Kerala Ayurvedic Ashram Distances One From Daily Diet Of Dismal News

You are already Here! Don’t leave without Like, Share, Commenting, or Tweet…be the Voice of the Free Press!!

EDITORIAL: By Saeed Naqvi, Copy Edited by Adam Rizvi, TIO: The Kottakal Ayurvedic Ashram in Mallapuram, Kozhikode or Calicut, Kerala, is a vantage point from where the North Indian shenanigans acquire the perspective of distance. In a sense, it is a double distance – I am in Kerala and in an Ashram. That the Ashram happens to be in the heart of Mallapuram, the state’s Muslim dominated district, is itself symbolic.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: India under totalitarians regime of PM Narendra Modi

One of the women masseurs told Aruna, my wife, that she will take a day off on Sunday; she must visit Muslim homes on Eid. It would be wrong to compare enthusiastic inter religious participation on occasions like Eid or Onam in Mallapuram to our experience in South Delhi. In fact it would be wrong even to compare it with, say, Thiruvanthapuram.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Gandhian Society hosts Interfaith Prayer Meet and Khadi Fashion Show in New Jersey

Thiruvanthapuram has always been a Nair dominated metropolis where the Muslim presence is not pronounced enough to be part of the Hindu’s everyday experience. Absence from this daily experience removes the Muslim from the Hindu’s social consciousness. That Sunday is Eid simply does not occur to him unless he happens to be in a Muslim dominated neighbourhood.

In New Delhi, ours is the only Muslim home in a colony mostly of Punjabis who came after Partition. I am usually an invitee for hoisting the flag on 15 August. But there are no spontaneous Eid visitations mostly because Muslims are not part of their daily experience as they are of mine.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Trigs on Track-Diplomacy Unwound Afghans: Left in the Lurch

This obvious but little noticed fact is critical in understanding Hindu-Muslim equations. The Hindu is part of the Muslim’s daily life – from the newspaper delivery boy, passing vegetable sellers, shopping malls, restaurants and, above all, the work place. The Hindu on the other hand has no occasion to come into contact with any Muslim. My friend for 60 years whom I must identify as a Hindu, (a shame, because our religious backgrounds have naver mattered all these years) has never known a Muslim other than me.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: PM Modi’s visit to UAE may be plagued by Prophet Controversy

A Hindu without any experience of Muslim is prone to be afflicted by an apartheid of the mind. For years I have been trying to persuade Hindu friends to accompany me to Jama Masjid during Ramzan to see Muslim congregations, the milling crowds, authentic kebabs and not even an iota of harassment of women. But I fail. Politicians and TV channels have cast Muslims as such murderous monsters, that friends make excuses and opt out.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Permanent Conflict Toward Hindu Rashtra Or Peaceful Dialogue For Hindustan?

That communalism as a political project has had no traction in Kerala is not for want of trying by RSS cadres and Congress leaders like the late K. Karunakaran. The Congress had two distinct approaches to the RSS-BJP. In Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh, for instance, fought the BJP tooth and nail; Karunakaran made tacit adjustments with the RSS to inject its one percent vote for UDF candidates to thwart the Left. Like the right of centre parties everywhere the Congress too is more comfortable with Hindu nationalism than with communists.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Is There Another Cuban Missile Crisis In The Offing?

In the North, manufactured incidents on a daily basis keep communalism on a continuous simmer and folks huddle and wonder what the future portends. For this lot, I have good news. They are guilty of extrapolating from their experience in the North and theorizing for the rest of the country. UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, part of Maharashtra and Bihar are in the BJP’s thrall. I am not counting Assam and Tripura because a different set of circumstances operates in these enclaves.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Governor Murphy’s Statement on the Senate’s Bipartisan Gun Safety Agreement

Even if you add the two, a total of 9 BJP ruled states minus Rajasthan for the time being, is far short of a comprehensive saffron hue over 29 states and 8 union territories. If roadblocks in the BJP’s way in the North was caste politics, it will face linguistic and ethnic headwinds in the rest of the country. The federal spirit is a huge obstruction.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Muslims Protest against Fascist Modi Regime in USA and Canada

Political culture in the North is overwhelmingly conditioned by identity politics. The rest of the country is by comparison relatively more sophisticated. Pardon my biases, but Kerala is truly Gods own country in every sense of the term including the charms of Kottakal. A deep rooted Left movement gave the people a sense of dignity not seen in the North. To the Church must go a large share of the the credit for the state’s saturation with education.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: India and the Arab world Protests, Will it Lead To Something New?

One of the invigorating “treatments” at Kottakal is an oil massage. Four men in blue uniform sit on either side of the massage table. An oil, laden with herbs, simmers on a stove. Hand towels, virtually cooked in the oil, are lifted out of the vessel, shared by the four masseurs who proceed to squeeze the tepid oil onto the body. They then slide the hand up and down the part of the body which has fallen to the particular masseur’s share.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Evolving Security Dynamic in West Asia and India’s Challenges

To break the rhythmic monotony of the massage, I asked them if they were all vegetarians, the only food available in Kottakal. They protested. In fact this became a prelude to a conversation on politicians and their favourite restaurants. It turns out that Rahul Gandhi, ostensibly on the way to Wayanad, his constituency, never misses a chance to visit Paragon which has even my vote as the country’s premier restaurant. The Kerala exceptionalism is not limited the masseurs’ knowledge of cuisine. They had even savoured Paragon food.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Glimmering from Shadows: Nikhat Zareen makes India proud!!

The 14 day exemption in Kottakal from pollution, perverse politics and stories of police excesses in the North, has reminded me of something I had learnt during my five year stint in the South with headquarters in Chennai: the entire Muslim experience in the South is at a vast variance from the North.

Also Read, Tweet & Share: Battle for the post of Middlesex County Commissioner heats up in New Jersey!

Muslims in the North came as invaders who set up empires. In the South they came as traders. Accepting local cultures was good business as well as excellent public relations. It was to facilitate the traders to pursue their new religion that Cheruman Perumal, a Hindu nobleman, built a Mosque for their Namaz in 629 AD near Kochi, three years before the Prophet’s death, making it the first Mosque in India and among the first six in Islam.

Curated and Compiled by Humra Kidwai

Articles written by contributors have different viewpoints. The views expressed in the articles are the author’s own and not necessarily supported by TIO, The India Observer its affiliates, staff, or the management. Our Articles can be reproduced, with the following conditions, (1) No alteration to the content, (2) Visible, full credit is given to the Author & Editor. (3) Citing, The India Observer, TIO. In the case of online or electronic media, a link to the original article must be given. Rules are strictly enforced. Any questions, email the Editor at: Mediaiss@gmail.com

All Copyrights reserved. Please be guided.