Almost proselytized!

           Was actually trying to figure out what the right word was! Yes, Proselytize it is! Yes  that's what exactly happened to me over the weekend when i decided to go on a photography spree all by myself.
            5.30 am it was, when i suddenly woke up and decided to go out for  a walk in lalbagh.  The weather was perfect, partially drizzling, beautiful it was  , Until the drizzles turned into thick drops of rain. That dint stop me, I put on my tracks and  came out and the clouds started to clear. I was glad, cause my day had just begin!
            I woke my friend early in the morning( and i was cursed for being disturbed!)  and borrowed his camera ,and set out on my mission. Its not like Im a photographer, just an amateur.
            I reached lalbagh  and it was half past 6, i climbed the hill and fixed my camera lenses and started clicking pictures of everything around me. To begin with , the couples, the lonely man , the pigeons, the lonely tree, the eagle in its nest, until my lens focused on the three kids with white  taqiyah,the  rounded cap worn by muslim men.

  I focused on these three kids who were turning away from me and as  i clicked a picture of them they turned ,and i pretended to focus my lens elsewhere. they got up and went away from my sight. And suddenly i felt a hand over my shoulder and i  kind of freaked and turned around, It was one of this kid from the group, with a sheepish grin, pointed at my camera and asked 

Him-What does that do? What can you see in that?


Me(smiled)- Come ova ill show you ( was trying to manage with the hindi i knew)!
   I showed him as to how the camera works and his other companion also joined in. The third one seemed a little hesitant and later he joined his gang. And they requested me to click their picture and i showed them the previous picture i had clicked of them and they started giggling.
   Then the story starts here...


 The youngest- So what is your name ? Do you come here everyday?


Me- Im Reshma, i come here once in a while to click pictures ( which i actually dont)


Him- why do u just click pictures?What kind of pictures do you click? For what joy?


Me- I click pictures of nature and people like you! And put it on my desktop and admire the picture I've clicked!So its like a hobby ! When im bored i randomly go on clicking pictures of  all the trees and birds and people playing around. Its the same way you guys love playing running and catching , I like clicking random pictures.
   And I smiled! He smiled too!


Kid2- So the same way we play games on the computers  , like throwing stones and running around trees you just go on clicking pictures of the trees..I dont understand the whole point of it and burst out laughing , making fun of the whole idea of photography.
Older Kid( He seemed to be the controlling one of the other 2 kids)
    So what do you do ? do u study ? which college do you go to?


Me- I work , I just finish college and started to work. So which school do you'll study in?


Him- We dont go to schools , we dont like them , People of different religion come there. And its not good. We are from bihar and our amma jaan teaches us , We have come to learn quran to bangalore, Ummah teaches us.( I dint know what Ummah was , and he was trying to explain me what exactly ummah meant, later i realised what he meant was the leader of the muslim community) . SO we learn everything from him.
   When you went to school, did your class contain all students from different religion?? (He asked the question with a surprise look on his face, hoping my answer would be a NO!)


ME- Of course yes, I did study a lot with people of different religion and infact i had a lot of muslim friends and we used to study together and play around together.And I studied in a christian school and i had people from all religion as my friends ( i was exaggerating a little over the 'muslim friends'  part. But I was just trying to make my point.)
  
The two other kids were fidgeting with the camera. The older guy was trying to make a serious conversation with me.
Me- So what do you wanna be when u grow up


Him- I want to teach quran to people. The same way you people have pandits who recites mantras, I want to do the same thing , I want to teach people the importance of quran and all its teachings.


Kid2- So which religion do u belong to?


Me- I am a hindu.But i beleive in all religions and I respect all of them and their principles.
Him- How is it possible, for you to beleive in all religions? You have to believe in one and follow one religion.
If at all we speak like this with our ummah, he shouts at us and scolds us really badly. Anyway your name is Reshma, many muslim girls are named reshma, why dont u just convert yourself into muslim? ITs an easy process , all u have to do is recite some 4 stanzas in quran and you become a muslim.

Me: just smiled…. I actually never gave it a thought...  But don’t you’ll want to become engineers and doctors like us?

Him: I don’t know about that...We could do that as well. But we love what we are doing right now; in future we’ll give it a thought

     Well the conversation continued... It did go a little profound… He became quite astute at playing his tune about the religion. When it’s always about a religion, its bound to hit the odds.  The talk did continue for about an hour, but that dint stop me from listening to their views. They were really excited in trying to explain me each and every ritual they followed…Though it never seemed  to end...I  had all my ears open for it.. I did get to know a lot, as to how intense people really believe in them, and no talks could manipulate their minds. That’s how intense it sounded. How wrong or right it is to inculcate such convoluted thoughts into young minds is not what I would be complaining about. It’s just that imparting them that those teachings are the only lines they need for surviving the future is what I was trying to elucidate on. 

    Every religion has its plight. And everyone will definitely follow in those traits, the one thing which is always respected and always will be respected and that cannot be erased. There are certain things that have been going on for myriad of years and we certainly do not have the complete explanation to what happens in our daily lives 

    That evening I went over to my friend’s and was making them listen to my morning encounter with the lads, it started all over again.  It was a topic of discussion which never lost or will lose its significance...  An  indecisive discussion  of intricacies of religion and beliefs!


P.S:The kids were around 12 to 13 years !