Are we prejudiced?

I have something to confess. I went to watch Asia Cup match last year here where this incident took place. It was at the stadium; entry is free for all. I guess its a move to popularise the sport, and I could see that for every match, the stadium was jam-packed. This one was during the finals - India vs Korea. Me, Paro and her 2 friends went to see the match. We sat on those cement benches. We'd taken the Indian flag along with us and also made some pickets to encourage our team. Also, this was sometime after the bomb blasts at Hyderabad. So, there we are enjoying the match and having a good time. Suddenly, I hear cries of "Allah hu Akbar"! A bunch of guys sitting behind us were shouting it repeatedly. At once, (and I'm ashamed of myself) alarm bells rang in my head! OM MY GOD! What if they want to blow up this place?! What if ... ? Unthinkable questions came into my mind and I couldn't concentrate on cheering our team. The other girls were busy doing it, but my heart was pounding. I whispered my fears into Paro's ears and immediately, she said, we should to the VIP area of the stadium. We had passes, but we chose to sit on the benches cuz we were in a hurry. The queue for VIP area was long, and everyone was being frisked. Whereas to go to the common area, people were just let in. Anyways, she said we should move ASAP to the VIP area and we did. Nothing happened. Match proceeded smoothly, and we won by 7 goals to 2.

I felt really bad about myself. Ashamed. Guilty. Since when did I start thinking that a Muslim praising Allah is a terrorist waiting to blow up the place? Why did I think like that? Does it mean that I'm one of those narrow minded people, who decide whether to befriend a person or not by judging him/her by his/her last name? Or religion? No. A big resounding NO. I'm a person who thinks religion is only a way to have faith in a super power above, the Almighty. It maybe Krishna, Allah, Moses, Jesus - all. And I don't bias anyone on anything. People have a reason to behave the way they do, and the only way is to understand them, not simply judge them. But for that day, I can't seem to forgive myself. Muslims in our country have been wronged. But their methods are not right. Bloodshed is not the answer for anything. But, just because one of them is bad, doesn't mean all end up as terrorists!

I have a couple of Muslim friends who love India, and are extremely peace-loving. Recently, all Imams came together and said that what Islamic terrorists are doing is not jihad, its fasad. And fasad is prohibited according to Quran. If today some are fanatics, don't you think that something/someone has rubbed them the wrong way? Who would willingly, for no reason, want to kill people? Who would want to blow themselves up in a hospital, killing sick people and doctors?

The Kashmiris are facing insurgency since 61 years now! 61 years of bloodshed, tension, no peace. They don't enjoy that; they want to get out of it and live in peace. The Islamic Rage Boy hasn't become angry in one day.For people who've brought in such rich culture and a strong dynasty to our country, least we can do is accept them.

When droughts, floods or any natural calamity hits mankind, it doesn't prejudice based on caste or creed, or who belongs to VHP or who belongs to SIMI. We have enough diseases, natural calamities to kill us one day anyway (forgive the sarcasm, but... ), why would anyone want to make bombs and kill people?!!

I've labelled this post as "being Indian" because I strongly believe in एकता में बल है , that Muslims are our brothers and that all Indians do not hate Muslims or judge them.

the girl who ate too much and didn't even burp


Si_Lee said...

