Any Colored Child Can be Trayvon Martin

In the wake of Zimmerman verdict I have been musing on the issue of race and ethnicity and how does it affect me and other browns. Biologically all humans are Homo Sapiens and hence essentially similar at the core. However, people do not interact based upon science or ethics but according to perceptions and heuristics. Perceptions, in turn, are affected by historical, social and cultural experiences among people of different races and ethnicities. United States has a very traumatic history of persecution of Blacks through slavery and discrimination through Jim Crow and discrimination and persecution of new immigrants through xenophobia.  Whites in this country looked down upon colored people, black, brown and yellow as inferior. Although things have improved after civil rights legislation and outstanding progress made by the African American community, tensions and suspicions remain on both sides; a few Whites still lament the loss of their hegemony and continue to harbor stereotypes that associate blackness with crime and depraved lifestyle and a few Blacks harbor a persistent feeling of persecution that makes them more sensitive to even 'usual' altercations of life. The white racists look down upon browns and yellows too, but Blacks bear the brunt of Zimmerman type attacks because they are the most visible minority and crime statistics, whatever may be the reasons, are stacked against them. However “rolling up of car windows and accelerating pace when a colored person, particularly a bearded or turbaned person”, although more common with blacks, is not unique to them. Being surrounded or followed by an unfamiliar person in an unknown or unfamiliar environment at an unfamiliar time may evoke a similar response from anyone irrespective of race and ethnicity and the racial question in America has become multicolored: there have been racist incidents between blacks and yellows (1992 LA riots between Blacks and Koreans) and Hispanic and blacks and browns (1987 Jersey City Dot buster hate crimes against Asian Indians). Each group has its own stereotype of who is more aggressive and a threat. Some of these stereotypes are based upon personal experiences, some on the basis of crime statistics, some on the basis of media reports and some on group tales that pass from person to person often getting a mythical character to them. The outcome is overgeneralization.

In the face of such ubiquitous prejudice and stereotyping, vigilantism of people like Zimmerman becomes dangerous for all people of color. Even if Zimmerman had felt threatened, he should not have gotten out of his car, especially when he was advised by the police. He violated the civil rights of a young American of free movement and provoked the youngster to have an altercation. While there may be reasonable doubt about the altercation there is no doubt that the young man was denied his right to move freely on public property. To prevent such loss of young lives, we need a multipronged approach with sociological, legislative and judicial action involving all races and ethnicities.

We should study honestly and openly, these perceptions, stereotypes and their origin and heuristics that operationalize them into serious and fatal outcomes as in Trayvon Martin case. First and foremost we should become familiar ad knowledgeable about one another. Asian Indian community has to begin getting involved because one day an Asian Indian child could be victim of vigilantism. 

Anguish of a mother of a child with autism and my response

परेशां हैरान सी मा बोली
मेरा अपना ही बच्चा
मुझे पहचानता नहीं
मेरी आँखों में आँखे डालता नहीं
मुझे माँ माँ कर कर पुकारता नहीं
भंवरे की तरह भ्निभिनाता है
तितली की तरह मंडराता है
बिल्ली की तरह चिल्लाता है
शोर से घबराता है
पंछी की तरह हाथ फहराता है
क्या कभी यह मुझे जान जायेगा
क्या कभी कोई मित्र बना पायेगा
क्या ये स्कूल जा पायेगा
जीने का सबब सीख  जाएगा
कभी दुल्हन लाएगा

 

My repsonse

 
अपने को निर्दोष मान
कर्म को ही लक्ष्य मान
साहस ना छोड़
बच्चे से आँखे ना मोड़
कठिन और लम्बी है यात्रा 
विकसिट होगा अवश्य
चाहे थोड़ी हो मात्रा
शायद ठीक भी हो जाए
स्कूल भी जा पाये
दैनिक कामकर्म भी कर पाये
संभव है औरों को समझे
और अपनी बात भी कह पाये
प्यार भी ले और दे पाये
हो सकता है कॉलेज ना जा पाए
या विवाह न कर पाए  
शायद कुछ कमी रह जाए
अवश्य तेरी आशा टूटी है
शायद मेरी सान्तावना झूटी है
पर मै भविष्य दर्शा नहीं  सकता
झूठी आशा दिला नहीं सक्ता
हिम्मत न हार
कर भाग्य ने जो दिया उसे स्वीकार 
करम कर, फल आने पर देखा जायेगा
दे विषाद को त्याग
और बच्चे को दे अनुराग'

A Grieving Child's Rejoinder to the Priest

माँ की मृत्यु पर शोक

आत्मा अमर है
यह कह कर समझाते हो
दुखी मन का साहस बढाते हो
पर कहाँ हैं वो हाथ
जो मुझे खाना खिलाते थे

