The Identity Crisis
Note:- This is a guest post by Indu who blogs at My Blog 
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‘Pata hai? Uski mom Christian hai aur uske papa Hindu’.
‘Tera religion kya hai?’
‘Tu temple jati hai ya church?’
Think of a 10 year old kid trying to answer these questions. Having two not-so-religious parents of different religions at home meant that while she was told stories about Gods, she was never made to pray or visit a place of worship. She knew a little Hinduism. She knew a little Christianity. But she had never really bothered about what she was.
She wasn’t even sure if she had a religion.
When the Muslim owned bakery outside the temple was looted and torched in 2002 and she saw that happening from the campus gate, it sent shockwaves in her mind. It was an image that would stay with her forever. And since then for a time of about 2 to 3 years every time there was news of a riot somewhere or anti-conversion rallies or any such religion-inspired violence, she would get really scared and insecure.
She never felt happy about being the child of an ‘inter religious’ family. Somehow it would trouble her. But one meeting with another person like her changed it all. The sheer pride and ease with which he would talk about it showed her a different perspective about all this.
All of a sudden, she started feeling proud about her parents and the way they brought her up. She noticed that she was way more tolerant than the other kids around her who knew their religion. In fact she knew their religions better than they did. She would be as excited to see Parsi Agiyari as she would be to see a Jewish Synagogue or a really old mosque. She was more willing than others, to not walk on the grass and take the longer way, because a particular Jain friend of hers did not like it. She would be careful not to eat in front a Muslim friend during Roza.
And yes, she did finally discover her religion. She was secular. But her ’secular’ was not the absence of religion, God and faith. It was taking the best from all religions.
———-
This is not just a story. I believe the key to a better future for our nation lies in here. Today, we blame our differences for all our problems. Rather let us make our differences and diversity our strength. Let us appreciate our differences. Let us respect our diversity. Let us take the best from all cultures, religions and races.
And let us pledge to not fight each other on these differences at the behest of men who wish to destroy our nation.
PS: She still don’t know what her caste is. 
P.S. 1.- All views on this post are solely of the author.
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Vands said,
April 3, 2009 @ 4:20 pm
Beautiful thoughts… reminded me of this chapter we had in hindi “Vishwa Mandir”…
PS: I also found out my caste only a couple of years ago and I still don’t know what it means
Winnie the poohi said,
April 3, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
Let us start doing and stop wishing *sigh*
Wonderful thoughts!
Fatema / Shivanand said,
April 3, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
It was a pleasure to read your article. After a long time we read something nice. Thanks for the post, especially the last few lines…
kunjal said,
April 3, 2009 @ 5:24 pm
nice post Indu
prabodh said,
April 4, 2009 @ 12:23 am
amazin post indu
way 2 gud
m proud of u n d post
lets hope it leaves a mark on dose who read it
Indu said,
April 4, 2009 @ 5:39 pm
Vands,
That lesson Vishwamandir, is it in the ncert textbook?
Thank you.
Winnie,
I hope for the same. And Thank you.
Fatema / Shivanand,
Thank you so much for liking the post.
Kunjal,
Thank you
Prabs,
Thank you so much. *hugs*
Cuckoo,
Thank you for posting it here.
soumya said,
April 4, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
indu……
u rock yaar reely……..
awesum job.
keep goin!
~vagabond~ said,
April 7, 2009 @ 1:33 am
A well written post…reminds me of one of my closest friends who too comes from an interreligious background (her mum is catholic, her dad is muslim)…the beauty of it is that neither imposed their religion on each other nor their children and my friend and her siblings were always free to choose whatever faith they chose to believe in.
Vands said,
April 8, 2009 @ 9:42 pm
yup it was ncert…