Communal Harmony

Salty drops were falling on my hands, after touching a beautiful face… I knew them to be tears, yet, I caught them, each drop as precious to me as diamonds, and even if they belonged to a person I knew not. I only knew that this girl needed consolation…

My instinct forced me to console her…I hate to see people pouring tears… and this girl… she was crying, nay, weeping… My heart wept for her. Why? I didn’t know…

She didn’t know or realize that that I exist… I was right in front of her, my hands shivering, catching her steadily flowing tears…

I could not hold myself anymore. I put my arm around her. Her shudder told me that she felt my arm… She turned around to reveal a beautiful and charming face and looked at me… Her shiny brown eyes sent a shiver down my spine! Never before had anyone scared me so!

I do not know how my voice sounded and I hope wholeheartedly that it sounded gentle and comforting. I said, “What happened? Why are you crying? Kya Hua?” The girl replied with unbelievable ferocity, and with an unexpected answer, “Which religion?” I winced with pain. I was bent upon consoling that young girl… so I had to be truthful and I told her which religion I belong to. The girl’s face did not seem beautiful to me anymore… It was contorted with fury!!! She said many things to me… things that made me cry out loud! Things that are better not mentioned! I covered my face and ran away. These paths were familiar to me, since they were in my school premises. I could find my way easily, even though the way appeared blurred due to my tears!

While I was returning home by bus, my friend was asking me what homework we had that day… and ME? I was FAR FAR away… I was pondering over a question that never arose in me before…

Why is there darkness in light, chill in warmth, malice in love, jealousy in appreciation, poverty in richness, hunger in a full stomach and EMPTINESS IN FULFILMENT??? There is everything, but there is nothing… Why is it that there is fear and doubt in a mind as soon as a person announces his name? Why does a person lose his job due to his religion?

Such is our state today…

We created religion for us to relish and savour unity in diversity, not to create differences. Unity lies in diversity, not in uniformity.

Imagine a world with communal harmony! No riots, complete and REAL freedom, no looking down upon… respect, peace…

The thoughts make me drift away to dreams… But the best way to make our dreams come true is to wake up! Waking up, we have to face facts!

The world was never one, from the jiffy religious texts were interpreted, or I would say, misinterpreted.

The world with communal harmony is like Rabindranath Tagore’s dream: “Where the mind is without fear, the head is held high, where knowledge is free, where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls” This makes peace lovers want to say, “Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.” But, why are there violence lovers in this world? Why can’t they leave us be?

Religion does not make man, man makes religion. Compassion is religion!

Communal Harmony now, is more of a dream in life. Let us make dreams reality!
Communal Harmony is as important as breathing itself… Ignored, but the very essence of survival…

I put forth a question to you now. What happens when extreme communal disharmony prevails? – A Hitler is born, and 12 million people die in the bargain…
And what happens when seeds of thoughts of Communal Harmony are sown in empathetic minds?-An Abraham Lincoln is born, and racial discrimination is abolished

Communal Harmony, two words, one dream, one hope… We need unity, all that we need to achieve this dream.

Let us change the saying “Be Good and Do Good.” Let us make it “Be Compassionate and Do Compassionate work.”

Importance of Communal Harmony? We need it, we ignore it.

COMMUNAL HARMONY IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF LIFE!!!