ID: Hindu

We live in an ID-driven world.  Just think of how many of our day-to-day tasks depend on the way we identify ourselves – for Google, Linkedin, emails, passwords, bank accounts, cheque books, net banking, credit cards, debit cards, ATMs, facebook, twitter, instagram, cellphone, laptop, college, school, driving licence, public transport, workplace…Any wonder that identity management is now a pain in the neck for IT experts, given the growing number of cyber pirates.

And then think of how we personally ‘manage’ our identity in our interactions with others. How we project different images to different people – boss, boyfriends, girlfriends, teachers, parents, spouse, neighbours, pals, adversaries, strangers…Take, for instance, our FB pictures and posts. Think of the cowards and crooks who take advantage of the cloak of anonymity and hide themselves behind fake names and fake images.

Most of these IDs are expendable, changeable. Forgot a password? Get another one. But there are strong exceptions.

There are times when we struggle to zero in on that one identity that defines who we are. Spells out the meaning of life for us. We want to wear it on our sleeves. Project one true image to the world. This selfhood could be social, sexual, spiritual…Some are lucky to find it; for others it is a lifelong search. A friend and former colleague, for example. Underwent name change twice after taking the long road to spirituality. It was her way of trying to free herself from the past. 

Take the case of university scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide recently. Conflicting social, political & personal identities – that seems to have been the story of his life. An OBC Hindu before he became a Dalit Christian. A budding Carl Sagan who wanted to reach for the stars and sky, but somehow got mired in casteist, campus politics. A saffron sympathiser turned AAP supporter. Somewhere along the way a disillusioned leftist. That he was a tormented soul was evident from his suicide note. He admits, “It was always with myself I had problems.” Unknowingly, he was telling us about his identity crisis when he rued the “disconnect between his body and soul.” Looks like the search for his identity eventually took a toll on him, and he took the easy way out. I wish he had lived to fight another day. Pity, he would never find out who he really was.

There is one ID that I was born into, bestowed, tagged, but embraced it -consciously, willingly – over the years, and would never give it up. It is the core of who I am. My Hindu identity is important to me. Because I have some existential questions. And I feel that this particular belief system is my best bet in finding some answers. I refuse to get bogged down by the proliferation of gods and goddesses, the ceremonies and rituals. One thing appeals to me the most. There is no sword hanging over your head called blasphemy. In fact, nastika notions are an intrinsic part of Hindu philosophy. The Hymn of Creation in Rig Veda raises a big question mark over how the universe came into existence: 

The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen? Whence this creation has arisen
– perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not –
the One who looks down on it,
in the highest heaven, only He knows
or perhaps He does not know.

And then were those who took potshots at the practice of worshipping idols and chanting hymns. Siddhar Sivavakkiyar’s song is my favourite:      

நட்டகல்லை தெய்வமென்று நாலுபுஷ்பம் சாத்தியே
சுற்றிவந்து மொணமொணவென்று சொல்லுமந்திர மேதடா
நட்டகல்லும் பேசுமோ நாதனுள் ளிருக்கையில்
சுட்டசட்டி சட்டுவம் கறிச்சுவை யரியுமோ

So, if one gets beyond this one god, many gods, duality, non-duality, whole lot of ‘isms’, avatars, yogas, rituals and rites, then it is each man to himself, and each woman to herself. It is a journey one must take alone. Learning through life’s experiences along the route.

The clarion call of the selfless Hindu spirit, Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu (May all beings be happy and free everywhere), tugs at my heartstrings. In his The Wonder That Was India, renowned British Indologist (late) A L Basham says: “To us, the most striking feature of ancient Indian civilisation is its humanity.”

That is why I consider the whole caste conundrum as the greatest aberration of the Hindu way of life. A belief system so inclusive as to include all elements of nature, animals, birds, stone, rivers, mountains, sun, moon and stars as object of worship, failed to establish unequivocally the equality of living breathing men. That what began as division of labour could degenerate into the most rigid social stratification, brand and banish a whole community to the fringes of society is morally indefensible. This is not exclusive to Indian civilisation. Across centuries and cultures, we see this phenomenon – a small exclusive group from the priestly, political and mercantile classes ruling the roost. Dark-skinned people and women their worst victims.

In Tamil Nadu, caste bias rules in many southern districts. I made a field trip to Kariapatti village in Virudhunagar district after a rights activist-lawyer informed me that many Dalit families, who had fled their hamlet due to fear of reprisal at the hands of caste Hindus, http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article140898.ece , were protesting there. As I sat hidden in a nearby school building, the Dalit men, women, boys and girls came to me one by one, fear writ on their faces, and narrated their tales of discrimination. In W Pudupatti in Srivilliputhur, I saw an ‘untouchability wall’ http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article434466.ece . But the discriminated classes, including women, are fighting back. Dalit militancy is the result of this new-found awareness of rights.

I am a proud Hindu. The caste system demeans me in my own eyes. It is devoid of any dharma. I don’t believe in it. And there is only one thing that I will tell the apologists: Get a life.