He probably meant someone else but then maybe he did not....
Society politics are the worst sort of incest in reverse that you can imagine. I have been a results oriented person, all through my life. Unfortunately or fortunately that is probably why I am in the situation I am in now. I do not mix well with the people who value processes and red-tape over professionalism and getting stuff done. I probably did more for the place I live at than possibly anyone else in the society and for that I am immensely popular with kids, and decent residents. But I have been the most maligned person for that as well. So much so that the secretary of the managing committee of the CHS has gone on to threaten me that he will not let me stay in Mumbai, leave alone my own house! And if that was not all he has also spelt it out how he will do that. He has stated that the police keep asking for suspicious looking people and Taliban has left behind a lot of such people in our midst, that it was time to inform the authorities about such people. No he was not willing to name the person who he was refferring to when the majority of my building mates irritated at his insinuations asked him.... but then is it so difficult to understand, when he is having an argument with a muslim guy(me) and makes that statement?! I would have been his competition during the society elections had he not intervened and derailed my nomination. And to think that he is an HR manager at L&T, I pity the poor souls at work.... muslims have earlier been branded as SIMI operatives by this same "highly educated" gentleman who is incidentally an active member of ShivSena. So by his logic all muslims who are better placed in life than him or are getting in his way are terrorists, all bengalis and Assamese are Bangladeshi illegal migrants, all Sikhs are Khalistanis..... Heaven help us all, because you know what the irony is? If this joker does go to the police with his rantings chances are that I will get a knock on my door followed by a trip to the local police station and maybe much more harrassment. The times are not much different from when Hitler encouraged family members to inform the Gestapo about anything they felt amiss with each others behaviour.
I have been a self made man, a freelancer in the field of IT security and Server Administration. I pay my taxes, my bills and take care of my family, I also generally try and be friendly with people around me as much as reasonable and possible. The fact that business has been good and my wife is an employee at a big IT major(PCS) earning a pretty decent take home has meant that we have a comfortable home and two shiny toys (a Ford fusion and a Chevvy Spark). We have a very comfortable life so much so that time and again we have actively rejected the option of settling in the US or elsewhere (always an option given that all my clients are there and have forever been on my case to come to theUS and make more money have more fun in life)...... my argument "this is where I was born, this is where I make my destiny.... I will go west but only for holidays and that too after I've explored all of India with my wife and daughter".... at 32 I am still hopelessly idealistic as a lot of people have told me..... at 32 I am probably getting fed up of my excuses is what I am probably telling myself!
Mine is an inter religion marriage, the wife is a liberal Hindu brahmin and I am an even more liberal muslim(the last time I went to a mosque to pray was a week before our daughter was born and it was more to give away a lot of clothes that we had accumulated over the years than to do any real ritualistic stuff). I work with people from the local Ekta Mitr mandal to organize the Ganpati festival (yes that's me, your guy to bash up, the next time the blaring music during that one month of festivities disturbs you)..... and now I am the latest one to have been branded a terrorist...... or almost!!! It hurt but then what to do.... can't change my name just coz a dog barked at me slightly deliriously!
Sonali and I discussed this strangely disgusting situation and we figured the best way to prevent such bull shit is to grow the business phenomenally and become so much bigger than these small men that they can't even think of touching us. Running away from the country is not an option as racial profiling happens everywhere. She has already put in her papers and we plan to work together towards the growth of our IT firm. Wish us luck because this is not just about me this is about each and every straight thinking, decent individual in the country today. A cockroach tugging at the feet of a cockroach who wants to climb out of the muck that both were born into has to stop if we need to progress as a nation.
