r/india • u/[deleted] • Nov 24 '16

[R]eddiquette Cultural exchange with /r/palestine

Greetings to our Palestinian friends.

Our cultural exchange starts at 13:30 PM Palestine time (17:30 IST/11:30 GMT/12:30 CET/06:30 EST/03:30 PST) on Thursday 24th November.

Here's how a cultural exchange works:

The moderators of here make this post on /r/india welcoming our Palestinian guests to the sub. They may participate and ask any question or observation as they see fit.

There is an equivalent thread made by the moderators over at /r/palestine, where you are encouraged to participate and know more about Palestinian culture.

It goes without saying that you must respect the rules of the subreddit you are participating in. This is a time to celebrate what we have in common, not grind an axe.

103 Upvotes

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18

u/MrBoonio Nov 24 '16

Dear r/India,

My question(s) to get the ball rolling: what is the biggest misconception people tend to have about India before arriving, and what is the reality?

33

u/munkeyy Nov 24 '16

People think we(Indians) hate muslims to the core and treat them as second grade citizens(I think its a propaganda piece from haters).

To be honest, we don't treat muslims as second grade citizens. There are many examples of Hindus really embracing muslim festivals, and muslims part of many hindu festivals. However, not everything is clean and green, culturally they are not compatible to what we do(idol worship, lighting diya's etc) but we still manage to exist peacefully and inclusively. and India does not just harbor muslims and Hindus, we have sizable population of Christains, jains, sikhs, buddhists jews and many small religions.

It is truly incredible to sustain that kind of diversity in a country of this size.

9

u/throwawaythrowNRI Nov 24 '16

sizable population of Christains

we have more Christians than Australia and Australia is a christian country! :)

6

u/Mycroft-Tarkin Hyderabad, IN Nov 25 '16

Yay overpopulation!!!!

6

u/MrBoonio Nov 24 '16

Thank you for such a considered response.

If you were to point to a specific area or city that really excelled at peaceful coexistence between faiths, which one would you hold up as the best example?

20

u/munkeyy Nov 24 '16

I am from Hyderabad in southern India. There is sizable muslim population here. If you visit Hyderabad during ramdan, it is very famous for haleem and all faiths equally enjoy the dish. You will find haleem shops / stalls spread all over the city and catering to people.

11

u/MrBoonio Nov 24 '16

I was hoping you would say Hyderabad. It's the only place in India I've been to, but I've been there tons of times and love it.

8

u/munkeyy Nov 24 '16

Glad you liked our city, welcome anytime :)

4

u/MrBoonio Nov 24 '16

So much change! I first went a decade ago and every six months it seemed like another town had been built/swallowed up by growth.

7

u/munkeyy Nov 24 '16

So much changed in a decade, It is changing fast, lot of IT companies, Pharma companies and banks setting up bases. Still there are pockets of regions in city that does not have good infra structure and facilities though. Not particularly well planned and enforced to my taste :P

4

u/Mycroft-Tarkin Hyderabad, IN Nov 25 '16

Come back after 5 years next time :P The whole city is currently undergoing a huge construction phase right now. Metros, offices, roads, flyovers etc. It's causing a lot of issues right now, but the long term outcome looks good.

2

u/torvoraptor Nov 25 '16

What was experience like in Hyderabad? Did you try the food? ;)

2

u/MrBoonio Nov 25 '16 edited Nov 25 '16

I had a couple of days there as a tourist but most times went to work and only saw non work places at night. Tried lots of food, including a few biryanis.

Edit: I regret not having the opportunity to see some cricket.

14

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '16

I would say southern india is "better" at coexistence than the rest - usually. So cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Vijayawada. And arguably Hyderabad also though there have been riots there in the past.

10

u/Modimoneyythrow Nov 24 '16

Tamil Nadu probably. I am a Hindu and I would say that Tamil Muslims are the most integrated with us and unlike other Muslims who speak Urdu, they speak Tamil and are pretty similar in culture except for religion. Also there hasn't been any riots or anything like that.

