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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

THE MUSLIM ANGLE

Its been a while since I had a go at activism and the last time I took a stand on an issue was when the auto driver refused to take me to Powai. What brings me back to the writing board then must be an issue that though I was aware of, that which I had dealt with on a superficial level in a documentary but which I had never personally faced before yet needed to be addressed. In the last week, it has finally happened to me and the magnitude of the gravity has seeped in. What I refer to is the fact that this secular country is home to some of the most communal people who deny a house on the basis of not any other logical reason but simply the fact that I am a Muslim.

Yes, there may be multiple excuses for this- me being a non-vegetarian being the most convenient and simple, but let us not allude ourselves that this is what it is about. It is something much more inherently rotten within the mindsets of the people that leads them to behave in this particular fashion.

I have looked at 20 houses, dealt with 6 brokers and been insulted around 40 times. One second tier broker takes the liberty to even say in Marathi"why did you not mention that it is a Muslim person who is looking? Wasted our time." It gets worse. Today when I mentioned that another person may be looking for a house too, the broker asks, "Is he Mohammedan too? If not, i have something upfront to show them." Its almost as if my Muslim status relegates me to the queue of non deserving people who cannot be trusted to live in decent societies. And it gets worse. When I finally manage to get a house and the owner is decent enough to not rouse the Muslim issue, he does mention the possibility that I may still not get the house because the so called "society" may not want a Muslim among them.

The question then begs to be asked- how is it a society if it is not even civil? While many may say it comes a package, i am not sure that simplistic appraisal works anymore. I have never been the idealistic or the religious Muslim but I am definitely a proud Muslim who has never been guilty of being born one. I am not starting now.

I don't see it as a failure for the Muslims, I see it as a failure of a country that refuses to grow up and accept its own people. The country demands an acceptance on the world stage when we, as its people are shallow enough to not even give it a shred of attempt internally. I lambast because I am angry, because I should not have to hide behind a false name to get myself a decent place to live.

The shocker is that while the documentary I made 2 years ago as my master thesis was based in Bangalore, the cases there were not as appalling as they are in the so called cosmopolitan city, Mumbai. It seems to lag by a 1000 years in its outlook and leaves behind even the generally considered 2nd tier cities in its conservative outlook and this is what bothers me. I don't expect it to happen to me in my birth city, I don't expect it to happen in a city i love so dearly, and I don't want it to happen to the city that is being hijacked by mind numbingly conservative elements like MNS who brew trouble for all the rest.

It's a case of one rotten apple spoils the barrel and I am afraid I love this city a little less every single day. Angst out.