Yesterday, i was watching a fabulous program on NDTV with Barkha Dutt interviewing an Egyptian-British Author and Dr. Shashi Tharoor and the discussion was on the notion of home.  It did stir a hornets nest of emotions as i have lived in three cities in culturally varied parts of the world and never totally totally felt ‘Home’ anywhere. A large part of my life i have lived in Mumbai but never could make it home emotionally.  There has been always a chasm between the physical environment and the ‘man inside my head’. I never could relate to the ethos here. The identity based cultural fabric of Suburban Mumbai has been quite discomforting, as a Bengali  Speaking Half Bengali; it was difficult fitting in.

Muscat is another city where i lived as much time as I have lived in Mumbai. The quiet laziness of Muscat was more affable, but living as an expat without citizenship rights meant that there was always a gulf between the aspiration of creating a ‘home’ away from home and a place i could relate. The Arab/Islamic Culture was something i got immersed in and i truly liked being in that mould.  A Shatti Al Qurum was more my place than Marine Drive although the latter is more majestic.

Singapore is where i found myself, was more accepted as i explored myself. My ethnicity did not matter in this ‘Rojak’ Culture lah! A Mustafa Centre was as Home as the Heartland of Serangoon.  Singapore is truly global, and that provided the canvas to create an emotional home as i found friends, a Church and finally my identity.

I am back to Mumbai, working here and can sense that home is less about a geography and more about feeling an ’emotional connect’ about a place.  The people matter around you and not the structures.

Ultimately, Home is where the soul is.

 

In an age of rising religiosity and asserting majoratarian  identities from beirut to banares to bandung, with religion driving political rhetoric in the developing world where most countries are anthropological melting pots, this is a real reason for concern, a precursor for impending sectarian strife. India being a Hindu majority but constitutionally secular state, like Turkey and Indonesia (Muslim Majority), religion based  intolerance is rising. The AKP or the Justice and Development Party  won its third term in Turkey, which has roots in the Islamist Movement. Indonesia is recently been in the news for its crackdown on a Shia Sect and persecution of the Christian minorities (just 2%)  of the 1.2 billion country, is in constant news feed all time. Pastors endure harassment, on charges of ‘so called forcible conversions ‘ by right ring Hindu fundamentalist organizations. Christian missionaries still provide education access and healthcare to the poorest of the poor in India where the government apparatus is dysfunctional. According to the Sachar committee, Muslims in India that make up 15% of the population are practically excluded from the mainstream by blocking access.

Secularism has its merits, we have far more pressing needs in the developing world concerning achieving developmental goals than to worry about un-necessary religion based issues, genocides have resulted from such sectarian politics. In Rwanda- Hutus versus Tutsis, a democratically elected Nazi government slaughtered six million souls on the poisonous rhetoric of identity. the Gujarat 2002 mass murder of Muslims and the Kandhamal Christian killings were a orchestration  of the Hindu Right in India. Separation of the ‘Temple and Throne ‘ is critical. Theocracies hardly make for effective states, apart from revenues  driven by natural resource rents. Value systems and religious societies have good informal social frameworks but governance is a different issue. Hard Multiculturalism in Singapore is the pillar of its strength.  Secularism is also the foundation on which the Indian Civilization is built. Societies which protect their minorities are strong because they prevent conflict by creating a positive buy in to the system. Nigeria, is divided down the middle between its Muslim North and its Christian South and sectarian strife is common, experienced its first suicide bombing yesterday. Hard Secularism and Multi Culturalism is the software based on which multi ethnic societies will survive and flourish peacefully.

In identity based conflicts, its the poverty stricken bottom strata which are used as pawns and made to pay the price for the rich who are living secular lifestyles but profess a religious ideological bent. Most of the insurgents in Af-Pak and Iraq are very poor, poverty is capability deprivation, religious issues are indeed very secondary.

As an expat myself for half my life, in the Middle East and South East Asia, immigrants and their integration dynamics into their host societies has been one of my interests. In this Globalization2.0 enabled Flat World, semi skilled and hyper educated immigrants make their way for economic reasons, some to settle down and some like in the Middle East fuel post office economies in South Asia, Philippines  and Indonesia, with salaries ‘Western Union’ed home to make families lead better life styles. North African immigrants made post war France and Turkish workers made Germany implement reconstruction. In Sarkozy’s France, the hijab is banned and getthoization of the North African Immigrants in the suburbs is complete in Southern France and the outskirts of Paris. The Turkish Integration experiment has failed in Germany. Efforts by the Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan who is a Swiss National to integrate Muslim core shared values in to the European construct is commendable when disgruntled Muslim Youth go to join resistance movements in Iraq and Af-Pak against their own troops defeats the integration objective.  Sikh Immigrants to the UK and Canada are very successful immigrants with businesses and have entered political mainstream. Immigrant Sikhs were at the forefront of the separatist Khalistan movement in Punjab, India in the 1980’s and 90’s. Although the Ghetto mentality among South Asian communities persist.  Bradford is Mirpur Kashmiri majority in England and their representatives have to raise the ‘K-Issue’ in the House of Commons if they have to be re-elected. Leicester, is  the first ‘minority majority’ city in the UK with a holiday on Diwali, a large number of East African Gujarati’s settled in the city after the expulsion by Idi Amin. Immigrants add value and promote diversity hence adds to the social capital in a society by enhancing commerce but fragmented identities lead to ideological exploitation as well. The onus lies on immigrants to integrate in the host society to counter the anti immigrant sentiment which is good for social resilience as a whole.

The non integration breeds the far right in Europe and the conservative wings in the US. A Marie Le Pen could be the next political force in France or the British National Party could influence immigrant policies by capturing the right wing vote share in the UK. Integration is a must, like the Germanic/Prussian Immigrants were assimilated in to America.  A Bobby Jindal or a Roshanara Ali-Labour Party MP from Bangladeshi majority Benthal Green seat in East London is a good symbol for integration.