Camel and the Sheikh

Religion shouldn’t undermine education — Macleans OnCampus:

Of course, this type of religious accommodation in secular schools is not new. Religious students have long been able to request exemption from sexual education programs, for example. Catholic school boards in Ontario (which are publicly funded) don’t even have to teach the same sexual health curriculum that is mandated for other boards. And at this point, the concept seems nothing but silly and tired. How can educators and policy makers preach the unequivocal value of the provincial curriculum, while at the same time resign to “Well, I guess STI prevention lessons aren’t that important”?

Public school curricula are specifically formulated (at least on paper) to provide a well-rounded education while promoting Canadian values such as equality of the sexes. These values should not be subject to religious accommodation ...

There is this old story about the sheikh and the camel. You probably have heard it a million times. For the benefit of the boneheads, here's how it goes.

Once upon a time, long long ago, there was this sheikh riding his camel across the desert to the next oasis. When night fell, he pitched his tent and all, and went to sleep, tying his camel to the tent post. As the night progressed, it got colder, and soon, the camel became uncomfortable. He stuck his nose into the tent and pleaded with his master, "Please, master, it's getting awfully cold out here. Please, let me just nuzzle my nose inside the tent." After much thought the sheikh relented, and let the camel crane its neck into the tent.

A couple of hours passed, and the sheikh was woken up by a desperate cry from his camel. "Oh, sir, I am so sorry to have woken up your majesty, but, sir, I can hardly breathe. It feels like ... eh ... my lungs are frozen shut. Master, please let me stick a few more inches of my body into the tent. "Ah, the poor camel! It seems that this one is not adapted to the ways of the desert," the sheikh thought. "It's only right that I accommodate his wishes." Not only did he let the camel stick its torso inside the tent, but also let him rest his head in the bed besides him.

Another couple of hours passed, and the camel ... you get the idea. When the sheikh woke up shivering in the morning, why, he was surprised to find himself under the open skies and the camel soundly asleep in his bed inside!

Camel rights advocates may not agree, but, please, keep religion out of the institutions of reason.

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Portents of Theocracy?

Egypt protest hero Wael Ghonim barred from stage | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt:

Google executive Wael Ghonim, who emerged as a leading voice in Egypt's uprising, was barred from the stage in Tahrir Square on Friday by security guards, an AFP photographer said.

Ghonim tried to take the stage in Tahrir, the epicenter of anti-regime protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, but men who appeared to be guarding influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi barred him from doing so.

Ghonim, who was angered by the episode, then left the square with his face hidden by an Egyptian flag.

I sincerely hope I wouldn't have to write, "I told you so!"

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The Circus

Rinku Das, 23, is an employee of — what else — a call center in Kolkotta, India. Her father is a tea shop owner, an average Joe with two daughters, Rinku and her married elder sister. He had a son in high school, too, until a couple of days ago. Rajib Das, 16, was stabbed by rowdies Tuesday evening in Barasat, a suburb of Kolkotta. A few hours later he died in a hospital that was more interested in making sure that the forms were properly filled in than saving his life.

Everyday story, nothing extraordinary.

Tuesday evening, Rajib, as he had done routinely before, escorted his sister from Barasat train station, returning from her day of work in Kolkotta. On their way home, a gang of drunken thugs assaulted Rinku. They poured liquor all over her body, and then tried to abduct her. Rajib resisted, and in the ensuing melee, he was stabbed to death. It was as ordained by the gods. Happens always when women dare to work outside of their homes. To them and their loved ones.

Women should stay put at home.

A new wrinkle in this oft reported olds from emerging India. While Rajib was being attacked, Rinku ran to the District Magistrate's house, which happened to be just a few yards away from the spot where the incident took place. A very important person that he was, armed guards had been posted outside his house 7x24 to protect him from the people he was supposed to serve. Who knows when a few crazies among them may instigate an attempt on his life and property? Rinku pleaded with the guards to help her brother.

Wait, we must consult the rule book!

Sorry, miss, we cannot leave our post. That'd be highly irregular. Please call the police station. Your brother and his assailants could sort it out among themselves until the police arrived. Come on, Rinku, what did you expect? You might be paying their salary, but did you really believe that the guards would abandon their master and come to your rescue? What if the District Magistrate were to lose his life or limbs in a terrorist attack that's always looming around the corner? How many millions of people would be deprived of his valuable service?

Your brother's life is cheap!

A long line of politicians formed outside Rinku's house next day. To pay their last respects to Rajib, of course, and not because of the approaching election. Never mind that they they knew Rajib only as a point in the census until yesterday. Everyone was there. The Chief Minister came to offer his personal condolences and public money. $5000 in all, to compensate the family for their loss.

Did I say Rajib's life was cheap?

Not to be outdone by the incumbent, the opposition leader was there, too:

Amaake ekta phone korli na keno re shedin raat-ey? Amar phone number to shobar kachhei achhe (Why didn’t you call me that night? Everyone has my number),” Kakali said.

She spent 40 minutes talking to Rinku and accusing Bhattacharjee of being responsible for Rajib’s death. Before leaving, she thrust a wad of Rs 500 notes into the palm of Rinku’s elder sister. “You’ll need it… Lots of things to do,” Kakali said.

It's peanuts for me, but your vote is priceless!

Outside, the masses decried the alpha dogs on the other side, as they had done before, everyday, everywhere. Aspiring leaders and their minions tried to shout down each other with — what else — "Long live, Rajib Das!" and more loudly, "Shame on you, B___jee!". If our B___jee had been in command, the DM's guards would have instantly rushed to the rescue of Rajib! It's a conspiracy by the communal forces! The evil multinational call-center must pay for Rajib's life! Bray, bray, bray!

A flower bedecked hearse arrived just in time, proudly flying the flags of the opposition party. Perhaps, to make amends for what the party's chairperson of Barasat municipality had said to Rinku earlier, "Ki aar kora jabe… kopale ja lekha chhilo tai hoyechhe". It's your fate! What to do?

"I saw Trinamul flags tied to the stretcher and tried to uproot one of them. A party member hit me with a flagstick," complained Nayan. "Rajib was my childhood friend but who are these people?"

From the circus, Nayan!

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Transient and Eternity

Protests against incumbent regimes are spreading across North Africa and spilling into East Asia, even as I write this. I don't believe any longer that "If it's an uprising, then it must be for good". I am long past that age of innocence. Mao's "Cultural Revolution" and the 1979 Revolution in Iran were in another century, when I was as young and misty-eyed as those who look upon Egyptian streets and virtual highways with admiration today. What a disappointment those distant revolutions have been in their aftermath!

Regimes come and go. So do gods, messiahs, and religions. What endure are ideas, ideas tested by reason and evidence. The ideas of liberty and equality - that all people are free and equal, and no individual or collective may be granted exclusive privileges and immunities in law - these are enduring ideals that have guided humanity along the path of civilization. The rest, however passionately embraced by the populace at a moment in history, are destined to perish in the Darwinian struggle for survival.

I never tire of quoting Queen Sheelavati from the film, Anaahat, directed by Amol Palekhar:

"Wisdom," she said to her troubled husband and the King of Shravasti, "is knowing the difference between the transient and the eternity".

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