Friday 19 October 2012

A Stranger is not a Stranger


It was 14th October 2012. I was travelling from Germany in a train. I could not speak German well since it is not my mother tongue. Very few suffer like me.  But many today speak in many languages as though using the ‘shift’ key in a computer. I find it difficult to switch between three languages. I wonder how people do that between five and six. 

I was hesitant to start a conversation with a stranger who was sitting next to me because he was speaking in German with some of his friends. Another wonder with the system of the railways, when you book the ticket together you do not get adjacent seats. You find always a stranger inside. You have to personally and verbally request the stranger to change the place. In India they ask you to even change coaches. Here they are very hesitant even to request to sit in the next seat. What is given is given – but it also means that they do not want to intrude in what is given to them. More, one does not know how the other would react.

I was already a stranger in the train, and still a remote stranger between the companions who traveled together. Even with a stranger who is doubly alienated, a conversation could be initiated. It starts from silence. who said  one needs language to communicate? A peaceful silence that has a smile normally kicks off with a common, agreeing note like mamma mia – che caldo! Or what a bright and sunny day? Well if there is no smile, then there is no conversation. Even if there were to be one it will be cold, hard, and strict NO.


I had already smiled and he reciprocated it. After entering Austrian the border we started speaking about the rivers that flow, the climate, and the European Union. He and I shared the same feeling that this union could be a model for other continents in living together irrespective of different languages. I told him that India too has a model - which house different languages and culture. He thought that India has a single language. It was a revelation for him to know that the north Indians do not understand the south Indians and vice versa.  

India is a country but European Union is not.

... To be continued ... 

Monday 1 October 2012

MODERN AND PRE-MODERN


The former prime minister of Britain, Mr. Tony Blair, who is a Roman Catholic, has reacted to the recent violent protests that caused the life of many people all over the world, saying, “I think what we shouldn't do is lose sight of what the real issue is, and the real issue is how do people actually think it is justified to react in a way that ends up innocent people being killed. […] So no, this is a profound problem; it’s a problem, as I say, which is about the struggle of modernization. The good news is, in the end, the modernizers will win incidentally, but it will take a long time to do.”[1]

One can well agree with Tony Blair that no one can justify the death of innocent persons. He is right in asserting that demanding the persons behind the film should be held responsible. But I am interested in his comment about modernity.

Modernization for most westerners means that it is about the freedom of the individual. A society is considered to be modern only when the individual freedom is attained. There should not be a major issue with this understanding. The further explanation at the comment of Blair is to indicate that one should be able to respect the views of others. This means that the modern people will be more tolerant and magnanimous in accepting the view of others even if it is a false view.

But how is that the individual who expects that everybody’s view should be respected does not respect the view of others even if it is a false one. I explain: sorry to use the name of Blair. If Blair thinks that the modern notion of freedom is to respect the view of others, then the Muslims should be able to respect the view of the director of the Movie. That is the sign of being modern. Because they are not modern, then they react violently.


My question is – if the views of others should be respected, why the director, who is a modern, does not respect the view of the millions of Muslims. 

Who is pre-modern – the director or the Muslims? Or Both?


*****

The irony is that the sister-in-law of Mr. Tony Blair 
converted to Islam 
three years after his conversion to Catholicism.

***** 



[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/17/tony-blair-reaction-to-anti-islam-film-absurd_n_1889232.html