दुविधा में प्यार से सहराते थे 
चेहरे को छुपा कर हंसाते थे

पेंसिल से लिखना सिखाते थे

कहाँ हैं वो पैर
जो चल कर रात में अनेक बार
मुझे मेरे कमरे में देखने आते थे

हाथ पकड़ कर चलना सिखाते थे

बाज़ार से मेरे लिए खिलोने लाते थे

कहाँ हैं वो वाणी
जो मुझे लोरी सुनाती थी
गलती में डांट कर

सही दिशा दिखाती थी
सफलता में हर्ष से

फूली नहीं समाती थी 
कहाँ है वह शरीर मंदिर जिसमे
मेरी माँ की आत्मा दर्श दिखाती थी
वाणी से जीवन नाद बजाती थी
श्वासों से सुरभि फह्लाती थी
आत्मा को अजर अमर कहने से 
मेरा दिल नहीं बहलेगा
कर्मो का फल है कहने से
मेरी माँ की अकाल मृत्यु का
अन्याय न्याय में नहीं बदलेगा

jeevan yaatra

जीवन यात्रा

जन्म से मृत्यु तक

सुबह शाम का आना जाना

सोना, जगना और खाना

पढ़ लिख कर प्रतिभा पाना

घर बनाना और सजाना

धन परिवार और प्रसिद्धी पाना

और फिर संसार के सागर में

लहरों की तरह अहंकार से

उछल उछल कर

मृत्यु के तट पर

सर पटक पटक कर

प्रयाण कर जाना

किसने देखा फिर वापिस आना

किसने देखा स्वर्ग में जाना

सुरक्षा के लिए भगवान सजाये

समझाने के लिए दर्शन बनाये

मुक्ति के कई रस्ते दिखाए

पर पैगम्बर, धर्म और दर्शन

आज तक कुछ सिद्ध न कर पाए

सिसीफस की तरह

निरंतर कर्म में ही मुक्ति मानो

वर्तमान को ही सत्य जानो

प्रत्यक्ष को ही यथार्थ मानो

 

Asi te whiskey peende ne

"Asi te whiskey peende ne." Modern Hindu Indian men can be defined by this phrase. Their manhood, their grit, their courage, their very essence can be measured by the number of black label shots they can gulp in a single evening.  As they enter a party arena, after the namastes and Hi they head to the bar, asking for black label with soda, water, or on the rocks, or neat, and make a bee line for repeat shots until the bottle's bottom is up or the bar is closed. This goes on from the beginning of the party to the end. Yes, not to the end of cocktail hour, or dinner, but till the end of the party or as I said the bottles are bottom up or the bar is closed. No other drinks, no Kailua, no Martini, no liquor, they keep it simple. Only Black Label please. There is nothing else to a party.  What wine, wine is for women and wusses. Drinking for drinking sake, not to shed inhibitions or to enjoy the entertainment offered in the party but drinking is the entertainment. A one liter bottle of whiskey has about 22-25 shots and it is not uncommon for four people to finish one bottle in two hours, thus each consuming 5-6 shots meeting the definition of National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's defintion of binge drinking - of 5 or more drinks in a two hour period. 

While most Muslims are holding the line on alcohol, Hindu Indians have become alcohol-struck.  Before independence alcohol was considered a vice and only the elite who socialized with the British, or the poor used to drink alcohol. The former drank imported liquors or wine while the latter drank locally/home brewed spirits like Daru, tharra, arrack, many dying in bootlegging accidents. Now alcohol has become the very essence of middle class social life. Women have joined the fray, as a declaration of their independence and modernity. Any many drink to the point of inebriation, and often drive after drinking. And spirits such as whiskey are the staple. The generous midlands of Indian men and women, as Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul says, are becoming even more generous and expansive, often jutting out of tight and minimalistic clothes of modern Indian women who proudly flout them on the face book, in postures that further exaggerate them.

Although it is difficult to relate rapes and other antisocial behavior to alcohol beause of lack of proper statistics, alcohol is certainly a contributor. About a fifth of psychiatric emergencies in Indian hospitals and 60 percent of injuries presenting in the emergency rooms are alcohol related. Alcohol related liver damage (compounded by a high prevalence of hepatitis B in India), brain damage, obesity, and diabetes are glossed over for the minimal benefit of limited amount of alcohol in coronary artery disease that is often cited as rationalization for alcohol consumption by the nouveau riche. Domestic violence is on the rise and many a family has seen their destruction due to alcoholism. Battered women keep mum for the sake of family reputation. And while in the past women used to hold the line on alcohol, the modern Hindu women proudly support their alcoholic men in their manly sport of drinking, "hamare inko drink karna accha lagta hai.”

The government is lax because of excise revenue and multinationals are raking huge profits in the name of liberalization. And religion and traditionalism that informed our social behavior have become matters of convenience. Social restraint or religious deterrence are a thing of the past, archaic. Yes, we do puja, we do jagran, we go to Vaishno Devi but didn’t Shiv Ji drink cannabis, didn’t tantriks drink alcohol, they argue. In fact, Hindu religious ethics have become secondary to religious ritualism to placate gods to give more and more so that the party goes on unabated and unrestrained.

