INDIA: This was my India

Friday, August 23, 2019

This was my India

THIS WAS MY INDIA

The following video is in Hindi/Urdu language, and it is everything India "was" a decade ago. The video is reflective of an India, a cohesive India, where all of us worked, lived, married, and enjoyed life together. A time when we did not let politicians place wedges between different groups of people. A nostalgic time that the moderate majority of Indians long for. I hope those days will be back.

Video: https://www.facebook.com/MikeGhouse/videos/2336706816406602/?t=33

I have compiled similar poetry," Mujhe mera pyaara Hindustan loutado" – give back my loving India of yesteryears to me. I will be reciting the poem at a Mushaira/ Kavi Sammelan, that is poetry session this Saturday at Aligarh Alumni association in Washington DC.

When people get along with each other, respect the otherness of the other, happiness flows through like a calm river in summer, touching everyone. It brings joy. I am pleased to share this video to let my fellow Indian Americans know that happiness comes from being good to each other and not hateful to each other or scheming to undermine each other.

My India was a cohesive nation, where all of us got along and minded our own business, and truly cared for each other. It did not matter what religion you practiced, and you cared for your friends.

I will not write another line without acknowledging the shameful treatment of Dalits. For centuries they have been treated less than humans as a part of the social structure. My civility does not allow me to use the crude language, hence this tone. I don't believe the Caste System is a part of Hinduism, it was cooked up by Manu, called Manu Smriti, and it is a racist, misogynistic and xenophobic system. I welcome anyone to tell me otherwise.

Most Hindus have denounced the varna system, but the practice is still there. Just this week, a Dalit man was hacked to death (Washington post) by the criminal father in law because the Dalit dared marry his upper-caste daughter. Three days ago, a Dalit man was chased and set afire. Since the new government has taken the reigns, harassments, lynching, and rapes of Dalits, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Moderate Hindus have increased by 30%.

Religions came into being to build societies where the weakest and the strongest, the rich and poor, old and the young, men and women were oriented to live in harmony. Religions were designed to knock out the selfish greed and arrogance that are the cause of all evil. Most people in each faith believe and practice that principle, a few don't. We need to work with them, and they are the lost souls in selfishness and arrogance.

Related Articles

Can Modi Save India? https://countercurrents.org/2019/08/can-modi-save-india-from-a-looming-disaster

India’s road to fascism - https://www.eurasiareview.com/15082019-indias-road-to-fascism-oped/

Can Modi Sarkar Allay the fears? https://www.indiawest.com/letters_to_editor/can-modi-sarkar-allay-fears/article_5338a480-aa55-11e9-98eb-933edd8ae75a.html

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is speaker, thinker, author, newsmaker, pluralist and an interfaith wedding officiant. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeghouse/

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WHO ARE WE?

Together as Indians, we are Hindus, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Atheists, Nastiks, Buddhists, Bahá'í, Tribals, Jews, Bo’s, Qandharis, Bakarwals inclusive of every group of Indians. Anyone who breathes the air off the land; drinks the water, eats the food and or chooses to be an Indian, has Indian blood running in him or her. We are all Indians and are all created equal, no one is more privileged than the other.

We should not allow any evil force to pit one Indian against the other. Each one of us should make an effort to tell them to work for an India, where Indians together can create an exemplary India. We should ask them to join us and build a cohesive India where authentic sab ke saath, sab ka vikaas ho. Sab ka Samman ho, aur sab ko nyay mile.

Mike Ghouse

INDIAN HEROES

These are the men and women from among Hindus, Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews, and other traditions that are deeply committed to the idea of One India and one people acknowledging the uniqueness of each one of the Indians.

Their work brings people together, their effort is to restore harmony among Indians, unlike some lost souls who are hell-bent on pitting one Indian against the other.

Lord Krishna had said, whenever the negative forces become stronger in dividing families and disrupt peace and harmony, he will emerge among them to restore sanity, the same idea is reflected in Quran, that God does not deprive his goodness to anyone and sends a peacemaker to every community and nation. After the founding fathers of the nation, these are our real heroes restoring dharma – the righteousness. Dharma is when people get along, mind their own business, live their lives and let others live theirs. God has created all of us and respects each one of us is the highest form of worship.

I salute them for their work and they come from all walks of life. They see you as an Indian and nothing but an Indian. They believe every human should be free to eat, drink, wear or believe whatever he or she wants in the pursuit of their happiness.

Please share stories of such Indians who have made efforts to build a cohesive India, an India where no Indian lives in apprehension, tension or fear of the other.

