HISTORICAL ROOTS MATTER:

I am a proud Indian and grateful for the privilege of being born in India and being educated in India I am grateful for a rich tradition of public service and serving our people and standing for the truth. “Satyagraha”, holding onto truth,  Manifesting soul force, is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practices satyagraha is a satyagrahi. The term satyagraha was coined and developed by Mahatma Gandhi.  Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandella both integrated these principles in their civil rights movement in the uSA and the Freedom movement in South Africa.

Members of my family were involved in the freedom struggle from the early 1930’s some of them spent time in British jails in Kerala India. My father was a decorated fighter Pilot and he was an officer who served the country with distinction and valor.

MY CHILDHOOD YEARS:  I grew up on military bases in North west and North East India along the borders of China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. I was sent to Delhi to live with my dad’s sister in 1966 at Greater Kailash. My dad admitted me to an air force school called Bal Bharati in Lodi Road in New Delhi. It was a small school and we studied in Barracks. My class teacher was Mrs Dayal. Those were care free days. We enjoyed simple past times and played games like basket ball, volley ball, cricket, hockey and football  all team games that we played outdoors.

Growing up in a military school we never saw each other as anything but free and proud Indians. No caste, creed or color. No rich or poor. The children of officers and the children of the non commissioned officers and the children of civilians were one happy family. We respected all people and embraced every one from all background without a second thought.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF OUR HISTORY:

India’s culture and traditions are rich, varied and inclusive. The Jews, Christians and Muslims came to Kerala and coexisted peacefully. They lived amongst us, inter married with the local people of the land. They learnt our ways our language and made India their home. Later the Zoroastrians came when they were experiencing persecution and lived amongst us in the Gujarat. They too were welcomed, accommodated and respected.

Many of my North Indian friends don’t realize that the Jews came long before the birth of Jesus as traders to India. Thomas the apostle of Jesus Christ came to India in the first century in 52 AD to Kerala and preached the christian faith to the high caste Naboodhri Brahmins and many believed and were converted to Jesus Christ. Thomas was later martyred by Tamil fishermen and is buried in St Thomas Mount in Chennai. Christians have lived in India for well over 2000 years. Western missionaries only came in the eighteenth century.

EXTERNAL INVASIONS: 

The invaders came first from Greece with Alexander the great in the fourth century BC . He returned back but left many of his generals and soldiers behind who settled In modern Pakistan but some of them came and settled in Coorg in South India.
Islam in India existed in communities along the Arab coastal trade routes in Bengal, Gujarat, and Kerala as soon as the religion originated and had gained early acceptance in the Arabian Peninsula, though the first incursion through sea by the new Muslim successor states of the Arab World occurred around 636 CE or 643 AD, during the Rashidun Caliphate, long before any Arab army reached the frontier of India by land. The Barwada Mosque in Ghogha, Gujarat built before 623 CE , Cheraman Juma Mosque (629 CE) in Methala, Kerala and Palaiya Jumma Palli (or The Old Jumma Masjid – 628 – 630 CE) in Kilakarai, Tamil Nadu are three of the first mosques in India which were built by seafaring Arab Merchants. They essentially came to Kerala in the seventh century AD as traders and not as invaders.

Much later in the twelfth century the invaders came from Central Asia and they looted and took their booty back with them.
The Muslim conquerors only came and stayed in India with the coming of the Mughals. They settled down became Indians and ruled India. They contributed to our rich history, our culture, language, architecture and system of governance. They were great patrons of the arts. Open your eyes to see their contributions to our infrastructure, the Grand Trunk Road, Urdu and hindustani as languages, Poetry, Ghazals, wonderful cuisine and the Islamic faith to our people.

The genius of India is the Hindu faith:

Hinduism is not an organized religion but rather an amorphous way of life, The Indus Valley civilization were an advanced civilization with peace loving people. Indians have always welcomed, embraced the foreigner and the stranger. They, gave them space and respected their language, religious faith and their peculiar ways and cultural distinctives. We are a hospitable and generous people at heart. We have aan incredible gift for assimilation and integration. We are a peaceful people and have never invaded other countries or people.

RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC PREJUDICE:

When I see the ugly face of ignorance, prejudice and hatred rearing its head in our country  from various religious fringe groups present in most religious communities..  I worry and recognize the lack of humanity or insaniyat. in their brutal oppression  of people who were different from them.

A WAY FORWARD;

I am disturbed! because we as a people are better than this. I want to encourage all true Indians to remember our glorious traditions and our ways of life. We must speak, the language of tolerance, inclusivity, respect for others. We must promote peace and harmony. We need to stand up to this ugliness and speak and act against these wicked and evil practices that have crept into our modern way of life. Our education at our school grounded us to be good citizens with a great civic sense for peace and civil behavior.

There is much to celebrate and enjoy in India. If it were not for my sense of call and mission to teach the West about the truths of Jesus Christ. I would be back to India in a heart beat. I love 💕 my country, our people our ways because ours is an ancient people following the ways of peace and dharma.

There is a genuine need for us to create a space for all people irrespective of caste or creed,. We need to practice ❤️ love and Peace. We need a space for grace and mercy. We are a good, peaceful and loving people. We have longed from ancient times to experience the true flourishing of the human Spirit and seek the welfare of all our people. We aspire to a life filled with Knowledge and Wisdom. We are drawn to ahimsa Non violence, satyagraha the way of truth.

Hinduism is not an organized religion but a way of life! it is an intuitive faith based on insights gleaned from our human experience of a life well lived. It seeks balance in everything. It never seeks to impose any belief or practice or any thing on any one. Its basic instinct is to uphold the common good and promote the mutual flourishing of any or all. May our longing for true Peace, Stability, Health and Well being be realized in each one of us – Jai Hind.