No offence meant but i prefer people do not talk about the kashmir issue without knowing who has been wronged and what went wrong .. You can read my article on it in this very blog if you really want the truth..
As far as the other article goes .. yes you are wrong if you judge a person by only his religion but you are not wrong if an act induces fear, for you should understand what the cause of the fear is .. For ex: a lion wont just kill a man if he sees one .. he wont .. If you watch nat geo or discovery they show that these animals avoid humans .. till they are left with no options.. yet we would freeze at the very sight of one wont we ?
Its a bad analogy maybe but conveys my point .. I am not communal but we are a species that decides mostly using logical deductions ... every where in the world i can easily say atleast 90% if not more terrorist organisations are Islamic .. and muslims are not a minority in many places,yet.. say in kashmir .. you think muslims are a minority there ?? they never were
in 1947 hyderabad had a muslin ruler hindu majority kashmir hada hindu ruler muslim majority ..
I am not here to judge people by their religion but i can judge the religion and what it preaches as such ..and i have read a little bit of the testaments and quran and so i will brush of statements like all religions preach peace and non- violence ... they dont !
It's a fact that people are corrupted, and as far as your question as to who would just kill . one who is selfish to the core , a saddist, a guy who cannot tolerate others freedom .. and these people are not a few they are evrywhere and are very large in number and dont belong to any religion .. but they are there ... the magnitudes of their intolerance is what varies ..
ok i should stop .. i know this comment will raise many arguments , so i would rather answer them ..
I appreciate what you felt because that shows u r humane ... :)

Tushar Mangl said...

@ SId,
I feel you are taking the author's point in other direction [ABout the kashmir thing]
@the girl who ate too much and didn't even burp
First, welcome to Jagruti.Wish you a great time here.
Its a very realistic point you highlighted.And its a kind of difficult problem for our society.
I say this because, if i would have been in your place,though i wouldn't have got scared,but yes,maybe a similar thought like yours would have crossed my mind too.[In the stadium]
Here i would also add that,In the united states,the kind of hate crimes we are seeing,against muslims, sikhs,Asians...
thinking them to be terrorists,such cruelty India should never see.
Something has to be done.
Great post.
Keep up the spirits Alive

Si_Lee said...

@tsshar .. well Actually I did that to support her argument .. because it is natural for one community there to think that about the other ...
The root of problems as I see it is people do not, well most of the people do not have the ability to think for themselves and judge.
That's why I told her that, the fact that she realises that passing that judgment is wrong means she is humane and has the right temperament ...
BTW... name of the authoress ? I think that should be required .. lest she wants to have a nick name.. ;)

Kartz said...


"why would anyone want to make bombs and kill people?!!"

A sane fellow here (he will know it when he sees this; yes, he is a member here) had this to say when we were having our own discussions on religion-

'for regeneration there has to be anhilation [sic] as well.. man is on top of
food chain so he acts as his own predator .. natural order to some extent..'

I think I will go with that...


the girl who ate too much and didn't even burp said...

Thank you for the welcome.

Descrying the shadows,
You mean in some ways they preach violence? I don't know since I haven't read them, but I find it hard to believe nonetheless. I suggest reading about Prophet Muhammed on Wiki. I was amazed to read that all 5 prophets of Christianity are the same for Islam as well.

And yes, people who want to kill others do not belong to any religion. They use religion as means to instigate and spread hatred. Its sad, really really sad.

About Kashmir I may not know the whole history, but as a girl alive today, I wouldn't want to see anyone killed, driven away from their land. Separatists are thriving since independence and an iron hand is needed to curtail them. 60 years of suffering for the common Kahmiri people, is TOO MUCH.

My name? I prefer to be known by my moniker :)

Huh? Uske liye there are 100s of diseases, natural calamities bhai! Why make one man kill another to balance out something?! Thats something I don't understand; actually, refuse to. Explain the peaceful scandinavian countries to me. Like Finland.

Si_Lee said...

@ moniker..
Yeah it does .. infact there is also a vivd description of how the offenders should be brutallly tortured to death..
Surprised why ? christianity and islam have the same origin same ancestor .. who had two sons .. ones children embraced christianity the other's became muslims..
Diseases etc are the end result of mans actions arent they ?
so in the end when the birth rate was very high compared to death rate due to improvd health care ... what other option ??
The population is growing .. the Earth can sustain 10 billion humans .. after that it will not be able to so wen tht day comes and if mars is not ready or the moon .. what do u think nations will do ..? be altruistic ..? nyaaaah ... if only they were that way .. :)

Kartz said...