And yes, people drink in the west, but the pattern of social drinking by middle class in the west is restrained and limited and not binging on spirits until bottoms are up. And even if they drink excessively do we have to follow everything western? But the alcohol juggernaut is on among Hindu Asian Indians.  Maybe I an old hag, out of touch with modern pop culture, at least Hindu Asian Indian culture?

Are Asian Indians generally homophobic?

Are Asian Indians generally homophobic? Yes, like in any other traditional culture, homosexuality has a stigma in the Asian Indian community, but the views are changing as more and more Asian Indian children in the USA are declaring that they are homosexuals.  They will change further by dialogue, not by slamming an old culture with entrenched traditions and taboos for millennia. In democracies, change occurs slowly through evolution and not cataclysmically, through revolution.  Delhi High Court, in 2009, declared many parts of the section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalized gay sex, as illegal. Still popular culture considers homosexuality as an aberrant behavior. Innunedos and jokes about gays are rampant. If a child does not marry at the marriageable age, rumors spread about the child's sexual orientation.

From the Hindu religious standpoint. the true self of the person is atma or spirit which is eternal and not the body which is ephemeral.  And that atma or spirit is pure and similar or same in everyone irrespective of sexual orientation. We are all God’s children. What one does in his or her private life is not any one’s concern. According to Indian culture sex is a private affair which should not be talked about and least of all displayed in public view. This is called lajja in Hindi or haya in Urdu.  So in our culture, at least until my time, sexuality, hetero or homo, was not flouted in public and public expression of romantic love was generally avoided, at least in front of elders. Yes, sexual talk, curiosity, and even prurience and voyeurism were common place.  Now some youngsters express romantic love, hetero or homo, such as kissing on the lips or sitting in each other’s laps in parties, as a statement of their modernity and liberty. To me, maybe I am old fashioned, such exhibitionism seems crass and unnecessary.  

And a word of caution to Asian Indian parents. Sexual orientation is not due to poor upbringing or bad influence. Some people are not naturally attracted to the opposite sex. There is more to the life of children than good grades. Parents should take interest in their children’s “other” activities and ideas and have conversations with them about these, including sexual orientation. Yes, the news of your child being a homosexual might come as a shock because we value marriage as a prelude to reproduction and grandchildren, but do not judge your children as good or bad solely on the basis of sexual orientation. Do not isolate yourselves socially when you learn of your child's sexual orientation. Seek counseling, if you need to, to come to terms with the reality.

Indian Secularism

Indian press is abuzz with the word secularism nowadays – each politician defining it to suit and meet his or her needs.  Holyoake coined the word secularism as a social order that is not based upon religion but does not reject religious belief. Thus people can practice religion but will not bring their religious views and practices to bear upon the political and civic discourse that involves people of other faiths. Thus he did not suggest that are religious faith and practices in a secular state be rejected altogether but that the political discourse and structure and religious discourse and structure be separate. Gandhi, a person of faith, did not reject faith but promoted that all religions be treated equally by the state (sarva dharma sambhaav). In a country where religious faith and practices are intertwined with culture and social behavior, this definition made sense. Gandhi knew India and its people. He knew that the moral fabric of this country was based upon religion and hence, religion cannot be done away with it but wanted that all religions are treated equally.
Unfortunately, the politicians in India have turned this definition on its head. While they have done away with religion as the foundation of their behavior, they constantly bring religion in the political discourse and electoral calculations. They abuse the term secularism to induce the followers of one or the other faith to vote in a particular way, with one group of parties vying for the followers of smaller religions who generally vote en block and hence have become priceless vote banks and the other group promoting itself as the defender of the majority religion. The former reject the whole corpus of majority religion as archaic overlooking and even supporting anachronisms in smaller religions. The latter adore the whole corpus of the majority religion defending all its foibles and follies rejecting the preferential treatment of the minority vote banks as appeasement.
All this talk of secularism diverts attention of the electorate from the real issues of India: the economy, integrity, health and safety, and education. Indian economy has not been able to provide the infrastructure that modern economies need; cities lack power and water; people lack sanitary facilities; healthcare is riddled with ills that Amir Khan has so aptly shown in his Satyameva Jayate, and education is geared to producing English speaking workers for multinational corporations without creating citizens of character and integrity who know and are proud of their history and heritage.
India needs honest politicians to join hands to make a collective front for the development of India against the corrupt politicians who use the ploy of secularism for vote bank politics. The focus in India should be on growth and development and improving the quality of life of common folks, rather than on fear mongering in the name of religion for capturing votes. And religion should be harnessed to improve the moral fabric so that the corrupt do not steal the bread that feeds the poor. The divisive politics of pseudosecularism will fragment India into vote-enclaves of different OBCs, religions, languages and tribes, each ruled by a corrupt enclave politician.