Mi Bodeguita del Medio

While my blog is named after a restaurant in Havana I hope to someday visit, here you will find musings, rants, political incorrectness, thoughts on Indian Nationalism, and some straight-forward opinions.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Tuesday Thoughts

I just walked into the door of my flat. After work I stopped by one of the vegetable and fruit shops in the neighborhood to buy some veggies. I mentioned earlier on the blog that there is a sizable Pakistani population here in Barcelona. A couple of young Pakistani boys work at the vegetable and fruit shop where I generally go. They should be about 20-22 years old, pretty young really.

Today when I stepped into the shop, there were tons of people and a long line at the counter. There was an old Hindi song playing in the background, I think from the movie Aashiqui, many many years ago. The song goes like this: tu (uuuuuu) meri zindagi hai....... tuuuuuuu meri har khushi hai.......

As I was picking tomatoes, I don't know what happened. The song was playing in the background, and I saw those guys, my eyes filled with tears. I looked at them working, carrying crates here and there, working hard. And then I thought that if I had a little brother he would probably resemble them. These people are the same as me. We're made of the same soil. We are brothers and sisters at the end of the day.

I wanted to talk to them, ask them where they're from, how long since they've been here. I think I have asked one of them that in the past. Since then, he recognizes me and greets me when I enter. But since the Bombay attacks, something has stopped me from going into the Pakistani shops around here. I avoid going there, and on the one occassion when I have, I haven't been able to look them in the eye. Is it because they never really say "we're sorry that so and so happened" ? Is it because in the small talk I've often expressed solitude with them when the earthquake happened in Quetta, or when the Marriot bombings happened in Islamabad, but during the eight major terrorist incidents in India in 2008, they have not so much as condemned one? Am I over-reacting? I know they have nothing to do with it. But then why is there so much hate between the two nations?

We are not superior to them, we don't want to impose ourselves on them. We wish the Pakistanis progress and prosperity. I sincerely believe thats true. As a country, India hasn't done any harm to them. Their main grevience is Kashmir, but why can't we let that issue aside and just focus on ourselves, on building a bright future for the coming generations? Why why why is there so much tension and hatred?

I want to believe that it is a political matter, that politicians and generals in Pakistan have hijacked the people's psyches, that they make them believe that Pakistan's progress lies in India's destruction? I want to believe that its not the people, atleast those I see around me.