World
Celebrated the joyous festival Eid
al-Fitr today, a festival of harmony, joy & sweets. EID reminds
me of one of my favorite childhood story “Idgah”, by Munshi Premchand,
where young Hamid dismisses his own temptations and buys a present for his ageing
grandmother instead. The message learnt
with this story was that kindness, humbleness & compassion are real
festivals.
Saw
the neighborhood kids in the morning running to shops with their “Eidi” in
hands & with their new clothes specially bought for the day. By afternoon refrigerator
was half full with sweets, and social media was full with Eid wishes.
Everything
looks perfect, until one switch to television. Every channel is busy covering
Eid, every political party trying to be Muslim friendly & becoming so
called secular. I wonder at times, why they have to prove their secularism
every now & then, with every second political figure flaunting their
secular “Topi” and throwing Iftaar parties.
Where
it is said or written that wearing or not wearing a Topi makes you secular? I
never wore a Topi, nor did my Muslim friends wear Dhaga to celebrate Diwali,
but that neither made us less secular nor it shrink our joy to celebrate
Festivals. The core idea about being
secular lays in respecting the other religions, their viewpoints, while maintaining
your own. Secularism which compromises on your identity is simply pseudo
secularism.
My
best experience to explain secularism comes from a Muslim friend of mine, who
open heartedly invites me for home stay on visit to his city, respects my
religious values and prepares separate vegetarian food for me, one who readily
discusses core issues and concerns of minority and at the same time carefully
listens to my viewpoints.
It
is the love and respect for each other’s individuality that makes us secular.
Topi & tilak are both important but not flaunting them won’t make you less
secular either. You have to choose your own definition of secularism.
I wish if all can be like little Hamid of Premchand's story and understand real meaning of prayers & celebration. Every
festival is wrapped with focus on kindness, humbleness & compassion and aims
at spreading happiness. So with hope of a true secular nation, wish you all "Eid
Mubaraq".
