Chapter 5: CLOSE ENCOUNTER
‘Hope your friends are cool guys,’ Maya said, seated comfortably, as Naga steered the car away from Anna Square, towards the Taj Coromandel, a five star hotel with the best choice of restaurants in the city.
‘Yes, Mathew is one of my oldest friends in Madras. We were together in MCC during our Bachelors, actually next-door neighbors in our hostel, Bishop Heber Hall,’ he said, suddenly diving into an impromptu song.
If you come to Tambaram, darling
Come to Heber Hall
Heber is a paradise, Fish Pond and all
Ulunthuvadai, Masalvadai anything you want
Mess bills as big as hills
Heber is our haunt…
‘What was that?
‘Oh, I just became nostalgic. It was our song. Kind of like an anthem.’
‘MCC anthem?’
‘No, it was our Hall song. MCC stands for Madras Christian College, one of the oldest colleges in Asia, founded in 1837. It had four hostels or halls as they called it. Mathew and I were together in Heber Hall. It was almost like a small country with our own anthem, traditions and government. It is located in Tambaram, around 30 kilometers from here, I will take you there one day.’
‘How long ago was it?’
‘Almost sixteen years.’
‘Were you classmates?’
‘No, he did Political Science. I did Economics.’
I don’t know how we became such good friends. We have hardly anything in common. He is from Kerala, I am from Andhra, he is religious, I am not, he is smart, I am not, he is an extrovert, and I am not.
‘What about his wife? Was she too in the same college?’
‘Nope, he met Ruby in his Church.’
‘So both are practicing Christians?’
‘Not just Christians, both are the from the same sub sect.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They are Marthomites, belonging to the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, which broke away from the Malankara Church in 1842. The Malankara church earlier broke away from the Saint Thomas Christian community in 1653 when the Portuguese forcefully drew them into Latin Rite Catholicism. So actually, they trace their roots to the missionary activity of Thomas the Apostle.’
‘It is confusing. So are they Catholics or Christians?’
‘What do you mean Catholics or Christians? Catholics are Christians. In fact they were the original Christians in Europe, before they split up and reformed in the 16th century.’
‘Not so in Corea. Biblical Christians in Corea consider Catholicism a different religion, since it is built on different foundations and proposes different ways of salvation.’
‘Well, in that case, Marthomites are Anglican, which is protestant only in the most limited sense. Theologically and historically, Anglican Churches are Catholic.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course, I am. The word Protestant is often loosely and to a large extent inaccurately applied to them. Many of them consider themselves protestant, but they are not fully so.’
‘You are a Hindu, right?’
‘No I am not, I do not have any religion, although, my government does not recognize my choice. My parents are Hindu, so my government says that I am automatically Hindu, which is ridiculous. Moreover, our cunning ancestors decided that even if you are an atheist, you remain a Hindu.’
‘In Corea, we do not need to have a religion. Although a majority are Buddhists, there are many Christians and Catholics, and I have no religion. It is not important for the government.’
‘You know, although my country is developed, the mindset is still very conservative, and some basic freedom is missing. Atheist rights are totally ignored.’
The first criticism of his own country. About time!
‘Hey, we were talking of Mathew and Ruby, your friends.’
‘Yeah, I got carried away. As I was saying, they met in Church, fell in love and got married.’
‘If she was from a different church would they have married?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘I heard that in Dravida, inter-religious and inter-caste marriages are rare. In fact people from different provinces also do not marry.’
‘You are right. We are still very conservative that way, but nowadays many young people are rebelling. My mother does not care for all this.’
‘What about international marriages?’
‘Dravidians do not protest international marriages as much as they do inter-caste marriages.’
‘That is strange. It is just like in my country.’
‘What do you mean? You have no caste system.’
‘All Coreans believe that we are the only racially pure country in the world.’
‘Then how come you look like Chinese and Japanese?’
‘I am not talking of looks. Most South Asians look alike. In fact many Dravdians look like Hindustani’s. Are you the same?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Exactly. Coreans may look like Chinese or Japanese to you, but we are not the same. Race has served as a marker that strengthens our ethnic identity. We call it danil minjok, and believe we are ethnically homogeneous and racially distinctive, having pure blood.’
‘What do you mean pure blood?’
‘We are a pure race descended from a single ancestor.’
‘Adam and Eve? Don’t all Christians believe that?’
