Encounter with a Kerala Christian
1. While getting my car serviced at the workshop, met this guy named Robin from Kerala. He was a humble, soft spoken Mallu guy. He didn't seem adulterated by Christianity and was actually self-disparaging about his religion.
1. While getting my car serviced at the workshop, met this guy named Robin from Kerala. He was a humble, soft spoken Mallu guy. He didn't seem adulterated by Christianity and was actually self-disparaging about his religion.
2. He called himself "Nasarani" which is the original name for a Malayali Christian, but which is now a slur. Talking to him was like talking to a prehistoric character - a Malayali from the old days when Christians in Kerala were indistinguishable from Hindus.
3. Thirty to forty years ago, Mallu Christians acted and thought like Hindus. The church could not poison their minds. In recent years they have become radicalised like Muslims, but Robin didn't seem like that. He seemed like a guy seeking a friend from back home in Kerala.
4. When my car was done, Robin followed me out of the reception like he was escorting me out of his house. (You know, how guests in India spend 30 minutes outside the door as they say goodbye. And then another 10 minutes sitting in the car, talking while the engine is idling!)
5. His final words were, "Hopefully we will meet again, somewhere, someplace, brought together by destiny." I knew he was hoping I would give him my number and connect on WhatsApp or Facebook. But I don't do that any more.
6. Also, it did cross my mind that such nice and decent people like Robin will go to their church where the priest will order everyone to vote for the Congress and Sonia Gandhi because "that is what Jesus wants" and because that is "what your Christian faith requires".
7. He will be emotionally and spiritually blackmailed to vote for the Congress or a church-backed candidate. Robin may be wanting to vote for the CPM or CPI or even the BJP because Malayalis are very independent in their thinking. But he will follow the orders of his padre.
8. Because the church has dangled a threat over his neck that if he doesn't vote as per the directions given from the pulpit he will be committing a sin, he will take the easy way out and vote for the church candidate.
9. Surely, not all Kerala Christians cast their vote on the padre or bishop's directives, but it is true that even highly educated Christians such as doctors and scientists decide whom they will vote for after listening to the padre's sermon on the Sunday before the election.
10. So, having done his two bits for church and god, Robin will then revert to his rational status and be the nice guy I met at the workshop. This is why Christianity and Islam should be banned in India. These are soul-sapping, nation breaking ideologies.
Ends
Ends
جاري تحميل الاقتراحات...