So Secular!

So Secular!

Sujoy Bose was born to traditional Bengali parents in the holy city of Benaras having ancestral property in the land of rosogollas, Kolkata. The eleven year boy loved Benaras as well as Kolkata with the same intensity. His grandparents stayed in Kolkata and he loved being there once a year during the Durga Pujo. His grandparents and other relatives there in Bengal often teased him saying, “Here comes the UP bala babu.” This annoyed him but he had learnt the art of avoiding confrontations. He knew, the more he showed his irritation, the more were the chances of his being teased. He was very possessive about his own birthplace, Benaras and valued its rich heritage. He loved his school, his teachers, his friends and his neighbours. He also liked his Bengali culture. He often coaxed his parents and grandparents to say stories about the ancient rich Bengali history. He felt proud to be associated with such supreme culture. In his school his friends called him ‘Bangali dada’. He tried avoiding any names for him, but after he failed explaining to all others, that he too was similar to the rest, he carried the title with dignity and esteem.

He was a bright student in class. What shocked his parents was that, not only did he score highest marks in Maths and Science; he had the highest marks in Hindi as well. His mother would often smile and say, “Who taught you Hindi so well? Puro UPwala hoye gachis naki? (Have you turned into complete UP-ite?) Sujoy could not associate this remark to something positive; to have learnt the national language despite having a non-hindi background; or to some negative characteristic. The later demotivated him as it meant indirectly that knowing too much hindi would make him less Bengali. So, he chose the optimum path of dedicating himself to studies and concentrating on his own principles which gave him a sense of satisfaction, ignoring everything else.

Sujoy held his ideologies firm and was very proud of them. He grew to be a secular Indian; the same which his father had always taught him in theory, but never practiced the same on himself. Sujoy’s patriotism reached many level higher during Cricket matches, during any news of Indian soldier getting killed in the borders and during any anti-Indian debate.

After finishing his intermediate, his hard work and dedication got him selected in the best medical college of the country-AIIMS, Delhi. He had to shift to Delhi for his higher education. He welcomed the capital city with open arms and very soon adjusted to the hustle-bustle life of Delhi. There in Delhi, few Delhi based Bengali boys took the initiative to be friends with him but he never engaged himself in any type of ‘group-ism’. He felt all the students of AIIMS belonged to one group, but little did he know about the sub-groups under the main group which were doing nothing but to erode the system.

During the third year of his medical course, Sujoy’s father planned for a family trip to Kanyakumari. The place holds an important place in the heart of all the Bengalis as it was the historic place of Swami Vivekananda. Sujoy was also very excited to visit the much revered place. During the train journey, from Madurai to Kanyakumari a co-passenger happened to enquire to them in the most casual manner, “Aap log kaha se aaye hain? (From where have you come?”). There wasn’t any hidden motive behind asking the question rather it was just a way to initiate conversation during the train journey.

Sujoy was just about to say “Benaras” when his father spoke out. “We belong to West Bengal,” he said with a feeling of pride. Sujoy controlled his urge to ask for an oral explanation then and there, but he waited for the right time. “Papa, why did you not tell the person that we were coming from Uttar Pradesh and not West Bengal? Are you ashamed of residing in Uttar Pradesh? How can you ignore the place that provided you employment?” This was not the first time, but every time his father did this, Sujoy felt agitated.  He did not like his birthplace to be undervalued, but his father would every time just smile and let go the matter aside.

During Sujoy’s medical course, he experienced a chemical imbalance in his life too. He fell in love with a fellow colleague named Ratan Kaur who belonged to the state of Punjab. Soon, after completion of studies and satisfactory placements, both of them decided to marry. When Sujoy went to Punjab for the first time, he was aghast to find the reaction from people after he called himself from UP. He defended himself as well as his state as much as he could, but the skepticism ended only after revealing by Ratan that Sujoy was a Bengali ‘just’ staying in Uttar Pradesh. This further annoyed Sujoy. He didn’t like his birth land being considered to be so dubious that he had to take refuge to another state for marrying a girl from some third state.

In Sujoy’s family as well as the extended family staying in UP and West Bengal respectively, people accepted the marriage without much significant drama. Post marriage, they kept enquiring directly, indirectly or through taunts whether Sujoy could get anything else to eat except for Rajma and Chawal. Deliberate comparisons were made time and again to prove the superiority of own culture over others. It was shocking for Sujoy to realize that one of the best means of proving ones superiority was to somehow highlight the weaknesses of others. Sujoy’s problems increased, because now he had to defend another state and another culture too.

After marriage both of them decided to settle in the land of Bollywood, Mumbai after getting an attractive offer from a renowned hospital. Oh my God! Yet another State, yet another culture; but Sujoy kept himself calm. He was accustomed to this kind of situation and knew how to tackle it. Sujoy’s worry was not the new city but the stress the couple was going through. Sujoy and Ratan had been trying for having a child of their own since long but somehow God didn’t grant them the pleasure. Several renowned doctors and hospitals had been referred to, but without success. In spite of the couple being doctors themselves, they could not provide a cure to their own medical problem. This fact kept reminding them that though they may be considered to be the God for several patients, but in reality they are not even a speck of the God. This kept the couple humble in spite of being popular doctors among their patients. No doubt, however much we try to fly in different directions, God has his own way of pulling our strings tight.

Meanwhile, Ratan had learnt few Marathi words and had unknowingly developed a Marathi accent. This made them even more unacceptable in the respective states they belonged to, but they hardly cared for it. They were getting grooved in the Mumbai city and that was all that mattered to them at present.

