Who
are the real Indians ?
I am a Kashmiri,
so I would like to call Kashmiris as the real Indians.
My ancestors
migrated from Kashmir to Madhya Pradesh about 200 years back, and were in the
service of the Nawab of Jaora ( in Western Madhya Pradesh ) for several
generations. So I would like to call Madhya Pradesh as the real India.
My grandfather
Dr. K.N. Katju shifted to U.P. as a lawyer, first to the District Court, Kanpur
in 1908, and then to the Allahabad High Court in 1914. I was born in Lucknow in
1946, and grew up in Allahabad, which I regard as my home town. So I would like
to call the people of U.P. as the real Indians.,
I have close
connections with Bengal, Orissa ( where my grandfather was Governor ) and
Tamilnadu ( where I was Chief Justice ).. So I would like to call the people
there as the real Indians
But these are
only my emotional opinions.
Thinking
rationally, I believe that the real Indians are the Keralites, because they
have in them the quintessential qualities of Indians.
As I have
explained on my blog ' What is India ? ', ( see justicekatju.blogspot.in ),
India is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America, and that explains
the tremendous diversity here---so many religions, castes, languages, ethnic
and regional groups, etc. The ancestors of perhaps 95% people living in India
today came from abroad ( the original inhabitants are the pre Dravidian tribals
known as the Scheduled Tribes e.g. Bhils, Gonds, Santhals, Todas, etc ).. So to
live united and in harmony we must respect every group of people. In my opinion
the Keralites do this the best, and therefore they are symbolic and represent
the whole of India. So they are the real Indians, and all of us must try to
emulate them and imbibe their spirit.
I regard Kerala
as the real India because it represents a microcosm of India. As I said, India
is broadly a country of immigrants. the essential quality of Kerala is its
openness to external influence--Dravidians, Aryans, Romans, Arabs, British,
Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Marxists, etc.
The Christians
of Kerala belong to the oldest Christian group outside Palestine. It is said
that one of the disciples of Jesus, St. Thomas, came to Kerala. Jews came here
and settled down in Cochin when they were persecuted by the Romans after
demolition of their temple in 72 A.D. Islam came here through traders, and not
through armies, as in the north. The Scheduled castes never suffered the
discrimination that they suffered in the rest of India. One of their sages Sree
Narayan Guru, who was an Ezhava, is venerated by all communities in Kerala. Adi
Shankaracharya ( whose home town Kaladi in Kerala I have visited ) travelled
throughout India and established the 4 well known centres of Hinduism, Sringeri
in the South, whose first head was Mandan Mishra ( renamed Sureshwaracharya )
whom he defeated in a famous debate, Puri in the East, Dwarka in the West, and
Jyotirmath in the North.
In the Badrinath temple in the Himalayas the head priest is always a Namboodri
Brahmin from Kerala, who is called the Rawal, and his deputy, the Naib Rawal,
is also from the same community. The Rawal has a tenure of 5 years, after which
the deputy Rawal becomes the Rawal.
The Keralites
had trade relations over 2000 years ago with Carthage, Rome ( many Roman coins
have been found in Kerala ), Arabs, etc Kerala has produced great artists,
mathematicians ( the great mathematician Aryabhatta is said to be from Kerala
), martial arts, handicrafts. enlightened Kings, and sages, etc.
Keralites are
great travellers, and everywhere in the globe one will find Keralites. There is
a joke that when the American astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on
1969 he found a Keralite there offering to sell him tea. There was never any
tradition in Kerala against travelling abroad, nor of ritual defilement for
crossing the 'kala pani ' as among many communities in North India.
Keralites abound
in the Middle East. I was invited to Qatar last year by some Keralite Muslims,
and found that in Qatar.there are more Keralites than local Arabs. In Dubai too
I found numerous Keralites. In Bahrain there are more Keralites than Bahrainis.
When I was a
University student and lawyer in Allahabad I would often go to the Coffee
House. I found that most of the waiters there were Keralites, and I became
friends with many of them. In many hospitals in India and abroad the nurses are
Keralites. I believe there is no illiteracy in Kerala
Keralites are
hard working, modest, and intelligent. They are broad minded, liberal,
cosmopolitan and secular in their views ( though no doubt there are a few
exceptions ). All Indians must learn from them.
Long live the
Keralites !