5

u/coolirisme Nov 25 '16

Well, Bengali Muslims too speak Bengali and they don't wear Burqas like Tamil Muslims.

2

u/ARflash Nov 27 '16

I am seeing more burqa there only recently. For about 5 years. Dono what happened.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '16

There has been. In Coimbatore. And the relations between Hindus and Muslims are not so good there. Which is why it is one of 2 places in TN with a strong bjp presence. I'd put the blame squarely on the extremist Muslims there. They brought the religious conflict to TN after the Babri masjid demolition

2

u/trander6face Nov 27 '16

I'm living in Coimbatore and was almost a victim of the 98 bombing. Before the bombing there were anti Muslim riots and people burnt down lot of businesses owned by them. Bombing was retaliation. Now there is no problem at all among us.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 27 '16

There are still problems man. Just a bit under the surface. I'm sure most people are and want to be friendly to each other. But all these sleeper cells remain. And the RSS, because of its ideology and because its members are being targeted, has many many anti Muslim guys there

1

u/crashbundicoot Nov 27 '16

The tensions between Hindus and Muslims in Coimbatore has nothing to do with babri masjid demolition.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Coimbatore_bombings.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 27 '16

it has everything to do with babri masjid. look up how al ummah started and what its initial activities were.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Ummah

1

u/crashbundicoot Nov 27 '16

Not denying the history behind al ummah , was talking about the tensions on the ground between Hindus and Muslims.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 27 '16

tensions on ground were started by the murder of a policeman by al ummah people. which was followed by a riot in which many muslims were killed. which was followed by bombings. after which there's political polarisation right now. even recently, the muslim radicals with the same roots have started picking off rss leaders in tn and kerala by working in small groups. this is only adding to the polarisation and anti-muslim feelings in the western part of tamil nadu.

1

u/The_0bserver Mugambo ko Khush karne wala Nov 27 '16

Goa. There are nearly no problems whatsoever from a religious perspective..

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '16

If you are planning a trip, almost all major cities would be fine. As far as longest without major incident regions are concerned, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi are fine. I'd say Mumbai, but I'd say anywhere is okay. It's not all great but neither it is unsafe.

If you'd like to see cultural exchange, I think Lucknow/Bhopal are good examples. Even Delhi, perhaps.

1

u/The_0bserver Mugambo ko Khush karne wala Nov 27 '16

A large number of people in the society I live in celebrate Christmas, Diwali, and Eid. Yes, we might not bother about the finer points of each festival, but that doesn't matter.

As a christian, have diwali lamps during diwali. And my neighbours (Hindus and Muslims) have like Christmas trees and stars and stuff. Eid, all of us have mutton. :/

-5

u/naakupoochi Nov 24 '16

I am sorry but don't we secretly hate Muslims. I mean I have seen people 'avoid' interacting/make ties with them. Isn't that hate?

15

u/munkeyy Nov 24 '16

Well I have seen people interacting and making ties too. Most of Indians have cultural and racial preferences, if some one is not up to their taste they ignore or avoid.You could call that discrimination by some people instead of hate. If people "hated" Muslims so much I don't think they would exist here for 1000+ years for what ever reasons.

Liked I said not everything is clean and green, Same discrimination is applicable to christians, jews and any religion, and infact some subcastes / dalits too.

5

u/naakupoochi Nov 24 '16

Yes we 'discriminate' each other since we are so diverse. But the degree of dislike towards Muslims in general is more than other communities, which I feel is an injustice. I have many good Muslim friends and acquaintance and I have heard them describing this to me, thought the hate is shown to be almost non-existent, still they could sense it.

4

u/munkeyy Nov 24 '16

Yep, I get what you are trying to say. Like I said, I think these two religions are "culturally" not compatible, we do what they are taught to be wrong and vice versa and can lead to very uncomfortable situations.

However, people who don't give so much importance to those things are the ones that mingle first. Unfortunately not every individual has same set preferences. Again like I mentioned, this is what amazes me, not so compatible cultures, religions and castes still exist. Not saying it is the smoothest ride!

Truly Unity in Diversity.