Grey zones of religious identity
Aditi Garg
How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position
By Tabish Khair.
Fourth Estate. Pages 191. Rs 450
Religion
is something that has come to define people and categorise them into
slots. Though all of us differ in the degrees to which we are
religious, the mental categorisation starts right from the moment a
name is uttered. Whether one is an atheist or agnostic, their name and
appearance sets in motion a series of pre-formed opinions regarding
their religion that cloud rational judgement. More than spirituality,
religion has become synonymous with their respective symbolic rituals.
People have moulded religion to suit their ends, turning it to a race
for supremacy where none is tolerant of another and coexisting,
impossible.
Tabish Khair is an
accomplished author and poet. He has won many awards and fellowships.
His novels- The Bus Stopped, Filming- A Love Story and The
Thing About Thugs, have been translated into many languages and
been shortlisted for many prestigious prizes. He completed most of his
education in a small town of Bihar, India and now lives in `C5rhus,
Denmark. His irreverential and tongue-in-cheek style of writing
ruffles a lot of feathers beneath its calm surface. How to Fight
Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position is one of the few
books whose beaming recommendations on the covers seem fully
justified.
It is a story, or an
account, of three men in Denmark, going on with the daily business of
living. Each one dragging with them burden from their pasts, ignoring
it, indulging it, fanning it and being shaped by it. All of them
belong to different backgrounds and still manage to find common
grounds for bonding despite the differences. Ravi, the only child of a
high-profile family in India, tries his best to shrug off any
connections with his past and goes to strange lengths to be nothing
like the people who were once his family. Even then his lifestyle and
choices reflect the secure background that he can fall back on anytime
his plans go awry. He is the quintessential rebel who cannot
completely cut-off ties that bind. Then there is Karim, the taxi
driver, who is also a devout Muslim. His demeanour is very careful and
calculated which raises many questions. Religious to a fault, he does
not indulge in light banter and is unable to comprehend it most of the
time. The third is the unnamed narrator, who is mostly referred to by
Ravi using a chosen profanity. His bias gives the story another
dimension.
How to`85 looks at love
through a contemporary glass –a matter of convenience, disposable
for something more favourable and mostly as a glass half-full. Even
then, the most sceptical ones too look for that one perfect love of
their life. As real as love, religious fanaticism also figures as an
equally potent undercurrent. The threat of terrorism is throbbing in
the background, even in a relatively sedate neighbourhood.
Khair puts life into all
his characters while giving them shades of grey rather than making
them completely good or bad. A fundamentalist Muslim teaching an eager
Hindu the intricacies of Islam, a Muslim who defies every rule in the
book and a girl so perfect that it irritates, the book is full of
surprising contradictions. Its satirical and unapologetic tone
regarding religion makes for a fresh perspective. Written lucidly, the
book is a wonderful companion, to be read and re-read.
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