This obnoxious article comes in the fine Outlookian tradition of Hindu-baiting. One woman’s failure to find accommodation becomes reason enough to brand an entire housing colony as biased and bigoted. In not so many words–she’s not as foul-mouthed as I am, anyway–but what she conveys is: all Vaishno Devi worshippers are intolerant of Christian ladies.
Then we saw a gorgeous house in O Block. “Are you Christian?” the landlady asked, seeing my card. “Yes, you could say that.” “Ek to aap aurat hai aur woh bhi Christian. You must be eating a lot of meat.” Yes, I said, I eat all kinds of meat. “How often do you eat meat?” “As often as I can.” She tells my broker: out on three counts—woman, Christian, journalist.
I finally spoke to 17 brokers, all with bhajans as ringtones. Brokers in Jangpura largely worship Mata Vaishno Devi. Having trawled through the lot in this colony populated by people scared of every kind of Other, I now know the profiles that could make Jangpura the place for you: A) Non-Indian, yaani ki white. B) If Indian, family man with only male issues, non-smoking, non-drinking, vegetarian devotee of Vaishno Devi, working for non-media industry blue-chip MNC.
Funny how the magazine doesn’t mention–not even by way of a news report, the fact that in a Muslim-dominated area, a non-Muslim cannot live in peace. I’ve experienced this in my ancestral home, which was the only Hindu house in a Muslim-majority locality. After about 17 years, we finally sold it to… guess who? We’d had enough of the daily stone-throwing and garden destruction on our property.
These apart, it is the landlord’s right to refuse to rent/lease for whatever reason. In the same way as rights of admission reserved.
I understand the frustration of not finding a house after endless searching. You will blame the whole world for being unfair, but that’s only human. But repeatedly quoting Vaishno Devi-worship for your failure to find a house is ridiculous, to put it mildly.
I can turn around and ask you to step down from that choosy pedestal–after all, a person who can splurge 30K on rent can find a place in the poshest South Delhi locality.
And the geniuses at Loutlook found this piece of ire-venting publish-worthy.
Jai Maa Vaishno Devi!
Tags: Media Watch, Pseudo Secularism Hall of Shame, Society & Culture
On 03.22.07 praveen says:
After reading the outlook article, it seems to me that the house owners are concerned about letting out to non-vegetarians. Most non-veggies cannot understand how offensive even the smell of meat (especially fish) can be to veggies. If you are christian, it is most likely that you are a non-veggie. Hence it is natural that they want to know if you are christian. And they have every right to refuse you on the basis of non-vegetarianism. Then, asking if you work for MNC is just pure economics. I too don’t see the point of this article. Maybe there is none intended.