A very irate daughter came to me one evening last week as she has just heard from her Personal Trainer who wanted her to do ‘functional training’, something she does not like,  the next morning. This is normally scheduled for Thursdays and the ‘next’ day was Monday, the day after Diwali. The reason he gave was that is was Vishwakarma day, a day on which Hindus worship their tools and do not use them so the PT  did not want to touch weights, bars etc. Sounds logical but wait there is a catch: the PT is a devout christian, the kind who fasts during Lent! Confused? Do not be, this is India where respect for all religions is ingrained in our DNA and festivals are celebrated by one and all with the same fervour.

On that day all the sewing machines of the Project were worshipped by people of diverse faith. The machines at the Khader Centre were all cleaned and laid out ready to be worshipped. That day they would not be used but staff and students turned up in their Sunday best to take part in the ceremony. As I happened to be in the centre I was asked to be part of the prayer too! At the vocational centre of our special needs section, Geetu and Shalini had organised their ceremony and everyone participated with joy and fervour.

Recently a donor from France visited a government school and was perplexed to see that the morning assembly began with a religious prayer. In France religion is kept to of schools and to him seeing this was confusing. We had to explain to him that in India religion was ingrained in every activity and prayers from different faiths were sung in school assemblies across the board. It is also the country where the auto rickshaw driver begins his day by praying to the image on his dashboard and the shopkeeper too begins his day with prayer. Our brand of secularism is one that embraces all faith and celebrates all religions.

I was taught this early in life as a child growing in different lands by parents who were deeply secular. So I found myself going to church in school, fasting with my Muslim friends or celebrating the Sabbath with my Jewish ones, all with the blessings of my parents.

At Project Why we strive to teach our children to respect all religions and celebrate all festivals. That is what India is all about. That is the India of my dreams.