It has been a ritual now to offer strangers a drop on my bike on my way to office. Apart from the pleasure of helping the needy it also gives me chance to converse with them and understand their life from my point of view. The fact that the person is a stranger does not allow me to be judgmental which we otherwise try to be with our acquaintances. I want to make it a habit not to judge anyone and just understand them.
Couple of days back I picked a guy on my way to office. This place does not have bus connectivity and leads to Whitefield which is an IT hub and a lot of people commute towards it. So you would see many of them asking for a drop. I stopped my bike and I requested him to wear my spare helmet and offered him the rear sit. As usual I was the one to start the conversation by asking his name and more details about where he was from, where he stayed and what he did for living. He told me his name was Hussain and worked in a bank as a supervisor and was heading to office. I had got what I wanted and kept quite until he continued the talk by informing me how his Hindu friends fast during Ramadan just because he observe the month long fast being a devote Muslim that he was. I said that was a nice gesture and very much commendable. Then he started telling how fasting during Ramadan was bringing peace to his mind (all this without me asking and neither did I try to interrupt and stop him while he spoke). Then I asked him about the timings they follow which I knew but could not remember. He said they have to finish their morning supper before 3AM and evening supper only after 6PM without even a drop of water in between. Did not surprise me as I have stayed among them all my life. Then he told me something that I did not knew, that they have to read the Kuran once in whole month and recite certain number of pages daily every morning and it takes 2-3 hours of reading daily. And all this while it is mandatory to stand and read and that gives the pain in his legs the whole day. That was the reason he was asking for a drop! I was listening quietly until this but could not silence my rational self and ended up asking why was it mandatory to stand and read? I honestly did not mean to mock or anything like that. I just wanted to reason it. Initially he said it is Alla's wish and it must be kept that way. That did not really satisfy me. I probed further to which he said (I think he was not prepared for this question the first time but managed to think in those few seconds), its not like you can't sit. Just that you can't sit on the floor but you can sit on the chair. I further asked how does that matter if he prays standing or sitting, a prayer is a prayer. He seemed agitated but tried to maintain the peace and said, while praying one's body and legs have to be in certain position which is not possible while sitting on the floor. Fair enough! I had got my answer and showed my agreement.
Few moments of silence and I could not stop myself from asking him if he was aware of recent controversy about speakers on religious places like temples and Masjids. He smiled (may be in disapproval) and asked me if I was referring to Sonu Nigam's statements. I said yes and asked him what did he thought about it?
He tried to tell me how temples and Masjids should be free of devils(Saitan to be precise) and when you do Azaan or Bhajans louder they run away from the places! That was kind of funny for me as I never thought any evil can ever exist in place of worship! I argued on those lines but this time he raised his voice a bit and countered me by saying its how Allah wants and its matter of few minutes, who will have problems with it? Did not convince me at all. While he kept on blabbering the same logic of Allah, Saitan, Bhajan/Azaan, I asked him a simple question, "What if your wife, sister or mother is admitted to a hospital or bedridden at your home and you have a temple on one side of the hospital or home and a Masjid at the other side. And one plays loud music till late night and the other starts playing early in the morning. Would you like it?"
Initially he tried to reason it by saying how his mother was suffering from something for 8-9 years but have had no problem with Azaan, but when I asked how about other places like hospital and school? Is it good to disturb them? He had nothing to say but a "NO".
He also said, "It would torture the patients and the students and Allah would never want them to suffer for no reason." I was pleased by his statement and did not argue further and just nodded my head in approval.
By the time we reached the place where Hussain would get down and I hence tried to conclude. This is the moment my Mukhya Shikshak skills while I conduct RSS Shakha came handy! Time management! I had few seconds before I dropped him to his destination and concluded the discussion. Visibly he was agreeing to what I was saying but I can't really say you can simply change years of teaching in a few minutes ride. Nevertheless he was pleased to have a ride which had reduced his travel time. He got down and I got down to lock the helmet back to my bike.
Before starting I shook his hands and said, "I am Pramod. I am not sure what you have right now in your mind but I would like to tell you I am from RSS. Do you know RSS?" He was smiling and reacted in surprise "Yes I know! I have heard about it. But if you don't mind what exactly is meant by RSS?" I told him the full form of RSS and what each word meant. He was even pleased to know that and said in Hindi ,"Sir, in media waalon ne hero ko zero banaya hai aur zero ko hero bayana hai (These media people have turned hero into zero and zero into a hero!)". My response to it was "what they show is not always true and the truth they will never show!" and I waved him a goodbye!
And thus a Hussain was all smiles as he watched a Swayamsevak drive away!
