Tolerant India...

There is huge debate in the market these days.

Intolerance;  A tag people are busy accusing each other for carrying.

And everyone seems badly offended getting tagged to this word.

I don’t understand one thing…WHY?

First of all we have to understand what this all buzz about tolerance & intolerance is.

Tolerance means acceptance of something that you don’t like. Intolerance means the opposite.

Majorly this word is used with political & religious issues. People of different political & religious alignment accuse each other of being intolerant.  And then worse happens. They indulge in deadly affairs. 

I would like to comment over this thing in three steps.

1)      Being Intolerant to wrong.

2)      Right conduct.

3)      Proper Understanding.

Let’s discuss these one by one:-

·         BEING INTOLERANT TO WRONG

In great Indian epic legend “Mahabharta”, Pandavas were the tolerant siblings. They tolerated every masquerade of their evil cousins in the hope of peace.

But, if you give rat a cookie, it will ask for milk.

Despite the sacrifices of Pandvas, the greed of their cousins wasn’t satisfied & after all in the end, there happened the deadliest war in the history of mankind (as believed in Indian mythology).

So, what was the reason? Why did it all happen even after the tolerance of Pandvas ?

The answer is, “They tolerated wrong things.”

So, tolerance is cool but up to a limit only. Otherwise it will have adverse effects on you.

Let me give you an example… You tolerate a newborn baby when it pees over you.  What if a 20 year old does the same?
What will you do? Tolerate?

Being intolerant to wrong things is a necessity.

For a moment, if someone calls me intolerant.  Yes, I am. What’s wrong with it? I don’t tolerate certain things & take proper action against them. That makes me intolerant but not wrong.

·         RIGHT CONDUCT

Okay so now we know that being intolerant is fine & necessary. But so is the right conduct.

Remember that kid who peed over you when he was a kid. Now he has turned adolescent & he pees over you again.  Now for obvious reasons you aren’t going to tolerate this anymore.

But, what would you do?  Kill him? Chop off his phallus? or chide him & warn him not to do that again ?

Now if you do any of these, it will clearly mark in his head that you are intolerant towards this action of him. But if you chose first or the second option, that obviously won’t be the right conduct. Is it ?
So, you have to choose your way of conduct wisely. 

There should be proper tolerance in your conduct. We must be able to punish & teach the guilty simultaneously.

You cannot go on killing someone who refuses to live your way (until it threats the mere existence of mankind).

Remember,

             A war does not decide who is right; it decides who is left…

                                          THE WAY OUT; 
              PROPER UNDERSTANDING

Ours is a diverse country. INDIA… Though we have religious dominance of one religion in numbers, but our constitution doesn’t give any such dominance to any particular religion or political alignment as in case of some of the countries like Vatican City, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China etc.

We are a home to almost every religion & political mindset. We are not a nation; we are a world in itself. We have the highest of mountain ranges, big rivers, vast plains & plateaus. We have more than 100 languages, more than 1500 dialects, and people with different shades of skin color. We are a country where it is -50⁰ at one place & 50⁰ at another place during the same time of the year.

We are one of the noisiest places in the world. Be it over hyped weddings or melodramatic funerals or any political or religious rally, we are full of noise. Yet people from all around the world come here in search of peace and get orgasmic flash of enlightenment.  HERE…

This land is the birth giver of most peaceful religions yet we are always indulged in never-ending religious quarrels. We worship numerous goddesses yet we find it hard to ensure women security. World index keeps us in the list of least innovative countries but we make the cheapest flight to Mars.

We don’t enter our homes with even shoes-on, yet ours is one of the filthiest countries. We have world’s most expensive house but we also have most number of people dying out of hunger & poverty. We are a nation where a national cricket player travels in Ferrari & a national medal winning shooter is bound to sell tea to earn living.

You might think why I am telling this all to you. Because this where we go wrong. We have closed our eyes & tolerating these things. We have been tolerating all this poverty, social inequality, pollution, corruption etc.

Who says we are intolerant ?

While we need to be be extremely intolerant towards these things & fight against these. But no! What will we fight for? He killed a cow…Kill him. He made a cartoon of Allah…Kill him. She wore a hijab...Harass her. They loved & married with their will…Kill them.  Are we nuts?

Fight for things which are worth fighting for. Don’t waste your very life fighting for vague issues.

But one thing we can be proud of is that despite all these things, we are living in this country. Together.

Now if we understand this very thing that there is no option but to live together just like a joint family, we can solve this problem of religious & cultural conflicts. We have to no longer tolerate each other; we’ve been doing that for quite long. It’s time we start understanding each other. We have to merge with each other & start learning about each other’s ways of living.

Being human, it is our fundamental trait to disagree. But being the same human, we also have enough wisdom to manage things properly.  It’s time that we start developing a sense of trust in each other. And that must be from all the sides. If one side tries to co-operate & other takes the advantage of it to ensure the working of its propaganda, then things will not work out. 

You might not like something that other wears or worships. So, you are free not to do that. But the other is also free. Understand this very thing.

You don’t like Momos. It doesn’t mean you will call every East Indian like “oye momos idhar aa be”.

What if they start calling you “pakoda” ?   Instead you can both enjoy the cuisines at the same table in the same restaurant. Try each other’s dishes some day. Who knows you may discover a new favorite taste? I told you we INDIANS are like a big joint family. And joint family runs with understanding & co-operation.

Build intolerance towards the evils prevailing in our society that I told you earlier & build understanding for people around you. Build a great nation, a great society & a great human in you.

So, understanding is the only way out. Mere tolerance won’t work out. We have paid enough toll of being tolerant, its time we turn  intolerant , but you know against what …you know it, right?

©MANJUL JAGOTRA

Follow us on Twitter to never miss an update.