Yogendra Yadav@_YogendraYadav
Amma wishes you Eid Mubarak.
Amma, Smt. Meenakshi Srinivasan, an 80 year old Brahmin woman, has been hosting “Amma’s Iftar” in Bangalore for the last four years. Born into an Iyer family and raised in Coimbatore, she lived much of her life in Calcutta. Along the way she picked up Bengali with ease, developed a quiet fondness for football, and carried herself with a certain old-world clarity about how things ought to be.
At home, her son says there are a few “rules” — some firm, some gently enforced with a smile:
Always Prestige, never Hawkins.
Always Rafi, never Kishore.
Always Messi, never Ronaldo.
And always harmony, no room for hatred.
So, when she heard about some Muslims being prevented from performing Namaz or holding Iftar, she decided to host iftar every year.
This year, I had the privilege to join her unusual iftar. The ceremony was unusual, but the underlying sentiment was not. This inchoate but deeply held belief in love and co-existence is the foundation of our secularism. This has held India together.
In Amma I see Mother India.
In her iftar I see a glimpse of India’s swadharma.
I join Amma in wishing you all: Eid Mubarak!