Diversity

    I am not addressing the misery, sadness, poverty and great inequities that confront you every day.

   When I was listening to the interview of RK Laxman i was struck by a remark he made. He said that in his     visit to Japan he thought he would draw many sketches. Strangely it did not happen. He found Japan to       be neat, rigid, arranged and without surprises. One place looked the same as the other. Sometimes in          USA I felt the same. The way airports, malls, roads, look the same everywhere. Efficient, yes. Different ,      No.

   I thought about it. It may be true of places but sometimes when it appears that people are also the same   then I wonder. It is possible that for our untrained eyes and ears the differences do not register. Stereo   typing in our mind could also be the reason. We have many stereotype constructed on how Americans,     Chinese, or Japanese behave. We tend to observe only what is etched in our mind.

  In spite  of all this I also felt that the diversity ( and also the surprise ) that we come across here in India ,     possibly outside metro cities, is mind boggling. Even in Bangalore when I visit a rather homogeneous area   like Jayanagar i can feel the diversity. In a short area I hear multiple languages - Kannada, Tamil, Telugu,   English , Malayalam, Hindi and a variety of mixtures and accents.  Men and women dressed in different   attires, young and old, poor and rich. I can see Muslims, Hindus, Christians , Sikhs, moving around.

 We had a christian service provider ( for RO water filter ) who visits Tirupathi every year, a Hindu praying   and donating for Child Jesus and Virgin Mary, a Muslim shop in Shivajinagar selling Christmas trees and   many Hindus and Christians shopping for Christmas. Within a few hundred yards I can see a Jain Temple,   Ganesha temple, a Masjid, I see a shop closing in the afternoon on Friday for prayers, a Jain ' Muni '   walking bare footed and covering his mouth by a mask, Jain women, well built, showing off ( inadvertently )  their midriffs but covering their face, Muslim girls well dressed and wearing fancy sandals but covered   from head to foot in black going to college - perhaps to attend a science class, a Hindu priest, always   practical, in his traditional attire minus sandals and helmets, riding  a scooter with all his paraphernalia   needed for puja , a few middle aged men after a tiring walk and talk finally landing up in Maiyas for a well   deserved dosa and coffee, sales representatives from Swiggy, from Airtel and Jio , nearby retail shops   Adidas, Jockey , all crowding to a middle class restaurant, diabetics and others treating themselves for a   breakfast after a test (  fasting souls ) ,  a policeman drinking free coffee, auto drivers and some workers   eating at a road side eatery,  rows of seized vehicles chained and rusting near police station , many autos   waiting for profitable customers, .... what a sight. 

  I come across cows, buffaloes, cats, dogs, sheep, monkeys and of course birds, bees, butterflies,       mosquitoes, flies.

 I recall Vaikom  Muhammud Basheer, a Malayalam writer of repute, one of my favourite authors , whose   characters include goats,and birds,  in addition to kafirs and  cheating mullahs, communists and freedom   fighters, small time cheats , writers ...

 There are many who are pathologically allergic to Azan broadcast from Mosque in the morning and later. I    do feel that they can avoid mikes ( so also temples and others like marriages ) . However birds chirping in    the morning mixed with Azan and a Suprabhatam somewhere else, a flute beginner in our layout   practicing ( always a beginner ) , street vendor shouting for customers , I after a quick cup of coffee,  doing   my Yoga and reciting ,

  asato ma sadgamaya  ;  tamaso ma jyotirgamaya ; mrtyorma amrtam gamaya
  om shanti shanti shanti. 

 

  and eagerly looking for my second cup of coffee without guilt ,   ....   if we do not enjoy these , sometimes   perhaps  with a frown ,  are we not insulting nature ? or God ?

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