Nowadays reading newspaper is like going through hell literally, what with the spreads of terror,bloodshed and mayhem!!! The last page of a well known city newspaper carries a section wherein the creativity of children aged between 6-10 years is published. I love that section with kids expressing their creativity in a cute way! However the day after the blasts that shook Mumbai (Did it???), the same section brought a chill to my spine... a young girl, all of 7 years drew a picture of a terrorist with a gun at the backdrop of a building.
Now you may ask why would this innocent act bring me a sense of fear...the answer is that the terrorist whom the girl drew had a beard and a skull cap. Yes! She had drew a terrorist who was a Muslim! Now I really don't understand whose fault it was. Was it the newspaper's fault that they let this controversial picture get published without even giving a second thought about what would be the reader's reactions on seeing the published picture! Or was it with the world and their perceptions that kids are being loaded with?
For me this picture was a dangerous premonition. Imagine in a secular country of ours, kids start looking at the muslim community as some sort of danger! This is alarming in a country which has always prided itself in her secular fabric. Its high time the media stops abusing the rights given to them and act responsibly. Parental guidance is also very important so as to stop putting wrong notions about communities in their impressionable minds.
The people who claim to kill other innocent people in the name of Islam may be TERRORISTS but they don't particularly belong to any religion. A lot has been written and spoken about ISLAMIC TERRORISM, but the fact remains that interpretation of terrorism begins with Islam and Muslims, which is UNFAIR! I don't know what is the agenda of these so-called terrorists, whether it is political or regional or based on fanaticism towards religion , I really don't know but what I know is if this is what our kids are exposed to, then very soon every Muslim in this country could be branded a terrorist!
I am not a child psychologist to say teach your kid this or don't teach your kids that, but human enough to say that if your kids draw a bearded terrorist(with a skull cap) then there is something definitely wrong somewhere! I just pray Muslims don't have to say My name is Khan, I sport a beard and I am definitely not a terrorist!!!
