Me Taliban

I belong to the Taliban and I am a Talib.....says who? Says Honorable Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju.

Oh did he...I guess he must have strong valid reasons, right? Well, he does have a reason, yes.

Gosh...so you guys have infiltrated into Indian mainland, you must be a spy, right...what else would you be in India for? Hmm...I've always been in India, you see, I was born here, have been brought up here, studied here (though we hardly study in engineering colleges:D), intend to work here too if a certain IT major does not forget me...ohh n btw, I love India too but that I suppose is besides the point.


Hmm...so why did he call you a Taliban? Lemme see, I guess you practice hate, right? Hardly...love is the very fuel of life is what I believe in.

Probably, you do not support girls getting educated along with boys if at all they should get educated, right? Let's just say that one of the foremost reasons for me traveling almost one hour from Central Calcutta to the outer fringes of Southern Calcutta to attend college was the incentive of ogling at a couple of really pretty faces in Electrical '05!!!

You must be having AK 47s stashed in your locker, right? The only things that I have stashed in my locker are DVDs of movies (mostly Holly flicks) and a pack of cards...in fact, I don't think you could even call it a locker considering it doesn't have a lock:D

Ohh I suppose you deliver sermons denouncing USA and advocating killing of innocents in a high pitched tone of frenzy, right? The only time I get in a frenzy is when Maria starts smashing those one handed baseline winners:D

Damn you, then what did you do to warrant that statement from Justice Katju? I sport a beard and that's what makes me Taliban because you see according to the Hon Judge, a beard and burqa are symbols of Talibanisation of India.

It so happened that this young 16 year old guy studying in a convent school in MP started sporting a beard which he was promptly asked to shave off by the school authorities citing school regulations...the boy surprisingly went on to challenge the decision in the highest echelons of justice in the land. The petition of the boy was rejected on the grounds that the convent being a private enterprise did have authority to formulate it's own sets of rules as long as it did not go against any indispensable part of any religion and the beard was deemed not to be an indispensable part of Islam. Justice Katju then went on to say "We don't want to have Talibans in the country. Tomorrow a girl student may come and say that she wants to wear a burqa. Can we allow it?"

So keeping a beard makes me Taliban...OK, got it. BTW, Sir...is it a general rule for all and for all types of beards or does the beard have to be of a certain free flowing kind and the face has to go by a name only belonging to a certain community...you see, am curious coz I have this goatee sort of stylized beard and as for the all people thing that's just because if it's a general rule for all people then am in exalted company, right from Manmohan Singh to Amitabh Bacchan to Vijay Mallya...ohh n shucks, are we being governed by a Taliban member for the last almost 5 years...I don't think so.....I suppose it does have to be a certain kind of beard belonging to only certain people with certain sounding names that you are talking about, right?

Ohh and pray tell me Hon Sir, what is wrong if a free minded girl in a free minded country of her own free will decides to wear a Burqa, how does that Talibanise the country. Isn't it entirely a matter of individual free choice in a working democracy.

Coming to the judgment based on the fact that the private school has rights to set it's own set of rules...it should not be a problem when you want to practice secularism in it's strictest sense, that of having nothing to do with religion...it should not be a problem if you ban all religious exhibitionism...it should not be a problem if you lay down rules that every student should be in trousers and shirts, polished shoes and necktie with smartly cropped army style hair and with no other visible symbols to differentiate him in any way whatsoever from the basic class of "student of the school"...the problem however arises when there is selective stipulations on selective things for selective people...hate to be reactionary but I suppose you must also disallow tikas on the forehead, turbans on the skull and kadas on the wrist based on the basic logic of equality.

I have studied in a convent school...I have even attended the mass on a number of occasions and I don't think it was wrong at all..in fact, it was great. I had friends in school who sported beards, who wore turbans, who had tikas on their forehead, who had kadas on their wrist, who had crosses on a chain round their neck and we all assimilated together...we obviously believed in "Unity in Diversity". Now,, it should be either be that or it should be "Unity in Commonality" wherein everyone looks the same and is just a "student". There is no middle path and if someone follows it, it must be derided and challenged and spoken against.

Do I come across as a hard nosed and regressive propagator of burqas n beards...hell no, all am advocating is free will...all am talking against is generalizing...all am ranting against is projecting beards n burqas to be symbols of Taliban...all I am asking for is equality...all I am propagating is it should be either all or nothing.

If that makes me regressive, so be it.
If that makes me Taliban..so be it!!!