that but for the British quelling the 1857 revolt by native Indian British soldiers, the polity of India as we have today may have been several states, controlled severally, most of them Islamic. What may have been is not that significant as what it is.

Today India is a Nation that defies political logic. It is one unique polity in the world which survives as a unified Nation with such a diverse religious and cultural dispositions. Yet we are afraid to debate religion and cultures. A debate is but an expression of opinions supported by arguments. A debate does not aim to come to any conclusion either way. If at all, it is for the audience to come to conclusions.

Can India as a Nation, with its diversity, progress emotionally and evolve, if there are no debates on religions, beliefs and faiths?

In regard to a debate on religion, I say hurting religious sentiment is a misnomer.  Sentimentality is an emotional state disproportionate to the situation, and thus replaces extreme and generally unthinking feeling for normal ethical and intellectual judgment. Psychologically sentiment is an abnormal condition. While there can be a condition of religious sentiment, being abnormal it cannot be hurt but only aggravated.  

The very term belief is anathema to the intellect. A belief is something you suppose it to be true just because it has been said as such over generations or by somebody you trust. It you KNEW this belief to be true, then it ceases to be a belief. Constantly seeking the truth is a must for a progressive society. When any society stops seeking the truth, it will be exploited by vested inters groups. Similarly “I have faith in him (may be your lawyer) to get me out of this” is different from “I know he will get me out of this”. The latter is more reassuring.

Being critical of religion and religious practices is a must for an evolving society to free itself from archaic practices of the ancient and medieval era. Instead of shying away, discussions on religions and methods should be encouraged in a thinking (wo)man.

A discussion need not be derogatory of individuals or groups. It is after prolonged discussions and consideration of differing opinions the Pope had allowed the use of condoms – under certain circumstances. The change is a result of objecting to a belief in the first instance. And just yesterday, departing from laid down practice, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of underprivileged women during the traditional Maundy Thursday ritual. Afterwards he said that the gesture came from his heart as a show of love and service and added “things from the heart don't have an explanation."