AUGUST 14th......

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AUGUST 14th..

Come August 14th, I remember Pakistan, I remember Muslim League, I remember Aurangazeb and other Mughal rulers, I remember Kashmir, I remember the innumerable riots and bomb blasts, I remember the holocaust during partition, I remember Gandhi... On the other side, I remember Subramania Bharati too and his song, Chedham illaadha Hindustaanam, adhai Dheyvam endru kumbidadi Paapaa..(சேதம் இல்லாத ஹிந்துஸ்தானம் அதை தெய்வம் என்று கும்பிடடி பாப்பா...) {May we adore and worship the Akhanda Hindustaan, Hindustaan, that is Whole and Un-bifurcated}.. I remember Shri Sawarkar too, Andaman jail and his song Jayostute Jayostute..Swatantrate Bhagawati.. जयोsतुते जयोsतुते ....  स्वतन्त्रते भगवती ... I remember our Rama Gopalan's song too,  Endru Kaanbom Engal Sindhuvai ... Dheyva Nadhiyil Moozhgi ezhave Thaabam Nenjil  thondrudhu...{என்று காண்போம் எங்கள் ஸிந்துவை என்று உள்ளம்  ஏங்குது... தெய்வ நதியில் மூழ்கி எழவே தாபம் நெஞ்ஜில் தோன்றுது.. } {My heart anxiously waits for the day when I'll be able to see and take a dip in Divine river Sindhu.., which now flows in Pakistan and beyond our reach}

A Muslim family, parents, a son, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a few months old grand-son travelled in my coupe during my recent travel from Chennai to Nagpur.  I was not interested in chatting with them, nor were they.  Early next morning when we were a couple of hours away from Nagpur, I was looking at the child and the young mother, in Purdah seemed to be very proud of her child. I initiated a dialogue with her.  She was from Gudur in Andhra Pradesh and her in-laws from Nagpur.. The brief conversation ended with a question I put before her.  "You are so proud of your child..  You love and hold him to your bosom. But, WHAT IS THE GUARANTEE THAT HE WILL NOT GROW INTO A TERRORIST, goes on his own or is forcefully taken to IS, or LET or SIMI or Quaid E ???.. camps in our own land or  across the border?  If he does not become a terrorist, what is the guarantee that that he won't be killed by terrorists, your own people who carry guns and bombs and hide in Muslim dominant areas and Mosques?"  She was muted into a shocking silence.  In our own rail carriage, there were twenty odd 15 to 20 years old boys, non - matric or matric pass, with a little knowledge of Hindi or Urdu, travelling from Vishakhapatnam to Bikaner.  They were not craftsmen travelling to work in a project.  They were not high - educated youths travelling to work in any MNC or IT indutry.  They were not labourers being taken by an agent for employment and Bikaner is no destination for such IT professionals or labourers.. They were youths, brain-washed ones, being smuggled into Pakistan by some terrorist org.  They had already attended few camps in AP.  I told this young mother, "These boys also must have been babies, loved, adored and held to bosom by their mothers."

I was in our college hostel, on August 14th, probably in 1979 and talking on partition story.  There were around thirty students, listening in rapt attention. A student came to me and whispered in my ears, "The student who came a few minutes back is a Muslim".  This new entrant was a second year student and most of us were senior to him!!!  I was very much disturbed by this suggestion by my friend.  What did he intend to suggest?  Are partition of Bharat and related incidents Muslim and Hindu matters?  Is it not a National affair, beyond smaller communal ones?  Or was he expressing a natural fear embedded strongly in Hindu hearts about even ordinary Muslims?  This was my first experience in this so-called Islamik domain..

Let me recall few other experiences in this domain, of Muslims.

Visiting schools, talking to students, befriending a few, visiting their homes and introducing them to Bharateeya, Nationalistic thought, branded as RSS ideology or Hindutva ideology or saffron ideology, these have always been a part of, rather the only activity in my social life.  I continue this till date..  In Chennai, there were 18 Muslim children who regularly attended my weekly classes in their respective schools. I used to visit their homes too.  I visited one such family on Deepavali eve and demanded sweets.  "What is the reason?", the mother asked.  "Tomorrow is Deepavali", I replied.  "Deepavali?  Not for us.?"  "Us?  Who are you?"  "We are Muslims."  Then followed a discussion, a very fine and frank one.  The whole family, almost a dozen, participated and I was served sweet at the end.  "Why do you isolate and insulate your children from others around you?  Just look out of your window.  Oil Diyas, or lamps decorate roofs and compound walls of every house, except yours. All the children are out on the street, full of merriment, joy and smiles and your children are here inside.  Your lamp-less house, cracker-less house is exposing you and isolating you from your neighbours.  Be with your neighbours".  One of the elders asked me, "Then, will you join us in our Ramzan?".  "I never asked you to join us in our Ekadashi or VaraLakshmi Vratam or SatyaNarayana Puja.  That is our Religious ritual.  Deepavali is not so.  It is a social festival. You may recite any story and associate Deepavali celebration with the story but join us in celebration of Deepavali.".  "It is in your interest and also in our National interest that you be one with us."  They seemed to be convinced, at least temporarily and served me sweets, Deepaavali sweets.

