Are We Emotionally Numb?

How would a moderate Muslim feel upon being distrustfully referred as a terrorist? This happened and they came out in media to protest against it. How would a Hindu feel upon wary accusations of buoying post Godhra riots? This happened and once again we saw many similar acts. We all hate generalizations. But how would a community feel if someone actually alleges them of being duffer, utterly imprudent? Wouldn’t they glare indignantly and contort the person’s visage?


But unfortunately we so called iconoclastic youths have been perennially mocking a community whose rich cultural heritage most of our bollywood movies boast of. We have jibed a community which is known for its verve, valor and vigor. So much is this community pumped with self respect that they would love to die rather than begging. Not even a single national team is deprived of members from this community, be it cricket, hockey and yeah the most important of all- our Indian Army. Most horrible part is that this community got its popular nickname “Sardar” purely because its courageous devout leaders reprieved Hindu women from Muslim vanquishers in medieval history and even then, even then we ungrateful Hindus make fun of our sardar colleagues. But this peace loving community never got publicly riled; never threw any bomb to stop this persecution. It’s high time when we really need to be deeply discerned about removing this silly practice of deriding the “Sikh” community which has taken our entire society under its siege.


Since childhood, I see everyone cracking jokes on sardars. I wasn’t an exception, but was always inquisitive to know the precise reason why we do so. Someone told me that the story goes back to 1984 when a Sikh bodyguard killed Indira Gandhi, our beloved prime minister. That was the most stupid reply one can think of. What about Tamils then, we should make fun of them as well as they were involved in killing of Rajiv Gandhi. I consulted my friends; none was so deeply hurt by the murder of our prime minister to an extent to impose the mistake of an individual upon an entire community. And if we laugh at some of their customs, we have no right of inheriting the Indian culture which assimilates nearly all religions. It’s just an unwitting trend which one gets accustomed to in an Indian society and the regrettable part is that we never gave concern to its repercussions. Our so called enlightened modern youths eschewed to go in the details just like they never thought of Indian culture, they didn’t even consider its ramification just like they overlooked root problems of India. Talking of its insidious impact on Indian society, this practice reveals how much emotionally numb we are. Ruefully, it has alienated us from this community and defeated the concept of united society. Incessant onslaughts have infuriated the youths of this community and somehow aggravated the issue of Khalistaan. I am pretty sure that only few of us might be knowing that Hinduism and Sikhism are so deeply intertwined that even the secular Indian Constitution has considered both the religions identical at many substantial issues though it could have given a special status to Sikhism just like it gave to Islam.


We both go for Vaishno Devi, we both celebrate Diwali. But thanks to our malign maliciousness and vote bank politics, I have never heard even a single politician/religious leader regarding treatment of Sikhism as a branch of its mother Hinduism. I firmly believe that Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are branches of Hinduism and this fact can be verified by any pious devout intellectual. Efforts of Buddha, Guru Nanak and Mahaveer were more to remove the orthodox practices in Hinduism. Was there really any concept of separate religions at that time? All these religions basically talk of a way of living.


Anyways, enough is enough. There should be an end to our ruthlessness and callousness. If we would still make fun of sardars then we definitely have no right to allege politicians, we are no better than them. Let’s talk of a united society only then can we talk of a united India. Let’s do something which shows that we are educated. To start the process, I have deleted all jokes in my inbox which talk of sardars.


Lets work in the direction of becoming a part of the solutions