Soon IPL started and its craze was widely spread in the entire atmosphere. Different states comprised different teams. Sujoy’s neighbours being Marathi blindly supported Mumbai. But what should Sujoy do? He belonged to Bengal, Punjab, Delhi and to Mumbai in equal amounts and he didn’t have the option to tear his heart to show the love for all the different states. It was again a tough time for him. “You are not supporting Mumbai? Of course, you do not belong to Mumbai. We are proud Mumbai Indians” one of the fellow staying close to Sujoy shouted.”

Sujoy couldn’t understand what made the other person feel that he was not a Mumbai supporter. It couldn’t be the hatred for Mumbai, because he loved the city. It definitely was the love for the other teams that caused him to reach to this harsh conclusion. The love for self is always defined by the degree of hatred for others.

“I am a proud Indian. Isn’t it sufficient for people? Can’t people just stop interrogating me and leave me with the title ‘just-a-secular-Indian’ without having to choose among a buffet of 36 states and UTs?” Sujoy wanted to say aloud, but he stopped himself.

Within a year, the situation in the country became extremely tensed. There were inter-state riots all over. Mumbai became even more sensitive and highly riot-prone area. Each state was trying to prove its superiority over the other, by showing disrespect and impertinence for the others states. Sujoy was in a fix not knowing what to do.  

One day Ratan suggested, “Sujoy, Let’s move to USA. I have been thinking about it for the entire week and finally thought this would be the optimum solution in the present scenario. I don’t think we can now gel in any state and so it is better to move to US. I have also shortlisted a few job opportunities for both of us. Moreover, there in US we can have better medical treatment and who knows God might bless us with a child there.”

Sujoy agreed to her demand almost immediately. It seemed as if he also wanted the same thing but lacked the courage to put forth the idea. Both of them managed to get a job there, and finally settled to Seattle, USA. There after spending considerable amount of time and money in the treatment, they were blessed with a little girl. Sujoy thanked the nation for it. He felt it was a gift from the newly located country and that the country definitely owns his dedicated service for the entire lifetime. Both Ratan and Sujoy earned a good name and fame there in Seattle as well.

Their daughter, Poorna was legally American citizen but Sujoy made it a point that she learnt all the three Indian languages- Bengali, Hindi as well as Punjabi. The toddler did manage to speak all of them in a cute little kid-style, but in an ascent which nowhere matched to that of any language in India. Her American ascent well qualified her to be called as American, a Videshi etc., as per India’s definition but who bothered now. Sujoy and Ratan loved any cute words uttered by the little girl.

There in USA, Sujoy had friends from different communities including Indian and they together celebrated all the festivals with equal joy and pomp. He had taught Poorna, the equality in all religion and culture. Any new dress bought or gifted to her, she considered them wearing on some special occasion, be it on Holi, Diwali or Id or Christmas. She believed every festival is an auspicious day to start anything new. Sujoy was happy seeing that the feeling he wanted to inculcate in his child had been developed perfectly.

“Papa! I too want to see India,” Poorna said to Sujoy one day when she was just 6 years old. She had heard a lot of stories about the nation and was curious to know more about it. She knew about all the Indian festivals. It was month of January and she knew Lohri was approaching soon and she started making plans for her first Lohri celebration in India.

Sujoy couldn’t refuse the innocent request of his child more because he too longed to visit his birth place. It’s been almost a decade; he had been away from India. After reaching Benaras, he felt a sense of connection and affinity for the place and his emotional heart made his eyes go moist. Benaras had changed a lot since the time Sujoy left the place, but it didn’t take long for Sujoy to realize that the people hadn’t changed much. Just after few hours of welcome ceremonies and general talks, Sujoy’s family in Benaras started focusing on the innocent Punjabi words learnt by Poorna. The little Poorna became the centre of attraction for everyone. Few days later when Sujoy took Ratan and Poorna to Punjab, there people raised their eyebrows on the little Bengali learnt by her. Almost the same story was pertinent in the state of Bengal as well. By the end of the trip to India Poorna had gathered for herself all sorts of different names-UPwali Ameriki, Bideshi bangali, USwali Punjabi. She didn’t like these names at all. This gave her a feeling of inferiority and Sujoy could very well sense her grudge. After all she had his genes in her!

“You always said Papa that India is one, but within India there are so many different Indias. I want to learn more fluently all the different languages of India so that people can accept me in India. Please teach me Papa,” Poorna came running to Sujoy in a disappointed mood but with a solution that only her innocent little brain could think of. Sujoy’s eyes were welled with tears. He hugged the little girl. He knew very well that accepting more cultures, more states, more languages would take her further away from everyone, while being a rigid supporter of one forgetting all but one language, one culture would make her somewhat acceptable at least by one small segment of India. Sujoy didn’t have the courage to explain all these complications to the innocent little girl and shatter all her dreams. He cuddled the child in his arms showering all his love on her for hours. He had already experienced and was still experiencing the pain of being unsure of belonging to exactly which 1/36^th part of the huge nation; he didn’t want Poorna to feel displeased in the same way.

Years passed by and she grew up in Seattle. She never again expressed her desire to visit the country. She had untied all the knots from her that gave her the feeling of being of Indian origin.

There in Seattle, one day a newly shifted Bangladeshi bought a new house in their neighbour. He could speak Bengali and Sujoy felt good about it. When he asked where they belonged to, Poorna jumped before anyone could answer, “We are American.” Sujoy smiled and did not intervene. He felt she did a good job proclaiming herself to be an American. Had she called herself of Indian origin, she would have been asked to clarify to which 1/36^th part of India she belonged to, which would have been difficult to answer for not only her but also for Sujoy.