Om.

Sougata has written an outstanding op piece on the Caricature issue and addresses some fundamental perceptions about muslim-ness and its bias..

Just as I was about to highlight what an equivalent 'Hindu' response might have been to a similar situation, I came across this article:

Hindu gods insulted, leaders up in arms
February 14, 2006 18:51 IST

Hindu community leaders in Europe are up in arms against the display of goddess Durga's poster promoting a whisky brand and use of Lord Ram's image on a tissue paper.

It is time Hindus around the world and the Indian government stood up and be counted, Bimal Krishna Das, general secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temples, representing 90 per cent of the United Kingdom's 140 Hindu temples, said.

He said a disco bar in Greece has invited the wrath of Hindus for displaying a poster of goddess Durga promoting a whisky brand. "Large posters at the Balon Oriental Disco Bar in Athens depict the goddess carrying bottles of Southern Comfort whisky. The Indian community in Athens has been trying for the last three months to have the posters removed but in vain," said Paramjit Singh, originally from Jalandhar, now settled in Greece.

Letters have been sent to the American manufacturer of the whisky to withdraw the poster, he said. Also, despite protests, tissues bearing Lord Ram's image still remain in circulation for over a year because their German manufacturer refused to cease production, Das said.

There are two interesting aspects to this article here.. One, the description 'up in arms' has been used very carelessly. According to the article, the Hindus who were 'up in arms' basically sent letters of indignation to the American Manufacturer. Nice piece of journalism - 'while we are at it, might as well cash in on the caricature issue.' Needless to add, there is no description of any kind of violence. Clearly a very loaded headline. Second, and the more pertinent, the reaction of the Hindu to such situations and how it is so different from the classic muslim reaction.

I'd like to take a similar analogy to Sougata. Let's say right next to Al's cubicle, there worked a simple, mild-mannered guy, by the name, er.. Om Eswaraya Namahah (sorry for the lack of imagination). Let's call him Om. Om is typically a non-confrontationalist. He believes that what you get today is a result of what he did in a previous life. Ofcourse, he has no way to prove it, but suffice it to say that he thinks that if everyone dumps work on him, it is because he possibly dumped work on the very same people in another lifetime. He is scared to push back, otherwise, by some twist in the karmic process, he will get pushed back in another life.. He believes that you have to fight for what is right, but is typically consfused about what that 'right' is.

Time goes on and several of his colleagues notice funny looking images of typically human looking creatures but with enormous paraphernalia. It's kinda scary look. They think, "its kinda scary looking but this eastern imagery looks kinda cool in a haloween kinda way.." Mr. Jeez rist, who also moonlights as an ad agency executive looks at a particular image and says, "hey.. with all these hands, imagine what a great ad it would be if each of these hands could hold a bottle of alcohol.. and oh look at that guy with the head of an elephant.. Sweet!" So Jeez scans an image when Om is using the men's room and then fiddles with this photoshop to put something together, and sticks it on the refrigerator door..

When Om sees it, he is obviously indignated, and decides that he is going to write a serious note of objection to the company. But he also figures that Karma will get them and goes about minding his own business. He also proceeds to his computer and initiates a bulletin board discussion and all his Hindu friends talk about how shallow and ignorant everyone else seem to be.

That about sums up a Hindu reaction to anything that may border on blasphemy. So, while Al is busy making life unplesant because of the bright red banner and the mooh daddy reference, Om is busy writing a letter to HR. Opposite spectrums if you ask me..

Would the world at large fool around with Hindu sensitivities if the Hindu community reacted to things the way the Muslim community does? Bet you that 'they' would be afraid.. very afraid to fool around with Muslim sensitivities.. the caricature issue being a glaring example. And why is that? Think Jihad, Fatwa and infidel..