My name is Deepak. Mohammed Deepak. This should be the idea of the new India—where identities can coexist, not collide. Where being Hindu, Muslim, or both in name and spirit is not treated as a crime. But today’s reality tells a different story. In Nainital, a young woman recently stood up to protect minorities from Hindutva violence. Elsewhere, an elderly Muslim man was attacked over something as trivial as the word “Baba” on a textile board. When violence erupted, a gym owner stepped in to stop it. When asked his name, he said, Mohammed Deepak . That moment—an act of humanity—should have ended the violence. Instead, it worsened it. This is the tragedy of our times: truth invites punishment, compassion provokes anger, and standing against extremism is treated as betrayal. The culture being normalised by BJP and Hindutva fringe groups is not strength—it is fear dressed as power. It is unethical, shameful, violent, and deeply against the very values of Hinduism it claims to ...
Midnight Freedom and Morning Amnesia 🇮🇳 The plan was simple. Last night, over half-sleepy promises and leftover optimism, my roommate declared, “I’ll bring the items in the morning. We’ll cook together.” A democratic decision. Consensus achieved. Constitutionally binding. Morning arrived. Nothing happened. No vegetables. No groceries. No roommate urgency. Just silence, broken only by the distant sound of patriotic songs and my stomach filing a non-cooperation movement. It was Republic Day. And that’s when it hit me. Why Midnight? Why did India got its freedom at midnight? Not at sunrise, when the nation wakes up fresh and hopeful. Not mid-morning, after chai and civic sense kick in. But exactly at midnight , when half the country is asleep and the other half is wondering whether to stay awake or postpone enthusiasm till morning. Standing there, hungry, staring at an empty kitchen, I suddenly felt I understood the leaders of 1947. They knew us ! A Historical Pause (Because Sati...