So we went to his school yesterday (Friday). It was a remarkably festive occasion. Smiling and talkative teachers lined the hallways welcoming everyone with genuine passion. Colourfully dressed children and their parents thronged everywhere. Many children happily scanned their classes to see which of their friends from the previous grade had made it to their section. Every class was a mix of new and old faces. To round it off nicely, volunteer parents doled out ice cream to children and parents in the cafeteria.

Puru’s school enrolls about 650 students from kindergarten to fifth grade. Some 80% of the students are white as ours is a predominantly white neighborhood. The rest of the 20% are mostly Hispanic and black students. A few must be mixed-race children.

It’s hard to find South Asian children there. Certainly, Puru is the only South Asian kid in his class, possibly the only across the third grade. I would be surprised if there are more than a couple of other South Asians in the entire school. Without doubt, Puru’s ethnic and national identity is <1% of the schoolchildren’s makeup.

As for the teachers, I’d say 100% of them are white.

Yesterday, after seeing the video of Tripta Tyagi, a Hindu schoolteacher in Uttar Pradesh, prodding Hindu children to slap a Muslim student in her class, my mind was inevitably drawn to several thoughts.

First, I resolved with great determination that, if I can help it, I’d NEVER bring my son back to India, much less send him to school there. Second, I started to think: what if one of Puru’s white teachers had asked the white kids to slap him because he’s Indian and a Hindu?

I wish those of you who are reading this post were there at Puru’s school yesterday to see what happened.

So many teachers who know Puru were delighted to see him. One teacher who teaches ESL (English as second language) class and who knew Puru in his first grade shrieked his name with a giggle and hugged him tight.

His new class teacher, Mrs. Wright, welcomed him to the class with visible emotions and then, a few minutes later, came by again to ask him, “Do you like your new desk? Do you like your new friends?”

I told Mrs. Wright that Puru would like to find people to play chess with. Immediately she held his hand and took him to the male class teacher of another second grade section and introduced Puru to him. That teacher is a chess player. Presently, he and Puru bonded and they’re now looking at some chess time together.

Mrs. Wright and her assistant teachers were delighted to know that Puru plays the piano. One of them asked, “Does the music teacher know about it? Do you play in her class?”

Some day, I will share the comments that Puru’s previous class teacher in second grade wrote every three months on his term report cards. Without fail, she’d be over the moon with his classwork. Once she wrote: “It is a pleasure to work with Puru,” as if Puru is not a student but a colleague.

Every time I go to Puru’s school I am absolutely amazed at how truly, deeply, unquestionably inclusive and welcoming that experience is, not just for Puru but for every single child there. I have not a shadow of doubt that the teachers’ emotions and responses stem from their convictions, because no law or diktat can force people to break into a grin and a tight hug if they don’t feel it. They feel it. We, as Puru’s parents, feel it. The love is real.

Imagine. Here we are. Puru, Sarita and I. Three non-Americans in a sea of non-desi, mostly-White neighborhood. We have lived here only three years. Sarita and I don’t even speak the American accent. Those who know us in our town know well that we are not Americans. Not for a second has anyone — friend or stranger — so much as given a hint that they think we don’t belong here.

At the other end of the planet, in my home country, millions of Hindus are now telling Muslims, who have for millennia lived on the land, that not only do they not belong there but that they will be bullied, attacked, assaulted, lynched, killed, jailed, prosecuted, persecuted as long as they are Muslim.

What a shame.

Related:

Outrageous, hate corrodes UP classrooms

The post Tripta Tyagi and Puru, my son appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
“Though they murdered my husband I don’t want them to lose their lives,” she told this reporter at her home shortly after a court here found the 11 accused guilty of killing him. “I would prefer the court gave them life imprisonment.”
 
The court’s guilty verdict for the 11 men is the first conviction in India for gau rakshaks, the self-styled  cow vigilantes linked to the RSS-BJP-VHP-Bajrang Dal, who have gone on an attack-and-kill spree especially since the BJP-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014.
 
While the 11 men, at least one of whom was a well-known BJP leader in this district, have been found guilty of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, three of them were additionally found guilty of conspiracy under section 120(B) of the IPC.
 
Sentencing is due on March 21, Wednesday.
 
Mariam Khatoon implored prime minister Modi to put an end to continuing assaults by the gau rakshaks on innocent Muslims across India.
 
“There is terror of the gau rakshaks among the Muslims and Mr. Modi should realise it is not good for inter community relations,” she said. “Please, for god’s sake, stop it.”

 
She also said that the Hindu neighbours in her village were no less supportive of her and her family than the Muslim community. In fact, she said, never had there been any chasm between the Hindus and Muslims in not just the village but in the entire Ramgarh district.
 
Announcing the verdict in Hindi in open court at about 3.30 pm on Friday, Additional District Judge Om Prakash said that he had considered all evidence and witness statements before ruling the accused as guilty. A full judgement in writing is expected to be delivered along with the sentencing.
 
Alimuddin was waylaid by gau rakshaks at a prominent city thoroughfare on the morning of June 29, 2017, and severely beaten. The gau rakshaks accused him of carrying beef in his car. After the police arrived on the scene he was taken to a local hospital where he shortly died of his injuries.
 
The defendants denied they had assaulted Alimuddin and, instead, claimed he died of in police custody due to police torture. The judge rejected this contention.
 
For hours before the verdict was given the road leading to the courthouse, as well as the court premises itself, was heavily patrolled and guarded by a special police force.
 
The sprawling lawns of the courthouse teemed with young men in bright saffron shirts, many of whom also sported saffron bandanas around their foreheads, who were obviously supporters of the defendants. Many said they were active members of the Bajrang Dal.
 
Women and children from the families of the accused crowded the narrow corridor at the end of which lay Judge Prakash’s courtroom. None, however, but the lawyers and a handful of journalists were allowed into the court, right after the 11 accused, their hands tied with a long, single rope, were marched into the massive iron cage inside the courtroom.
 
Dressed in shirts and trousers, all the accused wore fresh saffron tilaks on their foreheads.
 
This reporter counted at least 22 lawyers on the defendants side, greatly outnumbering the lone public prosecutor flanked by three lawyers that represented Mariam Khatoon’s family.
 
As the judge pronounced his verdict there was stunned silence all around in the courtroom. In conversations with this reporter before the verdict was read the families as well as the Bajrang Dal supporters had appeared confident that most, if not all, the accused would be acquitted.
 
As the team of lawyers left the courtroom the convicts’ families and supporters crowded around individual lawyers trying to make sense of what had just happened.
 
Mariam Khatoon and her family were conspicuous by their absence from the courthouse, although about half a dozen of their well-wishers from her village were present. After the verdict was given, they quietly hurried out.
 
The defendants’ lawyer, M. B. Tripathi, told this reporter they will appeal the conviction at the Jharkhand High Court in Ranchi after the sentencing.
 

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