I was in Paris when the Boston Marathon bombing took place
and had missed out on all the details thanks to a gruesome schedule while on
the visit with 18hr work days. I was able to catch-up on the news a little bit
before I left back to the US the following weekend. I usually leave for the
airport at the last minute, and it was no different this time too, just that it
happened to be a Saturday morning and not a lot of cabs are around the suburbs
of Paris on a Saturday. So after waiting for 15 minutes, I asked the front desk
of the hotel to try an alternative. They got me to a private cab company who
said it could be a little costlier, but I did not have much of a choice.
The cab arrived in 10 minutes and the driver was well
dressed and very cordial. He told me that he owned a fleet of cabs and he
himself is driving that day as it turned out to be a very busy day, and so he
might have to take calls directing his other cabs on their schedule. He was on
a few calls for the first 10 minutes and then asked me where my destination
was. On hearing it was NY, he said that he was saddened at what happened in
Boston, and that it should not have happened in any part of the world. He told
me to be careful as he knew Boston was close to NY, though I am not sure if he
knew it was a good 3 hrs away. In between his calls, he spoke about the need to
have peace and love in the world, and not hatred. He said, “Why are people
doing this in the name of religion”. I agreed with him and nodded all along,
though I was also keeping a close eye on my watch. He noticed that too and told
me that we should be there in 45 mins to an hr, and assured me that he would
get me on time even though we might hit traffic closer to the airport.
What he told next caught my attention. “I am ashamed and
feel so sorry” he said, and continued, “I belong to the same community and a
few bad guys tarnish the image of the whole community”. He said that the guys
that indulge in violence are not true Muslims and do not have an idea of their
religion. Besides, they clearly have not even read the Koran, and if they have,
they would not commit crimes against humanity. He had more calls and when that
happens the vehicle slows a bit and I would move my attention to my left wrist.
He came right back to the topic after his call, and continued that the guys who
did this must have been brainwashed by radicals. Radicals, he said, do not
believe in god but they just have their own agenda. No god wants to kill
innocent people and no true follower of god wants to see people suffer, and he
said it is the same with your god and my god. I nodded again in agreement.
In between, he also gave a short family background. He was
French and was born in France to North African parents of Algerian and Tunisian
descent. Though he was French, he also wanted to stay close to his roots
(culturally and religiously). He said everyone in his community is against the
violence, and that most just want to live in peace and harmony. However, the
small minority of anti-social elements put the whole community at risk by
giving them a bad name. So I asked him why the community as a whole is not
speaking against terrorism and violence, he was taken aback by the question. He
took some time to think and told me that it is a very interesting question, and
maybe that is what has to happen. Many people do speak against violence, but it
should be done in a global scale so that the face of the religion is not taken
over by the radicals.
He then mentioned that it is surprising to see two guys from
Chechnya attacking a city in the US, when their hatred should have been against
the Russian government. Maybe because the US foreign policy decisions over the
years has caused so much adverse negativity around the world that it becomes
easy to brainwash people to be against US. He continued, stating that it is
still no excuse to kill innocents, and that we all live for a short time in
this world when compared to the age of the earth, so why not live with love in
the short time. “Do you agree?”, he asked me, and I nodded again. I was not
sure if he understood the nod as my Indian nod goes across all directions. By
then we had entered the road to Charles DeGaulle, but it was stop’n’go traffic
and I was more interested in catching my flight to be back home at the earliest
after being out for 2 long weeks. He said he’d drop me at the nearest terminal
and I can walk across from there to my terminal to save time, as it takes more
time for the car to reach the terminal in the traffic (and he was right about
that). I said good bye to him and thanked him for getting me to the airport on
time, and also for the interesting conversation. “Take care”, he said again and
with that, I ran in through the terminals and reached mine just in time to
catch the flight. I was one of the last to board the flight, which is not
surprising.
While I did not talk too much during the conversation in the
cab, obviously my mind was focused on reaching the airport on time, I also
wanted to hear what he had to say. The long flight back provided me the time to
ponder back over the conversation and there were two things that stood out. One
was that being a devout Muslim, he was feeling ashamed for the bad acts of
people from his community. This is not something that is common, at least
externally. Two, it also gives a pointer to how some screwed up foreign policy
over the years can have so much of an impact in the years to come by. Economies
change, countries change, people change, cultures changes, but history remains
the same and there is for everyone to see, the good and the bad. Look at a few
examples where bad and inconsistent policies by earlier governments caused
negative after effects.
Starting with Iran, where US and UK were involved in
architecting the coup that removed a democratic government (the movie Argo
starts with this), and placed an unpopular and aristocratic Shah in power for
their own gains (Oil?). The unpopular Shah and his policies caused the Iranian
revolution and the rise of the current regime. There are anti-US sentiments
that are deeply rooted in the country. In addition, the US also supported
Saddam Hussein and propped him up to counter the rise of the Iranian regime. It
caused a long war between the countries where people from both sides suffered a
lot. It also made Saddam a powerful person and then he became a little too
powerful for his own good, and now, the US turned against Saddam and then
invaded the country for reasons that we all know are without much credence. The
country was again ravaged by war and violence. Imagine what the plight of
people living through all of this over the years.
Same sort of story with Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda. Bin-Laden
and his gang of Mujahedin, were provided financial and material support by the
US (with the help of Pakistan), and were propped up to fight against the
Soviets there. Afghanistan was so badly ravaged in the aftermath that it became
a country without a government, which enabled the Taliban to take over the
country. So many youngsters lost their future, and their next generation had to
face the wrath of war all over again in the past decade. So decisions on
foreign policy and war must be well thought and should not be taken lightly, as
they have a profound effect on the future. Even more so in the case of the US,
as its decisions have a big effect on the whole world itself. So for all those who want US to intervene in Syria, think twice. On a different topic, why should it be the US that has to intervene everytime, what about the other countries?
Just a one hour conversation in the car, but one that made
me ponder over it for a few more hours. Finally on Boston - so sad to hear of
the details. As the taxi guy said, whatever made them do such an inhuman act,
no god would want it and tolerate it. My prayers are with the people affected
by the tragedy. It is a city that I visit often and I have many friends who
live close by. It is a wonderful place to run. I have one run planned for in
June, and I will go and run in Boston this year too... The race must go on and
so will the city of Boston…
-Ramanuja Iyer
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