[Assam] An evening in Hyde Park

[Rajib Das]

But "Coffee House'r Adda or Rocke Boshe Adda" are 2
(or more) Bongs talking about communism and football
:-) 

--- Ram Sarangapani <assamrs at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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> 


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