Outloud with Gurpreet Singh
Thu, November 27 2008
While the boy’s parents are very religious, the father of the girl is an atheist.
As a member of the Taraksheel Sabha, an Indian rationalist group, Sarabjeet Ukhla gave away his daughter to a religious family in an extraordinary way.
Though Ukhla is a born Sikh he does not believe in God. The boy’s parents are practising Sikhs. Since his organization promotes scientific thinking and educates people against superstition, Ukhla decided to organize a rationalist wedding ceremony in an Indian restaurant in Surrey on Nov. 8.
All the social rituals – including singing, dancing and blessings by the elders – were performed, but no religious ceremony was held at this wedding.
The nephew of a “martyr” of the ultra-leftist Naxalite movement in India and his wife blessed the newly wedded couple while the Taraksheel Sabha honoured them with a special plaque.
But doing this was not easy for Ukhla. He faced challenges from his own relatives and the family of the boy for organizing a “radical wedding.”
Ukhla and his family asked the media to hold back any information about the first wedding until the second ceremony was performed. They did not want to get into any controversy and decided to keep it a secret affair until then.
This suggests that the rationalists not only face challenges from society at large, but also from within their own families.
If their own families do not support their rationalist ideas, how can they expect the larger community to stand against the tide of traditionalism?
Ukhla’s efforts were consistent with the policies of the Taraksheel Sabha, whose members denounce ritualism in all forms. The rationalists are trying to bring about radical change in terms of social and religious rituals.
However good their intentions may be, if their own family members are not supporting them in their quest, one wonders if the larger society is yet prepared to take a hard look at age old traditions and values that fly in the face of modern secularism.
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