[Assam] An evening in Hyde Park

[Ram Sarangapani]

That was very interesting.

But things like this also happens in Calcutta city buses and trams. I have
had the experience of listening in to heated political discussions and
football (Mohun Bagan & Mohmmedan Sporting, I think). They are really fun to
watch and listen, but I hear dangerous to take part.

Don't know if they still do this


On 6/20/06, Rajib Das <rajibdas at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> In the middle of a tiring business trip around the
> world I found myself in London - trying to be a
> tourist on a very hot Sunday a couple of weeks back.
> The very unimaginative stories around some really
> great monuments added to the ennui.
>
> I landed up around the Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park
> and was planning to take the train from around there
> to my hotel. Which is when I saw the crowds milling
> around folks doing their speeches.
>
> It was a most enthralling experience. I found myself
> in the middle of a debate between a full bearded
> mullah (perhaps of Arab descent) with a cockney accent
> and a white punk with spiked hair about creationism
> and evolution. Into that mix came a wide variety of
> people across the length of 2 hours I was there. There
> were many African Muslims and Pakistanis (perhaps a
> few Bangladeshis too) looking on with admiration at
> the mullah who was speaking perfect English and
> holding his ground. There was a black Brit - perhaps
> an African - that shouted profanities at the mullah.
> There was this very quiet white liberal woman who was
> politically very correct and tried reasoning with the
> Mullah that perhaps evolution can be a part of God's
> design.
>
> And while the mullah (as also the punk) quoted
> philosophers and scientists about intricacies of the
> debate, I figured the Mullah's logic was simple - that
> before there was any living thing, there must have
> been something that must independently and absolutely
> exist. Ipso facto there has to be a God and but one
> absolute God and therefore there has to be just one
> word (or book) from
> this one God. Pretty simplistic argument. The guy was
> aggressive, didn't listen to any other point of view
> and used a condescending tone when replying to someone
> else. My observation - no wonder the human bombers on
> the West are coming from the West itself.
>
> Taking courage from this Mullah, a Pakistani middle
> aged man started talking about many Hindus having
> converted to Islam till I reminded him how Spain
> converted back from Islam to Christianity.
>
> When I broke away from this group, I found quite a few
> people accosting a Jewish American and telling him how
> bad George Bush is and why he is an Israeli and not an
> American. All along this somewhat crazy Indian (not me
> :-)) was trying to tell him how he knew more about
> America than the American - never mind the fact that
> he had never lived in America for a long period. There
> were other speeches about crazy topics and using
> language that cannot be mentioned here.
>
> As I wound my way back around 10 when the sun was
> setting, I was exihilarated and energized by the
> experience.
>
> Is there any other physical place in the world that
> this kind of thing happens?
>
>
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