Just as one cannot change his father or mother, he cannot change his god too

It has nothing to do with any love jihad or such controversial things.

It is all about a conversation between me and my father more than  half a century ago..

My father is gone for the past forty  years...

So the discussion has no contemporary value..

However  it has a deep value for me eternally.

My father, though a Brahmin, was brought up in Tirur.. Thrikkandiyur to be exact, an area in Malappuram district where muslims are the predominant community..

He worked in the state government local body set up.. as a bill collector.. His job carried him almost all around the present Malappuram District.. collecting small profession tax dues and licence fee from small traders and merchants..

Yes, I am sure he never faced any resistance from any Muslim..

Even now the average Muslim of Malappuram really never thinks on Religious lines in the social activities..

The average muslim and Hindu are just very close friends, and they are conscious of the line which can hurt and they will never touch or transgress that line..

I too grew up among muslims in Parappanangadi till I was ten years old.. that too was a predominantly Muslim area..

And I have never felt a Muslim as a different person just because of religion..

At worst the dividing line would be about eating non vegetarian food..

But they have always respected my strict vegetarianism..

I remember one Baig Sir, a very senior IRS officer whom I was assisting as an inspector of Incometax at Chennai decades ago.. who would bring me dosais prepared at his house, while we were on field work and I was just a young bachelor.. He would always assure me that it has been ensured that no non-vegetarian element or even utensils have been used in the preparation of those dosas..I have eaten them a lot of days.. it was welcome because my life was otherwise doomed for hotel food or starvation..

Therefore  I have only sweet memories about my Muslim friends and colleagues

Let me come to what my father was discussing.. all that happened fifty years ago.

My father had a very close friend from the Nambudiri clan. A boyhood friend..

The thriumeni was quite religious.. But maybe romantic ideas stuck him.. or cupid stuck him.. He got attracted to a muslim girl and they had a sort of secret affair.. The secret did not survie long and the lover was caugh red handed..

Of course, it is easy for the Nambudiri clan to solve the issue. They simply excommunicated the errant member..

The muslims got him converted to Islam and after that he was happily married too..

In this new avatar he had the name Ali.. He shaved off his tuft and sported the beard and all..

One day my father says, he met the friend in front of a krishna temple in their place..

Though now Muslim, he was thirumeni.. or ivitunnu..ഇവിടുന്ന് for my father.. childhood habits do not leave

My father asks him "ividunne, when you come before the temple how do you feel? Can you really ignore the presence and walk away..?"

Ali replies..

"വയ്യ ഗണപതി..(that was my fathers name), ന്‍റെ തേവരെ കാണുമ്പോള്‍ തൊഴാതിരിക്കാന്‍ വയ്യ.. ഉള്ളില്‍ നിറച്ചു പറയും.. ന്റെ തേവരെ ഇങ്ങനെ ആയിപ്പോയല്ലോ എന്ന്.."

meaning...

I cannot, my friend ganapathi, when I see my thevar (the god inside the temple0 I cannot help paying respects to him at least in the mind.. With a full heart, i would say, my God, you have created this situation..

I am not trying to state that a god of one religion is superior to another.. I am one who would like to believe that God has no religion, or God is above all religions..

I just realised, that one cannot change his mental image of his own god.. just by changing religion..

Just as one cannot change his father or mother, he cannot change his god too.. That is what I believe