An open letter to my countrymen

Dear citizens of this country,

This letter is hopefully the last place where I will be using the words ‘tolerance’ and ‘intolerance’, because I am beginning to grow extremely intolerant towards the two. Through this letter, I wish to pour out all my thoughts about the debate on the same and also the comment made by Aamir Khan, for I wish to be done with these two discussions once and for all.

As a 13 year old, I am expected( by my mother of course!) to be acquainted with the current affairs; but in the week gone by, I have officially failed to come across anything on the news channels except the blown-out-of-proportion comment by Aamir Khan’s wife asking him whether they should leave the country due to the rising intolerance.

What has really amused me is your reaction to what he said. And by  ‘your reaction’, I am collectively referring to the public, the media and the politicians. I feel sorry saying this, but I am beginning to realize just how bored you are with your lives and the amount of time that you have for worthless gossip. It also angers me to an extent when you say that it's you who have made him Aamir Khan. How about awarding him some credit for his hard work that earned him this place in the film industry and in several hearts, rather than attributing it to ourselves for accepting him as who he is? Just because he did not need to change his name like Dilip Kumar or Meena Kumari (my mother told me about them), it does not mean we did him a favour. We call India a secular country, and in a country which is so, a person definitely should not require to change his name just so that he can ‘fit in’, because that is not what the founding fathers of free and independent India had in mind.

Before I move on, I have two questions for you: First -how many of you have actually watched the show in which he makes that statement? Because most of you don’t even know what you’re talking about- it is all just hear and say! Well, I have seen it and I know that Aamir only conveyed to us what his wife said and felt, and he never even mentioned that they actually will leave the country! Second- isn’t it normal for people to fear for their lives in the current atmosphere of insecurity? Isn’t it therefore, normal for a parent to worry about the safety of his child? Aamir’s wife merely expressed a concern which I’m sure has crossed many minds in many-a-household across the country. Although, if any other person speaks on this issue, not a finger is raised, but since he is a celebrity, a mountain is being made out of a mole-hill. Every news channel, for three continuous days after he said this, held debates and talks and interviews. The tolerance-intolerance chapter had once again been opened, only because a celebrity, who also happens to be a muslim, expressed a genuine worry. Do we really believe that a comment by an actor can defame India?

The situation is quite ironic, actually. Rude remarks have been made by the public and several politicians against Aamir. The Shiv Sena has even offered to pay a sum of one  lakh rupees to whoever slaps Aamir(Oh my God!), and someone has already arranged the flight tickets for his family to go to Pakistan! This just goes to show that we definitely are intolerant! We are unable to even tolerate a conversation a family has, which actually does not affect us in any way whatsoever.

I have seriously been shocked at the amount of attention that has been given to this fruitless debate. It has been a sheer waste of time and space on the front page of the newspaper-and these intolerant acts must stop.

On a daily basis, we are subjected to bad roads, traffic rules being treacherously broken, noise pollution, air pollution, garbage in public places, lawlessness and more; that’s tolerance- putting up with things that we don’t like. But, being a secular nation, it should never come down to tolerating- it should be about acceptance. Coming to terms with our fellow citizens- their religions, practices, beliefs and thought processes- unless they are a hindrance to us- will contribute to the greater good- our country’s harmonious progress. So hopefully, goodbye ‘tolerance’ and ‘intolerance’! Literally.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Yours truly,

                                                                                                          Meher Joshi

                                                                                                         A fellow Indian 

  

P.S. Henceforth, I shall choose what I want to know and therefore stick to the newspaper, what with the bunch of you clogging up the news channels with your frivolous gossip!