Saturday, February 16, 2008

Valentines's Day Mumbai style

Yesterday my maid walked in in the morning asking me about the situation in the city. Since I have all but stopped watching television news unless something positively drastic has happened (such as for instance, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, which was the last time I switched on the television to see the news.) So I say I shall read the newspaper and tell her. I pick up the paper expecting to see headlines about the violence in the city and Raj Thackery’s latest moves. Instead I see a full page picture of Neha Dhupia sporting a dainty little piece of diamond studded jewellery round her neck. Ah, of course, it's Valentine’s day!
Could things be more ironic?
This whole identity thing has always intrigued me. If our politicians are not dividing us on the basis of religion, as does the BJP and Shiv Sena, or caste, as does the Samajwadi party, its region, as we are witnessing in Mumbai and elsewhere in Maharashtra right now. So what makes this sense of identity, this feeling of belonging to a group, so important? Is it just a sense of security, in numbers, for instance? No, certainly it’s more than that. People in a minority are often fervently loyal to their religion, caste or ethnic group, irrespective of what the consequences of such a stand might be. And then there are people who are willing to turn violent, to beat, steal, rape, even murder for what they consider is the cause of their brethren. But surely all these are against what any religion professes. Forget religion, surely it’s against basic human nature?

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