Open windows of the mind
Frank inquiry and free contact are possibly the best antidotes to
prejudice and demonisation
BY Teesta Setalvad
Frank inquiry and open debate is possibly the best and
only recommended ideology. For peace to actually happen and
reign in the minds and hearts of men, women and children, the process does
need to begin. Acknowledging that, sparing some thoughts for the agonies
experienced by the children, men and women of Kashmir and Jammu (as also
the north-eastern part of India), this piece would like to wish the upcoming
Indo-Pak summit well. But for the peace process to be abiding and successful,
the conviction that peace is the only practicable way out of a situation
of acute despair and impending nuclear destruction needs to ground itself
within us.
We have in our midst individuals and forces that thrive
on the creation of the bogey of an ‘enemy’, an enemy that is at perpetual
war with India and Indians. For them to keep the image of this enemy alive
and kicking, the enemy outside needs to have constant echoes within; hence
the deliberate allegations levelled at sections of our own population,
dubbing them ‘unpatriotic’ or ‘anti-national’. Reserved mostly for Indian
Muslims, this label is at times also hurled at peace and human rights activists,
trade unionists, Dalits, women, anyone who dares to question the unfairness
and injustice perpetuated by us on our own people.
The poem/song that follows, regularly sung in schools
run by the RSS, is a good example of how scared forces that thrive on the
bogey of the ‘enemy outside’ and the ‘enemy within’ are of openness and
frank inquiry. Called ‘Pakistan ki jhanki’, the chorus lines of the song
that young children are made to sing daily goes thus: “Aao baccho tumhe
dikhaoon, jhanki Pakistan ki, Bharatmata ka ang bani ab, Karmabhoomi shaitan
ki” (Come children let me show you a glimpse of Pakistan, A severed part
of Bharat Mata is today the devil’s workshop!) If we are made to sing this
dutifully each day or each week, there are good chances that we will begin
to believe some or most of it.
It was to counter this assiduously cultivated hate with
sanity, reason, questioning and sharing that we began AMAN — an olive branch
of the Khoj project in 1996. Not only through this experiment, but
also through our KHOJ lessons on South Asia each year, and our engaging
problem-solving sessions dealing with children’s emotions, the notion of
Pakistan as ‘my enemy’ always crops up. But give kids a chance and the
solutions are many and varied. We may get shocked and surprised at the
openness displayed by Pakistani children because they show such curiosity
about other religions because of the Holi and Diwali celebrations they
have seen on Zee TV. We may get another jolt when we know that Basant is
a much-enjoyed festival in the (Pakistani) Punjab even today; that Holi
is also celebrated in the deserts of Sindh. We may also, if we are willing
to be honest, openly admit that we and our kids have been victims of a
greater stereotyping when we find our letters unconsciously asking, ‘Are
there rivers in Pakistan?’
When you are angry at a country like Pakistan, which
you feel is India’s enemy, what would you do?
I would try and make them understand our point of view
by the technique of satyagraha — fighting injustices in a peaceful manner
with sit-downs, boycotts and demonstrations. If they do not understand
still, then I will declare a war against that country.
(Aayushi Bagadia, Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya,
Malad west).
Especially when Pakistan beats us in cricket, I feel that
I should make (organise) a series and tell the Indian team that they should
win. If they don’t win, I will cheat. If they declare war, I will try the
technique of satyagraha
(Another child from Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya, Malad west).
When we are angry with Pakistan, we should first show
them the technique of satyagraha, that is, solving problems through peaceful
means. If they do not obey it, we should not declare war against them.
Then the Pakistanis will also feel ashamed and come to us and say sorry.
So Pakistan’s anger will also go.
(Abha, V-D, Radhakrishnan V)
If we fight with Pakistan, we will get nothing but thousands
of people losing their life. Towns and cities will be destroyed. We should
make them understand not to fight with each other. All are equal, no one
is inferior or superior.
(Rahul Shah, V-D, Radhakrishnan V)
Do we think India and Pakistan can become friends?
How?
Yes, I think India and Pakistan can become friends only
if the Pakistanis stop the fight for Jammu and Kashmir.
(A child from Bombay Cambride -east).
. India and Pakistan can only be friends when the people
forget the differences between Hindus and Muslims.
(Natasha Mehta; V-B, BCE).
I can’t say because I cannot tell the future.
(Rahul Kumar, V-B, BCE).
No. India and Pakistan cannot become friends because they
are fighting.
(Mahesh V-B, BCE)
The more intense the interaction, the more varied the
responses. Aman gets letters all the time from children, adults and adolescents
to help them become friends with their counterparts in Pakistan. The difficulties
in communication has restricted us (a simple letter or postcard to Pakistan,
costs as much as a postal communication to the USA) at present. But we
hope to set up an interactive website soon. Equally, KHOJ-AMAN proposes
to launch a nationwide campaign through schools and colleges demanding
that postal rates and telecommunications charges between India and Pakistan
be reduced.
Ask youngsters which is the place or country they would
like to visit and Pakistan and Kashmir invariably figure. Interestingly,
for a majority of the same kids Pakistan remains the ‘enemy’ but the curiosity
to visit the ‘enemy’ overrides any fear.
To work with children in India on this issue, we need
to be able to maturely handle painful schisms like Partition and the demonised
imagery of the Kashmir conflict (all Kashmiris as terrorists) created and
sustained by Hindi cinema, even television serials and often, news. Growing
minds are curious, they are frank and they can sniff out our hang-ups,
the shadows we create to conceal what we don’t want them to see, or wish
to be seen. All this requires stepping out of the boundaries set by nation
states and governments to create educational syllabi and textbooks in tune
with what they would like us to believe.
Here’s what we told our youngest and first Aman batch,
something we continue to use. “Its all a question of which side or angle
one approaches a problem, isn’t it? For years you, I, others as well, may
have been brought up with an idea passed down by parents that here is our
enemy. As we grow older and learn details and facts — not known to us before
— about the birth of both countries from both points of view and the high
costs that both our countries are paying for this intense hostility, suddenly
a small window in our minds opens. We look out of this window into the
endless blue sky where there are floating clouds, soft as cotton, that
recognise no manmade boundaries. They flit, bold and free, over a sky that
is neither Indian nor Pakistani. In the hope that this happens more and
more. |