I am sure all of you have heard if not watched the movie - Padmaavat. Am sharing an interesting experience around its audience.
A young millennial mother of two recently shared with me this incident which took place when she took her 7yr old along to watch the film at a movie theater
The character of Alauddin Khilji played by Ranveer Singh while being historically inaccurate, was portrayed as the epic bad-man - strong, meat devouring, dirty, vicious, morally corrupt and ambitious
When Khilji came on screen, the 7year old turned to my friend and said - "Is that man a Muslim? He seems so coz he is so violent."
My friend was shocked. Her name is Samreen Fatima.
She did not know how to answer this question directed at her in that dark film hall. She did not know where her child had picked up such prejudice around Muslims. She did not know how to tell her child that he is what he called the 'violent' muslim.
Where are young children internalizing such disturbing prejudices from? We think we don't speak of them at our homes. But in reality, it's in the air. And our kids are tuning in.
It also results in an internalization of discrimination. Many Muslim parents today are aware of this and practice a version of psychological inoculation - exposing our children to biases to protect or if needed prepare them from facing bigotry later.
Today's parenting includes providing children with a script on how to behave and what to do if they are recognized as a Muslim.
Let me share a story from a top ranked school in the heart of Delhi- Chanakyapuri. Saira Alam was admitted into class 8 here, when her parents got transferred to Delhi.
In her first year at the school, Saira experienced a lot of gender-based bullying from boys. They would grab her school bag and take it to the boy's washroom and explore its contents.
'there was a whole lot of slut shaming by showing off her sanitary napkins and they would call her a whore. And these were all boys from the best of families,' says Saira's mother. But the bullying changed in nature in the last few years.
Some of the students were verbally violent and replicated the accusations of the 9pm bulletins in their 10am classrooms. Saira was often told to 'Go to Pakistan'.
'This was unacceptable. We are from defense forces. But she refused to let me complain to school authorities as few of her friends supported her and they would handle it on their own. But I was worried. This was the first time Saira became aware of her identity as a Muslim...
... We have given and continue to give a lot of sweat, blood and hard work to uphold the integrity of this nation. No one can take that away from us. No one can take away our pride at being Indians.' says Saira's mother.
A few months later when Saira was excluded from the Interact club at her school, she asked her mother, 'Is it because I am a Muslim?'.. Saira at a young age had internalized being a victim.
How do you think such an internalization of victimhood and discrimination affects the growing years and probably the person they become?
How can our differences over gender - religion - region - caste - language - disability - skin color etc be productive for our growth instead of tearing our hearts and nation apart?
Diversity does not necessarily lead to inclusion. We need to foster an inclusive mind frame for that. Here is a good article from Forbes on this: forbes.com/sites/glennllo…
With that food for thought I wish you good night!
With that food for thought I wish you good night!
For more insights into how deeply polarized and fractured our country is becoming, read the book #MotheringAMuslim. Here is the link for Amazon: amazon.in/dp/938622853X/…