There was one Sikandar, a very affectionate and lovable boy in a Government school.  He was very close to me,  From a participant in Yoga class, to being an once-in-a-while visitor to my room in Mambalam, to a regular participant in Sayam shakha of RSS, to a Mukhya shikshak of the Shakha for a few days.  It was a very beautiful journey.  He was in his 12th class when I visited his house.  That was the last time I saw and talked to him.  One 'uncle' from Pattukkottai in southern Tamil Nadu had come to his house. He remained silent while I chatted with Sikandhar, drank a cup of Tea and exit-ed.  I found the house locked, when I visited him on the next morning. The family had shifted to some un-known destination in a single night. That uncle must have been the cause and catalyst.  Disrupting studies of children, of Sikandhar in his crucial 12th class, was not a concern for him.  He did not want to leave any scope for even a single person, or a single family to get out of 'Clutches' of Jamaat.

I had initiated VarahaMihira, a Project of mobile Science teacher with a science lab, a mobile library and a mobile sports club, in Erode district.  It was launched by the distt collector.  We used to visit remotely located Govt schools once in a month, spend a whole day and interact with students of 8th, 9th and 10th class students @ 2 hours per activity with each class.  Students, most of those from SC community, used to participate in all the three activities with full enthusiasm and Joy.  I used to travel in the van and address the children of all the three classes assembled together.  It was great experience for me too.  The project was funded by a group of Marwari businessmen in Erode.  One of the schools we visited was in BPAgraharam, Brahmana Periya Agraharam.  Leather was the main business there.  Ditch, dirt, garbage, diseases, poverty, child labour, and almost every problem was prevalent there.  Being  a pre-dominantly Muslim town. naturally, most of the children in the Govt school were from Muslim community.  A group of 15 to 20 youths stopped me when I was leaving the school on my scooter.  "Is this an RSS activity?" one of them asked.  "Is it not a good activity, and a benefitting one for children in your town?", I asked in reply.  "Are you not an RSS man?"  "Yes, I am."  "We want to know about RSS."  "But, this is not the way, gheraoing me on the road and wanting me to talk something serious.  I'll come to your house and let us discuss".  Then followed a series of meetings, once in a month.  All of them were college students or University pass outs.  Unfortunately, the dialogue did not continue beyond four or five months, again under pressure from the Jamaat.  After general discussions in the first three months, I asked them to prepare list of bodies and organizations working at social level, in BPAgraharam.  They came with a list of some 19 organizations, trusts, etc to the next meeting.  17 in the list were concerned with Masjid, Madarsa, Sunnat, burial ground, teaching Kuran and Islamic practices,  etc.. etc.. "That is the problem.  Religion is the only domain of your interest and priority.  Your town has so many problems, but you are not concerned.  There is not a single organization or trust which works for education, health, environment, pollution, child labour, women welfare, etc.  Your only concern seems to be Religion.  You should come out of this".  I said. That was the last I saw them.  When I visited them the next time, they appealed to me not to come there.  "Instead, we'll come to your room", they said, but never came.

There should be serious introspection and thinking in Muslim community on ways to discourage anti-social activity, discourage terrorist activity and use of Religion and Religious institutions by those anti-social and terror activists.

Ravana indulged in Terrorism and perished.  He did not perish alone, but with thousands and lakhs of Lankan residents, almost all of them innocent.  Their only crime was that they remained silent and in a way, supported him in his terrorist activity.

What can the Hindus do in this regard?  We must develop personal friendly relationships and talk, with at least one Muslim, not only on general issues but also on issues, National and inter-National, linked with Islam.

Now, it is 12'O clock, the exact time when Bharat was partitioned on the 14 August of 1947.

Let us remember Akhanda Bharat.

Vande Mataram.