‘According to our mythology, our ancestor mother was a bear.’
‘What a joke.’
‘So your monkey and elephant Gods are fine, but our mythology is a joke?’
‘I’m sorry, continue.’
‘According to our history, thousands of years ago, Hwan-ung, the son of a divine God spirit came down to earth to build a new country there. Everyone prospered in the new country, but a bear and a great siberian tiger were jealous. They wanted to live like human beings. So they requested Hwan-ung to grant them their wish. After some thought, he told them that they could become human beings if they eat nothing but 20 garlic cloves and a bundle of mugwort while being secluded in their cave for 100 days without sunlight.’
‘Is that why you guys eat so much garlic?’
‘The tiger and the bear agreed to the conditions and returned to their mountain cave to begin their ordeal. After about 20 days had passed, the tiger became impatient and ran out to find food. The bear endured the hardship for 100 days and became a beautiful young woman. Hwan-ung married her, and she gave birth to a boy called Dangun, who became the first great ruler of Corea.’
‘Do you believe that all Coreans are descendants of Dangun?’
‘That is what all of us believe. We are different from Chinese and Japanese. To keep our race alive, we only marry other Coreans without mixing with other people.’
‘What happens if you mix with others?’
‘Anyone who mixes is considered impure, just like you guys have this belief about inter-caste marriages.’
‘It must have made sense thousands of years ago to protect the community, but it makes no sense today. It has now become more of a psychological defense mechanism. Hindustan is worse.’
Not again. Why does he have to always compare Dravida with Hindustan?
‘What do you mean?’
‘Marriage is a personal matter. The government does not interfere here, and actually has laws to protect people who want inter-caste marriages. Dowry is also banned, and strictly punishable. In Hindustan, the people are on their own, might is right.’
‘There must be some laws?’
‘What is the use? Laws are only as good as their implementation. They have banned the practice of sati, but it is still rampant.
‘What is sati?’
‘It is a Hindu funeral practice in which a recently widowed woman immolates herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. Most of the time the wife is forced by society to jump into the fire.’
So gross.
‘Isn’t that murder?’
‘It is, but Brahmin s
cholars have justified the practice, saying that it is included in the ancient Hindu scriptures as an act of peerless piety, and purges the couple of all accumulated sin. It guarantees their salvation and ensures their reunion in the next life.’
‘Does it happen in Dravida?’
‘No, the South Indian Hindus do not follow this practice. That is why I said the Hindustanis are savages.’
‘Why doesn’t the government do anything?’
‘By tolerating outdated religious practices, they can control their citizens and remain in power.’
‘What do you mean?
‘Hindustan is just a democracy in name. In actual fact it is run like a Kingdom. You can be leader only if you belong to the royal Nehru family. Their President is Sanjay Nehru, Indira Nehru’s son, who was Jawaharal Nehru’s daughter.’
‘I know Jawaharlal Nehru. We have his statue near Pyongyang City Hall.’‘Yes, he was a great leader, a true global statesman, the problems started after his daughter took control.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘In 1971, after winning the war with Pakistan, she revised the Constitution to change Hindustan from a parliamentary democracy to a Presidential system, with one-party rule. Their state religion became Hinduism in order to pacify hardliners and crush the opposition. There were indications of her dictatorial streak even before partition, when she discarded her husbands name to cash in on her fathers popularity.’
‘You mean there are no opposition parties?’
‘No. The main opposition was a party called Jan Sangh who wanted Hindu laws, but they were outfoxed by Indira. The rest who wanted to revert back to a secular democracy were put in prison. They have many such camps for political prisoners in the Thar desert.’
‘I heard they have a parliament’
‘Just a rubber stamp. The ultimate authority rests with the President. She was able to pit the various sections of the country against each other, and used the threat of war with Pakistan and Dravida to remain in power.’
‘What about their elections?’
‘They conduct elections every 6 years to show the world, but irregularities, election fraud and the obstruction of political rivals is a common practice.’
‘That is not what I heard.’
‘I am not saying it, the United Nations and Amnesty International have documented this fact. Your country is a friend of Hindustan, so you don’t get to know the reality.’
Maybe Naga is right.
‘Isn’t that the Taj Hotel ahead?’
‘Yes it is. We have to hurry, Mathew and Ruby must be waiting,’ he said looking at his watch.