Colour my name transparent

'My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist' is what Rizwan Khan, (the protagonist Shah Rukh Khan's character) keeps repeating throughout the film My Name Is Khan.

I watched the two-hour-and-forty minutes film this Thursday. Brilliant performances by all those involved, but the film was overall a bit too designed and predictable.

Yet, there's one thing that really struck me and made me write this piece. Rizwan Khan wants to go to the U.S. President to tell him that his last name is Khan and that all the Khans or Muslims in this world, are not terrorists. An answer to all the racial discrimination that Muslims and Indians are subjected to... be it in the U.S. or Australia.

I wondered if this could also be an answer to all our countrymen and their biases.

Don't you think that even our native land is full of such unfairness? Not just Muslims but religious prejudices/favouritism as a whole.

A few occurrences from the recent past that disappointed all of us-

1. Actor Emran Hashmi couldn't buy a property in Mumbai's Pali Hills and was denied a no-objection certificate. 'Do I look like a terrorist?' posed Hashmi to all the media channels that went to report. Hashmi might not be one of the leading Khans of Bollywood, but certainly, nobody can deny him the right to have accommodation, and if something like this happened to an actor, I am sure many commoners' stories go unnoticed and unreported.

2. The residents of the Bengali-dominated Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi had opposed the allotment of land to a non-Bengali Buddhist organisation merely because they wanted to retain the land as a permanent venue for Durga Puja. The Delhi High Court had rightfully dismissed the plea of the residents perpetuating the very concept of national integration on the eve of Republic Day.

An unwarranted religious and language partiality for Bengalis was felt by one and all. I am a Bengali, and to me, this was certainly uncalled for.

3. Some time back, the MNS had wanted all cabbies to know Marathi or they might go inoperative in Mumbai. Also, Thackeray's discrimination towards North Indians is quite prevalent. 

4. The recent IPL controversy where none of the Pakistani players were picked up at the auction. The injustice was sensed worldwide.

5. There was a report last week from Gujarat where the house-resettling (displaced by the Sabarmati project) for 20,000 families had been interrupted because the Hindus didn't want to move into Muslim-majority colonies and Muslims to Hindu-majority areas. They were allotted houses through a random draw of lots.

On a personal front too, I am stumped over a few unreasonable preferences.

- I vividly remember how a family in our society was denied a rented house in a Jains' lane. The family's non-vegetarian fondness had them pay for it.

- A close friend once told me that his parents had strictly ordered him not to fall in love with a Muslim girl. And, if he did, it would never culminate in marriage.

Now, this is something that I know exists widely. I know of many people who have this thought practice. Do correct me if you think I am wrong.

Farah Anwar Pandith- Obama's special representative to Muslim communities has her task well outlined. She wants to change the outlook that the world has of Muslims and also wants to tell the Muslim world that America isn't all that bad.

Don't know if she will succeed in what she aims for.

However, I think it has to start with you and me. Globally, the process of change might begin but if it doesn't come down to the society we live in... it is futile.

I fondly remember as a child, I and all the kids in the neighbourhood would enjoy splashing and colouring each other on Holi...without bearing in mind somebody's last name.

Have a colorful Holi. 

Published on ibnlive.com

Tuesday , March 02, 2010