Untouchable

Most of you are aware that I had my education in Chennai at Christian institutions. Schooling was at a Catholic institution and college was at a Protestant one. I term these fifteen years of my life as the best I have had so far. I enjoyed school as I did my friends. These growing up years were very formative and the values imbibed then have remained with me all my life. The friends came from different backgrounds and their backgrounds were never an impediment. It never bothered me or my friends to even find out as to which community or caste a person belonged. We took them for what they were as human beings. The school also served as a cultural platform for us as it was there that we got to know from our friends who came from diverse backgrounds about their traditions and festivals and the food habits. Those were the days before Chennai could boast of cuisines from all over India. There were no specialty restaurants and the most we could hope for was a treat at Buharis. The day after a festival, our friends would come to school loaded with the special food that was home made and all of us used to enjoy them and even learn as to how they were made and what they were called. One important period that we would look forward was the month of Ramadan, when the Muslim girls would bring boxes full of goodies that were made the previous evening. We devoured on that food and not a single rice grain of the biriyani would remain. This was my introduction to Ramadan and its importance as one of the tenets of Islam. Later of course I lived in Saudi and got to learn a lot more. Although my education was in Christian Institutions, I like the majority of the students, were never ever made to feel as outsiders. We grew up as Indians and never as a Hindus, Muslims or Christians or for that matter as Tamilians, Malayalis or North Indians.

Since I left India immediately after my college education, I was not touched by the invisible walls that were built around the communities. However I was aware that people were becoming more clannish and friendships unlike in the earlier days were based more on religion and caste. To me such friendships did not exist. It upset and terrified me that we were moving away from the simple unadulterated joys of brotherhood and bonhomie of the earlier times. I had thought that the egalitarian policy which I followed would be reciprocated by those around me. It was only recently I realized as to how wrong my thinking was. The first time I was fazed was when someone refused a Prasad which I offered as a sweet. The reason given was that the person’s religion did not allow it. This came as a slap on my face. Here was someone who ate all the meals in my house without any qualms but refusing a piece of sweet because it was made for a Pooja. It was indeed hard for me to digest. Having learnt my lesson, I made sure that I did not share any pooja offerings to members of other faiths. This was in vain because recently my driver refused to join in the Onam lunch the excuse being that it was a Hindu festival and hence had religious connotations. This really made me think as to how our society was moving and as to what our priorities were. I attributed this attitude to their ignorance and decided that I will never offer food to anyone unless they asked for it. I gave this message to Narayani as she was the one who dealt with them. My shock did not end there. I was dumb stuck when a person who until a couple of years ago had everything from the famous “Aravana payasam” of Sabarimala to the even more famous “Tirupati Laddu”, announced that having a meal with a person of another faith on an auspicious day was against one’s religion. On that day I thought of myself as a “pariah” or an untouchable.

I wonder who preaches these ridiculous things. I thought I was in the know how of all the important happenings in the world. With that being the case, I am surprised that I did not hear of a new God or messiah who has come down to earth and made such announcements. According to my knowledge of the Koran and the Bible, (here I can talk with some authority for I have lived in Saudi for 15 years and have studied in a Christian institutions for another 15 years) no where have I ever come across any such statements. No God or messenger would ever condone a believer for eating food made by a non believer of that particular faith. Why do mischief makers play truant with human sentiments? Is this a healthy sign? I won’t be surprised if I stop receiving invites from friends belonging to other faiths. What I dread even more is when friends from other faith turn down my invitation or even if they do acknowledge, refuse to partake of the food I offer. My only satisfaction would be the fact that though I have become an untouchable now, there is no way by which they can expunge whatever has gone into their system during their long association with my family.

P.S. On this happy note, let me lay to rest a topic that has been boiling within me and for which I have been seeking to get an answer but in vain.