Of Terrorism, Religion and Forced Conversions

The world around us is buzzing off late. And not all are for the right reasons. 

Sydney Café attack started it all. Customers of the café went in for their breakfast ended up running out of the café to save their lives. What we saw was absolute irony of the life we live. On one side, there was an armed man, who was out on bail for assault on his ex-wife, terrorizing the customers of the café. On the other side, police and paramedics alike were trying their best to save as much lives as possible with least amount of damage. And then, bizarrely, there were some who were more interested in taking selfies in front of the terror site! Like it or not, this is the kind of world we live in.

We thought we had seen the worst. And then we immediately changed our perception the very next day.

Peshawar attack will go down in history as one of the most brutal and dastardly terror attack. Terrorism is bad and there’s no sane justification for the actions, but targeting kids and that too in a school? More than 130 kids have died and those who remain will carry the psychological scar throughout their life! We know there is no religion in terror and this attack proves just that. Killing innocents is not promoted in any religious scripture. Misinterpreting the scripture and brain washing young folks will not lead them to salvation / a peaceful after-life. And worst of all, the terrorists are fine with the incident with absolutely no remorse. The kind of world we live in.

Terrorism has united the world. But I wonder why did we wait for such a disaster to happen?

Nearer to home, a different but significantly less important fight is going on – conversions. No wait, forced conversions. The present government is rooting for development, which is good and beneficial to the overall growth of the country. There’s another section of the ruling government who are forcing non-Hindus to convert to Hinduism. They call it “ghar-wapasi” or homecoming. It’s like a tug-of-war between the forward moving forces (development) and the backward moving ones (forced conversions and communal statements). Considering the background of the people involved in the conversion initiative and the current political scenario (elections due next year and polarization), all this makes a lot of sense. Personally, I admire what our PM is doing at the national and international level. There’s serious optimism in the country faith-wise and money-wise. We can also anticipate inflow of funds from international entities. But what’s happening o the other side of the rope is taking more precedence in the media – and for rightful reasons. Development should be inclusive, should involve all religions and states. Development should include smaller sections of the society as well with no discrimination. Unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening. The kind of world we live in.

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Personally, I have a different take on conversions. Whether we like it or not, conversions have been happening since the dawn of time. A new religion is formed when a leader rises and shows his followers a way of life and truth. People who were initially of a different religion, “convert” to the newer one. Jews converted to Christianity. Many religions converted to Buddhism post Buddha-era. These are conversions and this will continue. What some sections from the ruling party are doing is “forced conversions” which is totally against the constitution of India. No one can “force” anyone to join their religion. What is this – a race to be the biggest religion? The beauty of India lies in her diversity, let’s not destroy it. There are statements that convey all people will be converted to Hinduism by 2021 or so. Please don’t believe such statements and spread hatred. This will simply not happen and even our own friends whose religion is Hinduism won’t allow it.

None of the above mentioned problems are linked / can be compared. Some are very serious (terrorism) and some are naive (conversions). Big and small, but problem nevertheless.

These internal problems will eventually pass. Sanity will prevail. And India will remain as a country where diversity is applauded. That’s our USP and no one will “forcefully convert” it.

Book Review: 14 Hours: An insider's account of the 26/11 Taj attack

26th November 2008. The day Mumbaikars stood still - wherever they were, inside the terror attacked hotels, at home glued to the TV sets, on phone convincing their loved ones of their existence, in awe, in shock, in grief. You name it, we expressed all the emotions that's not remotely related to happiness. It was a black letter day in the life of every Indian. We were attacked by a terrorist outfit. Our media ensured we were updated of every single bullet shot and its repercussions. Everything from a 3rd person's perspective. What if I tell you there's a book out there that gives you a 1st person account of what happened in the Taj Mahal Hotel on that dreadful day? That's exactly where this book comes in. Does it live up to the readers expectation? Read on to find out..

Target Audience:

1. All Indians living anywhere in the world.

2. As the book suggests, readers who are interested to know what happened inside the Taj Mahal Hotel. It's the curiosity factor that the author is banking on. 

Plot: Unlike most of my book reviews, this one will be different. In the sense that the plot is actually known to everyone. It's not a plot actually, its a real life story. The book gives a timely account of what happened at what time inside the Taj - what was happening before it all started, how it started, how was it initially perceived, how the guests (customers) were controlled and transported to a relatively safer place each time, the bullet shots and its targets, panic et al. The author mentions his state of mind when people were being evacuated and he, instead of choosing the easier route of getting away from the scene of terror, decided to hang on till everyone is safe.

Writing: Before I analyze the writing style, let me give you a brief backdrop of the author in 2008. Understand that Ankur Sharma was a management trainee in 2008. He was a student in early 2008 who landed a job at Taj in mid-2008 and was few months into the job in November. And this reflects in his writing. There are some light and humorous incidents in the book. In other words, this is not actually a minute by minute account of happenings inside the Taj, but a minute by minute account of happenings of Ankur Sharma - what he saw around him, what happened to him and people around him. The book is written in a structured manner as it should be, considering it depicts a real life incident. There are many silly errors (spelling as well as grammatical) in the book which could have been eliminated. 

The cover page of the book contains an image of the dreadful act and the topic signifies that the book will be hard-hitting. However, the book is a toned-down version with moments of humor and light-hearted conversations between author and other staff members. There's a part of you that will feel deceived while reading this book. But then, maybe, its the reader's fault. We are taught not to judge a book by it's cover, right?

Relevance in today's times: The incident cannot be ignored under any circumstances. Especially when Ajmal Kasab was hanged on 21st November 2012 (almost 4 years after the incident) and the masterminds are still free and protected. This book serves as a reminder of the incident. It's a nice initiative by the author as it helps us Indians (with a short memory) to relive the dreadful days that went by and question the government authorities why justice has been delayed.

My Rating: 2.5 / 5

PS: This review is part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda. A special thanks to the BlogAdda team for selecting me for the review process.