<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I have a liberal attitude that is a mixture of skepticism and sympathy towards my tradition. I have also come to believe that our most cherished ends in life are not political. Religion is one of these and it gets demeaned when it enters public life. Hence, religion and the state must be kept separate, and to believe this is be secular. I have a mild distaste for the sort of nationalism that can so quickly become chauvinism. Hence, I do not vote for the BJP. At the same time I feel Indian and I value my âIndian-nessâ, whatever that may be.
(He doesn't know. English education has silenced him completely. He thinks, but he's lost touch of himself. Floundering.)
This means that I value my past and I wish to cultivate it, and like Edmund Burke, I feel my past is important to me for living a flourishing life. This is a past that contains the influence of Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, and even Christianity.
(Yes, a past of massacres by christianism and islamism.)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->How cute. This semi-psecular, mostly westernized and quite christo-conditioned writer has its own thoughts and occasionally even dares to draw its own lines on the extent of psecularism (only when it imposes on him):
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I asked myself, what sort of secularism have we created in our country that has appropriated my claim to my intellectual heritage? I found it disturbing that I had to fear the intolerance of my âsecular friendsâ, who seemed to identify any association with Hinduism or its culture as a political act. The pain did not go away easily, even though I realized that it was a pain shared by others.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
One's choice of friends and acquaintances says something about oneself... His friends - the people he chooses to associate with (see post above) - are perfectly suited to him, I'd have thought (certainly no one twisted his arm to spend time with them, including the snob hostess, "the fashion-oriented women and the one embarassed to mention that she goes to temple"). Why is he complaining for being made fun of? He makes fun of his grandmother and will believe ridiculous things of her without even getting to know what makes her tick:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->My grandmother would visit the Sikh gurdwara on Mondays and Wednesdays and a Hindu temple on Tuesdays and Thursdays; she saved Saturdays and Sundays for discourses of holy men, including Muslim pirs, who were forever visiting our town. In between she made time for lots of Arya Samaj ceremonies when anyone was born, married, or died. My grandfather used to jest that she would also have also called in at the Muslim mosque in her busy schedule had they allowed her in, but my more practical uncle thought that she was merely taking out enough insurance, in the manner of Pascal, and someone up there might hear her.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Might have felt sorry for him for being picked on by his pathetic circle of friends (consisting of the lamest people ever), if he wasn't such a hypocrite. He doesn't even realise how psecularly anti-Hindu he's being towards other Hindus.
(He doesn't know. English education has silenced him completely. He thinks, but he's lost touch of himself. Floundering.)
This means that I value my past and I wish to cultivate it, and like Edmund Burke, I feel my past is important to me for living a flourishing life. This is a past that contains the influence of Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, and even Christianity.
(Yes, a past of massacres by christianism and islamism.)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->How cute. This semi-psecular, mostly westernized and quite christo-conditioned writer has its own thoughts and occasionally even dares to draw its own lines on the extent of psecularism (only when it imposes on him):
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I asked myself, what sort of secularism have we created in our country that has appropriated my claim to my intellectual heritage? I found it disturbing that I had to fear the intolerance of my âsecular friendsâ, who seemed to identify any association with Hinduism or its culture as a political act. The pain did not go away easily, even though I realized that it was a pain shared by others.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
One's choice of friends and acquaintances says something about oneself... His friends - the people he chooses to associate with (see post above) - are perfectly suited to him, I'd have thought (certainly no one twisted his arm to spend time with them, including the snob hostess, "the fashion-oriented women and the one embarassed to mention that she goes to temple"). Why is he complaining for being made fun of? He makes fun of his grandmother and will believe ridiculous things of her without even getting to know what makes her tick:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->My grandmother would visit the Sikh gurdwara on Mondays and Wednesdays and a Hindu temple on Tuesdays and Thursdays; she saved Saturdays and Sundays for discourses of holy men, including Muslim pirs, who were forever visiting our town. In between she made time for lots of Arya Samaj ceremonies when anyone was born, married, or died. My grandfather used to jest that she would also have also called in at the Muslim mosque in her busy schedule had they allowed her in, but my more practical uncle thought that she was merely taking out enough insurance, in the manner of Pascal, and someone up there might hear her.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Might have felt sorry for him for being picked on by his pathetic circle of friends (consisting of the lamest people ever), if he wasn't such a hypocrite. He doesn't even realise how psecularly anti-Hindu he's being towards other Hindus.