Deepa Mehta's _Fire_

[Bijoy Misra]

While this is not an appropriate forum to discuss,
I wish to make one comment.
I can imagine how a western Indologist could relate
more to the violence against the Australian missionary
person than other atrocities against Hindu or other
communities.  I would get concerned if a person of
Indian origin gets shot and killed in the US while
I may not notice huge killings reported in
newspapers every day.

It has now been reported that the episode of
the death of the missionary resulted from a feud
between two tribal groups in the area.  Apparently
there was inciting from external elements.  The
law and order in certain parts of India do not
seem to be functioning with discipline.  People
have to be careful in entering these pockets.
Tempers can flare very quick for some cultures.

We had once camped over the hills when I was
in High School.  We didn't know that there was
a santhal village nearby.  When we were returning
we were hounded by people with bows and arrows
and we had to speed up to escape.  Later on
we learned that we have to take permission
from the santhal chief even if we stayed overnight
in the forest bungalow.  Tribals believe that
we defile their virgin land by digging and
creating permanent structures.  While they may
have a point there, they don't seem to have
any intermediate justice.

Bijoy Misra


On Wed, 25 Nov 1998, Stephen wrote:

> Tragedy, eh ? Well, we Hindus are getting used to it. In case you
> haven't noticed, Hindus are being massacred every day. But they don't
> get burnt in cars - most of them don't own cars, you see..
>
> Here are some pictures for you:
>
> http://www.kashmir-information.com/Atrocities/
>
>
> Sumedh,
>
> Your remark sounds rather flippant - like you don't care about what happened
> to that Australian missionary and his family, I hope that is not the case. I
> know the tragedies of Kashmir, but Hindus getting killed in Kashmir, does
> not justify hindus killing Christians elsewhere in the country. We as
> humans, should fight against both atrocities.
>
> Terrorists also burnt many churches in Kashmir.
>
> Sujatha
>