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The latest story that piqued my interest was about the experience of a Dublin-based Indian author at Frankfurt airport. During a 10-hour layover, Nivedita Shukla was writing and writhing about what bad treatment Indians received overseas. Just about then, she noticed a shabbily dressed brown-skinned man at a bakery perusing the price list. Thinking that the prices were above his budget, and taking pity on a fellow, possibly from the same diaspora, she was about to hand over the extra food she had with her. She started a conversation with him. She asked him where he was headed. Upon his reply, "Karachi!", she immediately changed her mind. She made a U-turn about sharing her food and went away, wandering around the airport to kill time.
She wrote about her experience on her social feeds to varied responses. Some agreed with her decision as an Indian, whilst others chided her move as that was not in keeping with humanity. A few mentioned labelled her a racist and accused her of not practising what she preached.
A hungry person of any colour, nationality, or creed needs help. That everyone accepts as the most humane course of action across cultures. Religions teach that too. No one is excluded from meals in any house of worship just because they are of a different faith. Food remains in the centre of the offering after any worship. After all, it is one of the bear necessities of life. No one can speak of philosophy or the greatness of His creation on an empty stomach.
Saying that, once one completes his duty in his respective abode of the Divine, he morphs into a soldier fighting for survival. He makes a calculated assessment of things around him. Even though humans claim to be civilised and have left their ancestral caveman way of doing things behind, deep down, day-to-day survival is a dog-eat-dog or man-eat-man world. Resources may be dwindling, or a certain party may create an artificial shortage. Plans may be devised to hijack resources to suit people of similar ideologies or ancestry. In essence, we are released into a world so cold that doves cry.
Reading makes the mind grow, we are told. A learned man, on the other hand, knows that he knows nothing. Expanding one's mind makes one realise how ignorant one is. On the contrary, it is the ignoramus who is cocksure about everything. Using concocted 'larger than life ' rhetoric, the little minds put the faith of God into the learned, cowing them to abeyance.
The media makes a fantastic job of carrying tales, creating issues of thin air and sprinkling salt to open wounds to get people dancing like ‘ducks on a hot plate’.
The animosity between India and Pakistan predates Pakistan's formation. Friction between the parent nation and the proponents for a secular nation for Muslims has been ongoing for close to a century. The constant bad-mouthing between nations does not show that tolerance between neighbours is not imminent. The umpteen wars and border clashes will not stop anytime soon. The younger generations are constantly fed the idea that their neighbours are waiting to usurp each other's sovereignty. One accuses the other of being a failed stat,e while the other is dead sure that a fascist regime holds the realm. The latest clash, Operation Sindoor, is testimony to the fact that peace will probably never happen in our lifetimes.
With such sentiments widespread among people on either side of the Indo-Pak border, it is not surprising that the writer responded as she did. Maybe she felt so because she was returning to her motherland. The Indianess in her must have been rejuvenated. Perhaps if they were stationed elsewhere, as colleagues or neighbours, they would have been more cordial and empathetic towards each other.
In a foreign land, they would suddenly realise that they share a common language, food and culture. The host nation always puts them in the same kettle of fish, meeting the same challenges, hence gravitating towards the other.
P.S. A Hindu from Pakistan is caught in a funny quagmire. The typical Hindu Indian would frown upon him for being a Pakistani, but then may find commonality in religion. I wonder how a Pakistani Muslim would view an Indian Muslim? The idea of one country being the domain of a specific religion is laughable for the precise reason. A piece of flag cannot change our wants. At the end of the day, what does an average Joe want? A safe, comfortable environment where he can spend time with family and friends, grow old with them, realise his dreams, and drift into the horizon. Our needs are the same.
Farouk Gulsara (asokansham@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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