When I sat and talked to my day (part 9)

Let me trace today the act of engaging in dialogue, by reflecting on parts of my life.

Childhood and pluralistic views

I have never been exposed to "otherisation". What does that mean? That means, I had never heard something like - "we" are better, smarter, superior, more civilized and "they", who are the "others", are inferior, uncultured and irrelevant people. I remember I had 3 drawing teachers in my childhood, belonging to different religions, a perfect Amar-Akbar-Anthony scenario. Once it so happened, that I passed a class in the drawing school, with good grade. In utter excitement, I touched the feet of all three of them. Later on, I told my grandma about it - she hugged me and said, a teacher is a God, no matter which religion, caste or creed they belong to.

Dad would always say - difference of opinion is never bad, but not listening to any contradicting opinion is terrible! He told me - take a stance, stick to it harder than you can, believe in what you stand for, but still, at the end of the day, listen to the counter-opinion. Listen to those that differ from your views - why are they differing? Think of the subject of their opinion, perhaps there is some substance in it.

College and meeting friends from different walks of life

For the first time in life I started to talk openly about injustice, inequality, uneven share of opportunities. I met classmates from all walks of life. It was during the break of a lab session that some of the classmates broke into a political debate, and I joined in. First, I listened, then I talked, but only a little. I realized I had not seen the broader world of a big city in the way they had seen it. There are facets of life which I never considered, coming from a small suburb. But then, I had my belief. Therefore, I engaged. They were gracious too, they listened to what I was meaning. 

Studies came first for me. Always. I was walking on a thin wire - then, now and even in the future I will keep doing the same. It was painful at times to spend hours and hours with books and experiments and programming. But I never gave up, neither did any of my friends. There was a hope, we knew there was. There was a system available, whereby, if you could work hard, you might get an opportunity to get a job and shine in life.

First job and the beauty of a pluralistic environment

After my onboarding, I found I had reached the next milestone of my life. A company that stood for its people, with Azeem Premji heading it. He had come to meet us and he shared a fact - after the partition of India, some of his father's acquaintances had suggested him to shift to a different country where it would be easier for him, due to his religious background. But Premji's father had opted for India - after all, beliefs are not always religious. I met colleagues from different backgrounds - some very expressive, some thoughtful, some super energetic, some reflective. Ohh, my world expanded daily, as  did my heart and brain.

At this point I will cut short for today and I will write about the life abroad in my next post.

But I would not end without discussing one additional topic. Amidst all these conversations, journey of knowing people, actively engaging with them, running dialogues, discussions and debates over them, I never stopped listening. I disagreed, differed and disliked but I never hated. It never reached to a point of "us" and "them". Hence, the only recommendation - engage! Engage with counter-thoughts, discuss the differences, keep placing ears on voices of dissent. There is something in there. 

To whom did I address this piece? I leave that to you my readers, you figure it out!