Are you a Hindu? Truth be told, I have always hated that question. Not because I dislike the religion that I belong to, but because of the usual set of assumptions that accompany the question.
"I have heard that all Hindus are vegetarians" - No. "I have heard that you guys have a lot of Gods" - Yes.
Does it really matter what God I pray to? How is it important if there is religion in my life at all? What significance does it hold apart from boxing ourselves in a particular category with a few million others?
Like everyone else, I get hurt, feel pain, have opinions - both wrong and right, have a list of things that I like and another list of things that disgust me. I fall sick, get better, have a few pounds to lose and can eat, sleep, think and speak better. There is a whole host of things that make us similar, but we are so concerned about what is different that we let these commonalities - these opportunities of engagement and possible relationships - go.
Am I a Hindu?: I am not really sure how to answer that question. I am a bit pre-occupied with working on being a human at the moment.
Our son does not care what the religion of the person is that he is playing with. As long as what the person is holding out for him makes any sound and preferably flashes, our son is fine with it. There is a very important lesson and inspiration in that for all of us.
Instead of looking at ourselves as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, browns, blacks, whites, left-wing, right-wing or centrist, or any "category" for that matter, how about choosing to look at the human being in all of us? How about looking for good in someone with no bias towards the extras?
I am sure it is possible. It will just require a little more work, trust and faith.
The same can be said about our work place. All true leaders have the power to look beyond the surface. For them, there is no color, no creed and no gender. The question is very simple: Can the person handle the responsibility and perform, successfully, the task at hand? If the answer is in the affirmative, nothing else should matter.
If a person is stupid, incompetent, lazy or ignorant, I am sure it is the person to blame. Just like their greatness is theirs and cannot be attributed to them being a part of any group. Their color, country, religion, gender or political inclination has nothing, and cannot have anything, to do with it.
Image: Flickr(gustavoluz)
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