More than a year back, we had gone to Coorg for a vacation. We stayed in a homestay that was highly recommended. There were good reviews about this place and the couple who owned the home stay. It was a beautiful place and situated in a secluded area far away from the resorts and hotels.
The owners of the homes stay owned a vast coffee estate. They were highly educated and were part of the elite community in that region.
They just had three guest houses and at that time, we were the only guests who were staying in there. We were invited for dinner with them and had some pretty good conversation. My mother and I were befriended by the lady of the house and we had our own private conversations over dinner and in the mornings.
As expected, the conversation moved over to politics.
The lady of the house: I like M*** so much and always vote for his party B**
Me: Really and why is that?
She: Oh, he has no children or family. So, there is no reason for him to be corrupt and to take money. Which means he is a good man.
Me: How can you be sure. Do you have any proof for it?
She: I have no proof but why does a man need money when he has no family
Me: Hmm. am not sure abt it. Let us for a while consider that your statement is true and he is not corrupt. Still, there are a few things that you need to consider - he may not be corrupt. He can still be a bad guy and do bad things or have bad policies. Second, you are actually going to vote for the candidate in his party who is nominated for this constituency. He is the one who is going to be the go to person for you if he wins. Are you sure, he is not corrupt or he is a good man. This guy M*** is the PM and not your local candidate.
She: I don't care. I like M*** and that is all that matters. In fact I don't like the C*** party at all
I was amused by her irrational thought and wanted to prod her a little more.
Me: Ok. And why is it that you don't like the C****** party?
She: You see, they started celebrating Tipu Sultan and had a day in a year to celebrate him. We all hate Tipu.
My MV: now, this is interesting. I have a fair knowledge of Tipu from what i learnt in my history classes. Still, why would someone in the 20th century hate him
Me: So why do you hate Tipu?
She: He was a tyrant who massacred many people in this area. We all hate him for that and that is the reason we all don't vote for the C**** party.
Me: Do you have historical facts to support it? Even if what you say is true, that was a long time ago. You were not even born at that time. So how do you know what really happened at that time?
She: That is true, we all know it.
Me: Ok.
*** I did not want to argue with her since she felt so strongly about and because I did not really have facts with me. Without facts, I had nothing to say about it.
We moved on to other topics and then she proudly talked about the guests that had stayed at the homestay. She talked about the foreign nationals who stayed and how they loved the place and the food that they served. She then talked about the vacations she took outside India and the places she had visited.
I was curious and asked her if she had any British nationals who had stayed at her place to which she quickly answered with pride that they did stay.
I was surprised - During the time the British ruled India, they had committed so many atrocities that were all aware of. So this highly educated and well read woman, was ready to look above that piece of history and take pride in hosting British nationals and was excited about travelling abroad. However, when it came to Tipu sultan (who was a ruler of India and fought against the British) and probably did what any ruler would do in those days, she was ready to hate him.
She was ready to vote for a party simply because it's leader was a single man and hated another national party because they celebrated Tipu Sultan?
What kind of logic is this? If someone who is so well read and well educated can think so foolishly, I just cannot imagine what the others do.
That is the state this country is in.
On a side note, I did read a little about this particular incident of Tipu and from what I understood, he was just another ruler in those times who did what he thought was right. Second, as part of their strategy, the British spread false news about Tipu to make sure the people of a particular religion hated him.
Strange, how people twist the historical facts to their advantage.
