Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Fiction Sahadev thought of unfriending Jitesh many times.   The man was pure nonsense.   But he was sincere.   He believed sincerely that India belonged to the Hindus and only the Hindus.   He believed that his Prime Minister was the only leader left in the country and the only good leader in the whole world today.   He believed that the Prime Minister, his political party and his religious organisations were the noblest things that ever existed.   Once he even went to the extent of writing in his status update that he wouldn’t hesitate to drink the PM’s urine if he had to do so to prove his loyalty.   Sahadev found him repulsive even without that urine thing.   When he wrote in his blog that 500 RSS people gathered in Pune under the leadership of Nathuram Godse on the first Independence Day and hoisted a triangular saffron flag with the swastika emblazoned on it, Jitesh abused him for distorting history.   He quoted some Nath, a neo-historian, to prove that RSS was nev

When the first Prime Minister hoisted the Tricolour in the Red Fort and celebrated India’s “tryst with destiny”, Mahatma Gandhi was in Calcutta trying to bring peace between the two warring religious communities.   The Mahatma did not celebrate the Independence.   He was sad.   India had not become independent, according to him, because real independence is liberation not only from colonial powers but also from the evils within the human heart.   Until every Indian is free from ignorance and superstition, from hatred and violence, India is not free, argued Gandhi.   India is not free even today, seven decades after Independence.   India is still haunted by the spectres of communalism.   The Mahatma must still be weeping. But the Mahatma has been driven out from the country.   He can weep elsewhere.   The history textbooks in the BJP-governed states are being rewritten without any mention of Gandhi and Nehru.   Rajasthan has already replaced these visionary leaders with

“Why have religious sentiments become touchy?” Joe, a young student, asked me.   He looked genuinely concerned.   Of late, he had started asking many such questions.   Probably he asked them at home too because his mother once complained that his English teacher was taking away his religious faith.   When I asked him about that complaint, Joe said, “You make me think.   Is thinking bad, sir?”   I winced. I told him that religion is much more than a matter of faith for most people.   It’s an identity, a political statement, a power game, and many other such things than what it should be.   Hence it becomes touchy.   “You said ‘what it should be’.   What should it be actually?   Is it really needed?” Joe asked. “The need depends on individuals.   If it didn’t serve some meaningful purpose, it wouldn’t have survived thousands of years,” I answered.   Then I went on to tell him what it should be. Religion should be a faith, an awareness and a consciousness.   Religi