My family

I am a 15 year old girl. I would like to share the story of my family. My elder brother says it is not good to tell outsiders about what goes on inside our family as it affects our family prestige. But I want to appeal to the better side of the reader and possibly we would be helped.

First let me introduce my family. We are three of us in our family, my mother, my elder brother and me. My dad passed away 10 years ago. We also have a servant boy to help us with our daily chores. He is treated as a part of the family, but I wonder if he considers us as his family.

Two months before our father died, we had bought the house and renovated it. We had been living as tenants for years. Me and my brother quarreled with each other for our rooms. Since then, we never stopped. During the last days of his life, our dad was very disappointed with our behavior. But we were very young then. We continued to fight over our dad's body. We were too small to understand that he wont be coming back. We still don't!

A few days after renovating this house, I wanted the take a cute alarm clock for myself. But my brother embezzled it from me. I wanted to take “direct action” and went to his room to pick it up. That was the worst fight we ever had. My brother pulled my hair and beat me with his ruler. I took revenge and poisoned his food. Both of us still bear those wounds. Our sick dad was caught in the middle. His belief in non-violence was shattered when he saw us biting each other. He vowed not to talk to us till we settle the issue. Though we made truce then, his wish for a peaceful family has never been fulfilled.

Since then, my brother has always shown his might to me. He has a typical medieval approach to resolving disputes. Worse still he is chauvinistic and boastful of his might. He repeatedly argues that if I were a boy and he were a girl, I would have subdued him. But he knows little about the power of a woman. The power of a woman is in manipulating the mighty. I easily convince my mother to my side. Victory can be achieved by force or by deceit.

My brother complains that our mother is partial. He claims that I get special rights just because I am a girl. But do girls get treated better than guys in any household? Though he may complain about petty stuffs like getting more clothes and jewelery, he is the one who is allowed to go wherever he wants to. Even my going to school is restricted. I have to return home by 7 pm and I am treated with suspicion if I talk to a guy.

Coming to guys, there is a guy next door who my brother hates. But he talks such sweet words to me. Our family has a dispute with his family over a mango tree in our compound. Till today many mangoes in the tree go missing. My brother suspects that he talks to me just to get the mango tree. He is also worried that I may sometime elope with him. But why would I do that. I know my limitations. Worse still I have heard that he ill treats his little sister. But my possessive brother puts so many restrictions on me.

But I know my brother loves me and I love him too. Whether we fight or not, he is still my own blood. He was always there for me when I was sick. And I used to make coffee for him, when he used to burn the midnight oil to develop our household. He is one person I can always rely on forever. I hope our misunderstandings are sort out and together we succeed.

This is the story of my family, of my India. The principles of democracy, secularism and justice which gave us birth watches us as we its children, both hindus and muslims, resolve our disputes.

Crazy Indian Muslims

There are some characteristics unique to Indian muslims. Many muslims in India have neither religious nor scientific education, though most people can read arabic without understanding a word and many others can program for IT firms having the lest idea what they are doing. Simply put, they are uneducated literates.


Adults Only !

Some mosques in India, segregate kids in the jamaat. Kids below certain age are not allowed to stand in line with others. And the age limit enforced can be as high as 12 or 13 years of age. Adults supposedly can not concentrate in prayer when there are kids around. As if 12 year olds can not stand quietly and pray. If a kid next to you can disturb your concentration, I guess you need to retrieve to a cave to meditate. These “elders” often know less quran than these kids(as people grow they keep forgetting what they learnt) and most of the times they have much lesser concentration as they worry about their wives, their jobs and their money during prayer. The principle that “children are a gift from God” is strong enough for mullahs to discourage family planning but not enough to treat them as equals.

In such mosques sometimes they allow kids to pray along with elders if they are accompanied by some guardian. I guess soon, mosques would have areas alloted as UG, PG , A etc...


Ring ring !

At the entrance of every mosque, there is a notice which reads “Please switch off your cellphones.” But to forget doing so is human, especially when you are entering the mosque mechanically. So it is not uncommon to hear cells ring once in a while. But in India, things are always unique. Some crazy muslims in my country think it is forbidden to do “unnecessary” movements during salah like taking your noisy cell out of your pocket and switching it off. I suppose for them, a ringing cell is a disturbance but switching it off is a sign that you have been disturbed. They care least about others who are continuing to get disturbed. Once I cut my salah, walked across the mosque picked up the cell and switched it off. With mp3 ring tones I wont be surprised to hear the latest item number song when I am reading suratul fatihah. Craziness!


Dont touch it !

No... dont touch it. You are not clean. Muslims in India would not touch the quran unless they are clean. They would not read the quran in a lying down position. They would not keep the quran at a lower rack. It has to be kept at the highest point irrespective of whether it is reachable or not. They would not even stretch their legs towards it. They would follow so many rules when they wish to discard them. Worst still, many riots are instigated when pages of the quran are burnt. They would do everything possible, save reading and contemplating.

I am not saying this is specific only to India. But you would find more of these people in this continent. Would be coming with other stuffs soon.

Why I choose to be irrational?

Irrationality is often treated with contempt in this modern scientific world. Being a theist, I hold a large set of irrational beliefs. In other words, there is no standard set of logical arguments to prove some of my basic beliefs. My fellow irrationalists, there is no reason to be ashamed.

Firemen enter burning buildings to save human lives. If a fire personnel were to bravely enter a building and bring out a small kid alive, what would you call him? What would you call that deed? Bravery? Heroic? What if the child he brings out is dead? Is he still a hero?

If you were on his shoes, what would you feel? Carrying a dead kid in your arms, will you feel successful or not? What if before entering you knew that there was hardly any chance of saving the little kid, would you still enter the building? Would you risk your life when there is hardly any chance to succeed? If you did not make an attempt, would you later feel guilty for not doing so?

Say you have entered the building and you see two people who need your help: an able man and a helpless kid. But the chances of saving the man is much more than saving the kid. Who would you choose to help? Would you attempt to save the man's life or try saving the kid and lose both?

I have just used some extreme situations to illustrate my point. During our lives, we are forced to choose between rational and irrational choices on different occasions. Certain irrational choices are guided by love and some by faith in the unseen. While some others are just momentary actions forced by anger, fear or anxiety.

Don't believe someone if he says all his choices are rational. Hypocrisy is the hallmark of most rationalists. There are numerous occasions were we all display irrational behaviour. Just as all forms of rational thinking do not lead to development, irrational thinking can also lead to stagnation. Superstitions are the worst of them. But as long as irrational thinking is supported by righteous principles like equality, justice, love for others and a quest for knowledge, it does little harm.

The main weakness of rational thinking is the limitation of the human mind to consider all influencing factors to make a decision.