We have just started this in July 2018 and will start adding videos and links below, you are welcome to share the links to MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com

INDIAN VILLAINS

These men and women are hell-bent on pitting Indians against Indians. Their speeches are full of hate for the others. They are roughly 1/10th of 1% in each group of Indians with no exception. They don't want to see Indians get along with each other. The have no qualms in making discriminatory statements about Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits, and others. There is no consequence to it, laws are there, but are not enforced. The leadership in India remains silent, encouraging the extremists to keep doing what they do.

We have just started this in July 2018 and will start adding videos and links below, you are welcome to share the links to MikeGhouseforIndia@gmail.com

PATRIOTISM

Two of India’s dangerous trends: Misplaced Patriotism and intolerance towards different points of view.

The real heroes of India are those who relentlessly “criticize” the government because they do not want their government to falter and make decisions that will mess up the social structure of the nation. They keep the government rascals on their toes. After all, they are elected to serve us not the other way around. The real heroes rise the nation for the common good of all.

What do the Chamchas on the other hand do? They wear a false badge of patriotism and to them patriotism is oppression of those who differ, and war mongering. They cannot handle criticism of government, they are yes sir, yes sir I lick your chappals. They bring down the nation by keeping their man at helm in a bubble giving him or her false assurance that everything is alright.

I hope the Prime Minister wises up and invites and honors those who criticize him, they are the real supporters of him by reminding him from falling into the pit. He should welcome all those who criticize. He needs to defend the rights of such heroes. The Indian Citizens on the other hand need to make a conscious effort to support those who criticize the government, BJP or Congress or any one.

The test of a successful civilized nation is when every man and woman of India can breathe, eat, drink, wear and believe whatever the hell she or he wants to believe.

ABOUT MIKE GHOUSE

Mike Ghouse is committed to his life mission of building cohesive work places, communities and nations. His work is for the Indians and Americans where each one of the 322 million Americans should feel secure without apprehension or fear of the other.

He is one of the 5 people in the world who is actively pursuing research, activism and teaching the subject of Pluralism. Just Google and find a tremendous amount of work on pluralism in religion, politics, society and culture. Mike defines Pluralism as an attitude of “respecting the otherness of other” and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each one of us.

He is a pluralist, thinker, writer, activist and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, politics, Islam, human rights and foreign policy including India and Israel-Palestine. He is a news maker, interfaith wedding officiant and a community consultant and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

Dr. Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy.

Dr. Ghouse has appeared in over 300 National TV shows and is a frequent guest with Hannity and Varney shows at Fox News along with others. He has over 1000 hours of Radio Shows of which 700 were dedicated to interfaith and pluralism. Over 3500 articles have been published of which a 1000 were on politics, foreign policy, sports and movies, a 1500 for interfaith and pluralism matters and a 1000 plus on Islam. In addition Mike has conducted workshops on Atheist to Zoroastrian and every one in between.

Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His work is at www.Centerforpluralism.com and www.WorldMuslimCongress.org

Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 | text or talk
SpeakerMikeGhouse@gmail.com

Welcome

We are proud of our heritage - a multi-faith, multi-cultural, multi-regional and multi-linguistic society, where we have come to accept and respect every which way people have lived their lives. For over 5000 years, India has been a beacon of pluralism - it has embraced Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Baha’i and Zoroastrianism to include in the array of the indigenous religions; Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. India led the way to the freedom movement, since 1947 every country has been liberated from colonialism. Indian democracy is a shining example to the world, where the people have peacefully transferred the powers. Indians are inherently secular and economically capitalistic. They believe in "live-and-let-live" life style, which is the essence of capitalism.Through the years we have expressed the highest degree of maturity on handling extreme situations; the more divergent opinions we hear, the larger our heart grows, the bigger our embrace would be and we can cushion more differences. Let’s continue to honor the concept that there is always another side to the story, as finding the truth is our own responsibility.I am proud of my heritage and am proud to be an Indian-American. Please join me in the discovery of India on a daily basis, as time permits and share the wealth of knowledge you have on this forum.

DallasIndians@yahoogroups.com is the information exchange center for the Indian community living in the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex. You can join by sending an email to: DallasIndians-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The webgroup is all about our Culture, Events, Politics, Religion, Bollywood, Music, Achievements, Consular Services, Concerts and everything else that binds us.

India is for every Indian as such we have no room for hate mongers and anti-religious people on this group. No postings bashing any faith will be permitted.

Click for our national anthem: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7399792002477900458

Jai Hind
Mike Ghouse

Friday, August 23, 2019

This was my India

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