Forgive for peace?

Rubaru Roshni (Where the Light Comes In)

Directed by Svati Chakravarthy Bhatkal

 The general order of things in the Universe is such. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. An eye for an eye, a tit for a tad, and 'you do the crime, you do the time'. Even the karmic rule dictates that we pay our dues. We have been taught to take responsibility for our actions with no recourse. The others will jump at the slightest chance to pounce and breathe down on the perpetrator as if he, in the wise words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is eligible to cast the first stone.

Rumi once wrote, 'The wound is the place where the Light enters you'. A person who is heartbroken but remorseful after a regrettable act is open to amends. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as swiping the slate clean and turning over a new leaf. As practised by Roman Catholics, confessions may offer solace to the perpetrator but not to the victim. The aggrieving party will also have to deal with their own heartaches and trauma. A face-to-face meeting is a logical choice to reach conciliation, but is it really the solution? Can it even happen in this day and age?

This whole exercise of vis-à-vis intervention is, as solicitors would term, perverse to natural justice. In a world where nobody turns the other cheek anymore but slaps back instead, resolution and forgiveness are unthinkable. In an environment where one seeks 'justice' that all the money can buy or the highest court they can go to, it is terrible for business. Unless, of course, you are a nobody. Then, God is your witness, judge and executor of the 'other' party.

Rumi

A wound is where Light goes in. Light heals. Like that, cracks can be filled up, as is done in the Japanese pottery craft of Kintsugi. Defects repaired with powdered gold or silver dust end up being more robust than before.

All these sound nice and easy, forgiving and moving up. In reality, it takes a lot of courage and patience. Courage to accept the tragedy affected both parties, the perpetrator and those close to the victim. Patience to hear out what either party has to say to each other. On top of it all, both parties must have suffered enough. The offender must have done time and must have remorse to descend the throne of grandiosity.

That brings us to the case of commuting pardon to Najib, whose innumerable cases are still ongoing. First, he must have been comprehensively grilled and laid bare of any other possible crimes, lived to have paid his dues as decided by Law and be remorseful of his actions, as he is deemed to have committed the crime by Law. Otherwise, it is putting the cart before the horse.

Forgiveness is what we see in the three real-life events that are shown here. Forgiveness only comes after deliberation when both parties realise that carrying the burden or guilt is self-defeating. Tackling it head-on with empathy and humility goes a long way.

Avatika Maken and her father's 
assassin, forgiven.

In the first case story, following the 1984 Operation Blue Star, after the alleged desecration of the Golden Temple, there was nationwide resentment against the Indian Government. Never mind that weapons were stored there and anti-nationalist activities were in full swing. PM Indra Gandhi was assassinated later. A riot broke out between the Sikhs and Hindus, claiming 17,000 Sikh lives in three days. A neutral report on the riot blamed the Congress Party M.P.s for the mayhem. Sikh separatist groups noted that and put Delhi Congressmen on their hit list. By chance, they shot Lalit Maken. His wife, Geethanjali, was collateral damage. Their only daughter, Avantika, then 6, grew up an angry orphan. Of the assassins, two were apprehended, charged and sentenced to death, while the third, Ranjit Singh Gill, escaped to the USA. Ranjit was arrested and spent a good 13 years in the U.S. prison before being expedited to India. In India, he received a life sentence. He appeared for parole three years later only to be opposed by Avantika.

Sr Selmy and her sister's murderer, forgiven.

The rest of the tale is about how Avantika and Ranjit, both feeling drained out because of the turn of events, met each other by chance. This led to reconciliation, with both starting a rejuvenated new life. It takes someone extraordinary to forgive and guts to admit mistakes and make amends. Ranjit realised he had been used as a pawn by power brokers who just scooted when things went south.

The second case study involved the brutal stabbing of a Malayali Catholic nun, Sr Rani Maria, in Udainagar, Madhya Pradesh, in 1995. The talk around town was that the Christian missionaries were busy converting tribal and Dalit communities. Riled by this, Samandar Singh, a farmer, with many landowners, stopped the bus Sr Rani was travelling and stabbed her more than 50 times in broad daylight. Cooped in prison for more than 11 years for his crime, Samandar felt remorse after seeing his accomplices go free.

Kia Scherr

Meanwhile, Sr Rani has a sister who is also a nun. The sister, Sr Selmy, and their mother did a lot of soul-searching and concluded that it was all God's plan. God and Sr. Rani would have forgiven Rani's killer. So when a Swamiji contacted the family about Samandar's regret, Sr Selmy made a trip to the prison where Samandar was imprisoned to tie Rakhi on Raksha Bandhan. From then on, it was raw emotion all the way. After his release, he makes a trip to Kerala to the mother. The family adopts him as another sibling.

Kia Scherr's husband and daughter had come to Mumbai for a meditation retreat. Unfortunately, the Oberoi Hotel where they stayed was in the way of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008. Rather than hating India as she lost her whole family there, she has resorted to making annual trips to India as a peace entrepreneur and co-founding a global peace initiative that works to bring tools of peace to education, business and government.


P.S. I struggle to comprehend why some forgive their aggressors while others go all out to throw the heaviest weight of the Law at them to get the maximum of incarceration for them. They would insist that no form of punishment is adequate enough.

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Beyond doing the right things!

I'll meet you there (2021)
Story, Direction: Iram Parveen Bilal

The movie's title has its origin from one of Rumi's sayings. Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there. 

It sounds about right. It is easy for a third person to look at our every action and pass judgement, just as easy for us to judge others. There must be a justification for everyone's actions. He must have given a lot of thought before embarking on its execution. If the measures are just by their intentions, pure at heart and are sure to accept the consequences, who are we to pass comments?

This movie created a buzz on my antenna when it was reported to be banned in Pakistan. Its Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) found the film unsuitable for public exhibition as it did not reflect true Pakistani culture, portrayed a negative image of Muslims, and was against Pakistan's social and cultural values.

All the film did was depict brown people and Muslims in a non-stereotypical fashion, often not shown in Hollywood and Tinseltown. It narrates the tale of an American-Pakistani police officer, Majeed, in Chicago. He has a heavy cloud hanging over him. His wife, a Kathak dancer, had to give up her passion (and her life) due to pressures from her father in law. Now he leads a quiet life with his daughter, Dua, a college-going student. Like her mother, she is passionate about dancing, especially Kathak, a traditional Indian dance. Dua is nicely snuggled into the American way of carefree life until her grandfather, i.e. Majeed's father, arrives unannounced at their doorstep after 12 long years. 

That is when Dua and Majeed's lives hit stormy waters.

Dua's unrestricted American lifestyle is scorned upon. Her involvement in an unIslamic artform is criticised, and Dua is pushed to stick to tenets of the religion. Meanwhile, Majeed is compelled to investigate the local mosque for possible funding of terrorist activities. During an FBI raid in that Majeed acted as an informant, his father was apprehended.

In essence, the movie deals with how members of three generations keep religion in their daily lives. With the challenge of exposure to newer communities and the demand of different environments, the newer generation amalgamates religion into their lives as and how they feel appropriate. Pressures from the elders and to need to conform to society put them in a difficult place.

An entertaining watch.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.