I read this somewhere- Christianity and Islam are almost the same; a major difference being Christians believe Jesus was/is the Son of God. Islam does not believe in that school of thought. Otherwise, it's almost similar- right from Creation to how Satan refuses to bow to Man to Gabriel, Lucifer, etc.

And why do you think Natural Calamities occur..? Nature has Her own way of dealing with stuff. Consider those may Pokhran tests... Nucler stuff is harmful to any creature. So what if you detonate it 'xxx' miles under the ground? You may ask where else we can carry out such experiments. But well, lets get real... Scientists wanted to choose a spot- Pokhran it was and lo! They carried out tests...

Now... Don't you think such tests would have add some effect on Nature..? And some day, you never know when, we may have to face an after effect... Who knows... I may sound silly here- Bhuj mite have very well been one. Disclaimer- it's just a 'hypothesis'. Whatever it is, all I am saying, whatever actions man has done, Nature will have her own say (as a consequence)...

And as Sid pointed out... Diseases...


Kartz said...

And Sid... She said she prefers her *moniker* (ie. nickname). Not tht she prefers to be addressed moniker... So, yeah- take a deep breath and write it... thegirl...burp (sorry, out of breath already!)





Are you actually saying this? That killing each other is okay? To balance the dead and alive?! I simple can't wrap my finger around it. And there are ways (I'd rather not call it 'options') other than natural calamities that people can die. They are called accidents (air, train, road) or even suicide. Really, I wish you'd take back your statement.

The Kashmir issue reminds me of the lyrics of Jugni by Rabbi Shergill:
Jugni jaa wadi Kashmir
Jithhe roz maran das vee
Sohneya payena de sohne peer
Oh ro ro puchhan
Ki aa jhagda taan hi o mukna
Ve jaddo Jhelum paani sukna?

Kartz said...

Sid did not mean to say that 'it's okay'... He was looking for reasons as to why you see people going for each others necks. There has to be some balance in this world. Good and Evil (that's another story...), Matter and Anti-Matter (Yes, I am a Physics freak...), so... And why do you think cannibalism exists in the Animal Kingdom...

Yes; there are accidents, suicides- but it winds back to the same point- who is responsible for them? Man... Or some action of his...

Si_Lee said...

I know what monicker means but then thts the nickname I gave her .. I know I took the liberty but her alias is longer than even mine :P
No offence yaar..
@ moniker
Look everything i said was said with a tone of sarcasm and disgust at what we have turned out to be ...
Now do you get my point ..? I wrote on culture in jagruti itself in august ..
Do read..
and lemme know ur thots

Kartz said...


:D Rotfl...

Ah... Culture... Sends me back to our college debate! I think I will post my transcript here, soon...

Sushant said...

@everyone - 1stly I see no reason why the whole kashmir debate came up! the article just mentions it in the passing.

Anyhow.. while we're on the topic of "Man killing Man". People this has nothing to do with nature at all. Till now Humans are alone in this world! No animal is intelligent enough to be at level with the human brain. In The 16th-17th century people were busy with discovering the world. Till the mid-nineties humans challenged each other's races. Now there is no competition for Humans other than another human. Earlier there was competition "inbetween" races, but now since racism is at an all-time low; humans are once again jobless. This combined with personal greed inherent in human nature, lure of money and power and also lack of thought b4 following another human is what makes "Man kill Man". We should broaden our thinking to include TOLERANCE. Thats all that is required.

Sushant said...

Sorry for the typo- should read "mid-19th century" and not mid-nineties


Si_Lee said...

@ sushant .. no dude it is inherent in nature as well .. I was watching this documentary on Nat geo about some national park in africa.. where there was a severe drought hence the prey for the lion prides was very scarce and they were being starved... it reached a point where the pride kills a weak and old lioness of their own pride and eats it ...
We have always been jobless If you put it that way ... we have been killing each other since the day we know civilization... we have been doing everything even though we know deep down its not right ... but then deep down we are also animals...:P