Hujurpaga School in Pune celebrated Eid and it got many negative reactions. The preamble of the Indian constitution calls India a ‘secular democracy’, but do those who have problems with the constitution, not want this secularism and diversity in India?

In a moment the ashes are made, but a forest is a long time growing. – Seneca

Based on the experience of teaching in both religious minority and linguistic minority colleges in Pune, the following tips…

I recently m. A., cleared the NET examination and started teaching in a religious minority degree college. The proportion of persons who today are called ‘that’ religion was about 99.99 per cent in that college. It included my students, my head of department, office staff, teachers of other subjects. I worked with all of them and that too with great pleasure. New and different environment, no teaching experience, but all this went well. Never felt ‘them’ and ‘me’. If there were ‘undercurrents’ they did not reach me or affect me. Others may have different experiences.

The atmosphere is new and different, so ‘what’s up?’ Eager to understand this. Should the head be covered during prayer? Will it work if I keep my eyes open? Customs of different religions, their meanings? By asking all these questions openly, one begins to understand the answers. The contribution of my department head madam was very important in giving me an open environment where I had no restrictions. He even told the girls once in the trip that Ujjwala madam is a vegetarian, you eat your can. I did not feel anything improper about sitting at the same table and eating. Years later at a company I worked for, my co-workers included people from my religion who brought non-vegetarian bins. A religious minority in the country, a person from my first college and a company that brought non-vegetarian food, we were all mutual friends.

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There was only one reason I had to leave that first minority college job. This post of teacher was not aided. I was appointed on hourly basis. It was very important for me in the beginning of my career, but later I left this religious minority college and started teaching in a linguistic minority college. This post was a University Grants Commission sponsored post. Of course there were all the facilities like salary etc. as per 6th Pay Commission. These facilities would not have been available in religious minority colleges. After eight-nine years of teaching, I left the teaching job. A senior colleague of mine even asked me, why are you leaving a job where outsiders are willing to pay Rs 25 lakhs to get it?

There was an amazing library. I used to teach sociology to BA, MA students in English-Marathi medium. It was a wonderful experience to be able to help the first generation of families to get into the mainstream of education. Although the college was a linguistic minority, there were more persons of ‘my’ religion. Yet what trouble there was! It was compulsory to take classes in college and attend all religious ceremonies.

‘What are you doing?’ Muster (i.e. the notebook to record the work done, the activities carried out) was used only in such ceremonies. Obviously, this meant that anyone who would not attend these religious ceremonies was to be dismissed. The students who participated in such ceremonies, also had ten attendance records for each ceremony. So such programs used to get crowded. An affidavit had to be given at the beginning of employment. This affidavit states that I will not join any employee union. ‘Why?’, was not allowed to ask the question. One had to be prepared to face ‘different’ behavior if asked. If you leave your own religion, you have nothing to do with others. As a result, he was forced to quit his job. It had been 15 years since the career started. Therefore, the issue of subsidized post became irrelevant. The principles of justice, freedom, equality were becoming more important. It was realized that the freedom of thinking and asking questions is very important.

The reason for writing all this is that there was a news that Hujurpage in Pune had celebrated Eid with enthusiasm and many negative thoughts were expressed in the social media and some newspapers. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution calls India a ‘secular democracy’. Now those who have a problem with this constitution, do not want this secularism and diversity in India.

The city of Pune is known for various reasons- Lal Mahal, Shaniwar Wada, Karmath Vrti, First School for Girls, Center of Information Technology Sector, problems caused by unruly traffic, potholes etc. So celebrating Eid in an old, famous school like Hujurpage in Pune is a moment that strengthens secularism and alternatively the constitution in my view. Students of all castes and religions are studying in educational institutions. They also learn that along with Savitribai Phule, Fatima Shaikh was also doing teaching.

If there are people of other castes and religions living in the society around me, how is there any hesitation in understanding their festivals and customs? And if so understood, why should there be a distinction between ‘them’ and ‘me’? The doctor who saves my life may be of other caste, the lawyer who wins my case in court may be of other caste, why the maid who takes care of the house may be of other caste; So why is ‘them’ and ‘me’ better when understanding their lives?

A religious minority educational institution in Pune organizes a program every year on the occasion of the birth anniversary of intellectuals from various castes and religions. Mahatma Jotiba Phule, Dr. Birthdays of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mohammad Prophet etc. are included. Illustrated news of these programs are published in newspapers. If secularism is not taught in English medium schools or convent schools, the discussion will ask ‘Why?’ This should be understood and ‘why not’ should be explained through discussion, with the help of educational law if necessary. I am aware that all the above views can be countered. “Only ‘us’ do such tolerant thinking, ‘they’ never do.” “Teach ‘them’ and see what they do.” ? Which religion was the cause of death of Mahatma Gandhi, Dabholkar? All these views may seem very naive or naive. It may seem that a very important subject has been oversimplified. ‘All of us’ is more important than ‘them’ versus ‘us’. As Seneca’s English quote at the beginning of the article says ‘A moment is enough for ashes, but a long time for a forest to grow’. He should decide whether we should grow ashes or grow a forest. But we can’t forget that we were also incinerated while burning the forest.

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