I am privileged.
Even if I am an atheist, anti-casteist, inclusive of LGBTQIA+, vocal left of centre socially liberal, extreme free speech/expression advocate, at the end of the day, my immediate identity as seen by outsiders is: Male, heterosexual, educated, urban, well-to-do, Brahmin, Hindu adult.
Nobody can hurt me in this country because, on the class and caste hierarchy, I sit at the apex. However, instead of making me comfortable, it means that it is even more important that I raise my voice in solidarity with the minority, the oppressed, the dispossessed, and the persecuted.
So, the poor, children, women, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, are all those I have to show special awareness and affection for, because the rest of my ilk (Hindu savarna males mainly) are putting them down on purpose and with malicious intent.
That means that even when I do not believe in their Gods, even when I think much of what they do as ‘tradition’ or in the name of religion is wrong and regressive, even if I have to go out of my way and against my general rules so that I can be nicer to them, to show them that they matter, to prove to them that they are equally important and not second class citizens, to demonstrate that their festivals and culture are as Indian as any other, I will do so whenever I have a chance.
Once again, Eid Mubarak, my sisters and my brothers. I stand with you.
P.S: And since I did break my vow to wish you on Eid, here’s something else for my Hindu friends. Happy Akshay Tritiya. May Lady Luck shine her benevolent light on you and shower you with the kind of good fortune that’d have made Napoleon want to appoint you as a General in his Armée.
Eid Mubarak.
