Being a Malayali,
born and raised in Bombay, I grew up amidst a delightful concoction of
religious beliefs and surprisingly unorthodox points of view. Today, these very
beliefs and perspectives are being severely tested, as scepticism and doubt on
the one hand come face to face with violence and bigotry in the name of
religion. We live in dangerous times indeed.
Like many of my
peers, I too have been thrown into a quandary over all my earlier philosophies.
I constantly question myself, and the answers are not easy to come by. My state
of mind notwithstanding, when I received this piece that has been doing the
rounds on Whatsapp for months, for the fourth
time today, I decided to add my two penny worth on the subject in question.
First of all let me
transcribe the article I received.
“Ramachandra Aluri is Associate Editor of the mass-circulated
Mathruboomi Daily & outstanding literary figure in Malayalam.
He is a devout Malayali Hindu.
Every Hindu should dutifully read & digest what he
writes...”
"Certain ignorant fundamentalists now in power should
understand this before targeting Malayalees for their defiance against myths of
Akhand Bharat and the beliefs of north. We Hindus of Kerala don't worship cows
as mothers. You will rather find bulls in Shiva temples here as stars. For us
Sabarimala and Guruvayoor means a lot more than Haridwar or Ayodhya. Our major
festivals are Onam and Vishu, not Diwali or Navaratri. We don't celebrate holi,
bhai dooj, karwa chauth or rakhi. Christmas and Eid are pretty much part of our
lives. Some ardent religious Keralites are vegetarians and a few others by
choice. Most of us eat beef, chicken, mutton, duck and all sort of other meats.
Fish is essentially a part of Kerala cuisine. Just because, some Northies
worship beef, don't expect us to give up beef.
Buffalo meat is not banned anywhere in India. So it was a
planned plot in Delhi and well executed by some Hindu Sena to hurt Keralite
defiance. Malayalam is our mother tongue and so we are Malayalies. Neither
Hindi nor Hindutva means anything to us. Islam and Christianity grew here
peacefully and those who believe in those religions are a part of our
multi-cultural society. In Kerala you will find churches, temples and mosques
standing tall close to each other in peace and some of them are thousands of
years old. Keep the sobbing stories of Mughals and other invasions of the North
to yourselves. The oldest mosque in India built in 629 AD is right here in Kerala
at Kodungallur.
We had trade relations with Jews, Arabs, Chinese and many
South East Asian kingdoms for over two thousand years (i.e. during B.C.). We
defeated the Dutch in Kolachal.
Travancore and Kochi were not part of British India. They
were pretty much independent princely states. Travancore had its own elected
people's assembly here in Trivandrum before Indian independence. RSS and other
regressive forces should know that we won't bow before your Hindutva agenda, we
joined the Indian Union, which is a Secular Federal Republic, and will never be
a part of any Hindurashtra".
A Proud Malayali Hindu.
My Reply to Mr Ramachandra Aluri
Dear Mr Aluri,
Like you, I too am a
proud Malayali Hindu, although I was born and raised in Bombay. Having
carefully scrutinized all that you have written, I find myself quite unable to
empathise with your views.
Let me explain.
At the outset, the very
tone and tenor of your piece smacks of the typical, blustering, aggressive
tendency that so defines our clan. Your attitude is insulting and supercilious.
Taking a perverse pride in cutting yourself off from the rest of the country
will not serve to make you independent of the ‘Northies’ as you call them.
Unless you think fish,
coconuts and spices are sufficient to live on, please adopt a little more
humility in your speech. You need the ‘Northies’ a little more than they need
you. Instead of boasting “Keep the sobbing stories of Mughals and other
invasions of the North to yourselves.”, say a silent prayer at Sabarimalai, or
the temple of your choice, for never having known such intrusions. Perhaps
they may have served to rid the Malayali psyche of its ill famed arrogance!
One glaring defect in
your testimony is your apparent craven fear of Muslims when you speak of
'other' meats. You studiously avoid the mention of pork, which is such a
popular and delicious meat eaten by both Hindus and Christians in Kerala. Are
you appeasing your Muslim readers?? Worrying about hurting their sentiments,
while your ride roughshod over the ‘Northies’?
As for living together
in peace, that was true years ago when the tolerant, mild-mannered Hindus were
the majority, and ruled the roost. You live in a fool’s paradise if you think that
still holds true. Like the proverbial ostrich, you have your head buried in ‘coconut
husk’!
Muslims have
aggressively multiplied and taken over the narrative. Kerala Hindus have, sad
to say, cowed down in submission. They dare not open their mouths in opposition
because Muslims won't think twice before hacking them to pieces, as they did
during the communal riots years ago. (my mother, who was from Cannanore,
witnessed it first hand).
They still do it, as
news stories out of Kerala aver. That the Communists have had a huge hand in
the mess that is Kerala is another matter altogether, and fodder for another
cannon perhaps.
The truth is Kerala
Muslims are joining ISIS and other Muslim Brotherhood organisations, and are
being radicalized at an alarming rate. There is an entire Muslim village which
has been segregated from the 'Kafirs' (yes, Hindus like you and me), and where Shariah
now rules, unhindered and unobstructed. Yes, sir, its true!
Had I read your piece
a few years ago I may have felt proud to be a Malayali. However, today your
views, and indeed your style of writing,
only makes me sick! And to add insult to my grievous injury, is the sad fact
that you represent an old and esteemed magazine like, ‘Mathrubhumi’, a magazine
to which my late father made such erudite contributions. He surely must turn in
his grave to read this misrepresentation by you.
The tide has turned, Mr Ramachandra Aluri, and
its time we Malayalis woke up and smelt the filter coffee we are so famous for!
