That was not the occasion to thank my cat and dog. It was a chance to make a point to the watching world and I didn’t waste it.

I’m
an Indian first, before Muslim and Malayali. I grew up with Hindus and
Christians, went to school with them, I work with them. Religion never
came in the way and it doesn’t now.

You waded right into hardcore religion with that? When
it’s the thing in some urban circles to say, “Oh, I’m spiritual, not
religious,” and hide out in a feel-good fuzzy bandwidth of pretty
thoughts?

(Grins). My mother, Nabeeza Beevi, who died in early 2000, taught me that outlook. She was a devout Muslim who did namaaz
five times a day. Her Islam made her a woman with a great sense of
humanism and spirituality. She learnt her spirituality from religion.
During Ramzaan, we’d call the Hindus and Christians over for aapam and curry (and guess who did the grinding for the batter: me!). And for Easter, we’d be called for more aapam
and curry. We shared our lives. I sat up all night for Shivaratri, our
village, Vilakkupara, up in the timberlands of Kerala, has a temple with
Shiva  as the pratishtham (presiding deity). And all the
festivities during Makara Sankaranti (mid-January), I was part of all
that. Personally, I think it’s important to have a religious identity.
You can’t be afraid of religion. You have to deal with it, otherwise
look what happens.

How do you deal with it?

I did my first katha-prasangam (performance of
story-recitation) at our Shiva temple. My mother taught us the Quran (my
father was a Communist and his brother, PT Pookutty, was the first
Communist municipal councilor of Kayamkulam nearby). But my mother never
forced religion on us. I learnt that all South Indian Muslims were
Sunni in a very amusing way. Some years ago, a gentleman from Hyderabad
called my elder brother, Shamsuddin, with a marriage proposal for me. I
answered the phone and pretended to be my brother. When he asked if we
were Sunni or Shia, I didn’t know. I only knew the Quran. So I said,
“Shia!” in a wild guess. The man hung up at once. Only then did I
discover this.
– See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columnsothers/resul-on-religion/article1-408887.aspx#sthash.MYAmDUgO.dpuf

That was not the occasion to thank my cat and dog. It was a chance to make a point to the watching world and I didn’t waste it.

I’m
an Indian first, before Muslim and Malayali. I grew up with Hindus and
Christians, went to school with them, I work with them. Religion never
came in the way and it doesn’t now.

You waded right into hardcore religion with that? When
it’s the thing in some urban circles to say, “Oh, I’m spiritual, not
religious,” and hide out in a feel-good fuzzy bandwidth of pretty
thoughts?

(Grins). My mother, Nabeeza Beevi, who died in early 2000, taught me that outlook. She was a devout Muslim who did namaaz
five times a day. Her Islam made her a woman with a great sense of
humanism and spirituality. She learnt her spirituality from religion.
During Ramzaan, we’d call the Hindus and Christians over for aapam and curry (and guess who did the grinding for the batter: me!). And for Easter, we’d be called for more aapam
and curry. We shared our lives. I sat up all night for Shivaratri, our
village, Vilakkupara, up in the timberlands of Kerala, has a temple with
Shiva  as the pratishtham (presiding deity). And all the
festivities during Makara Sankaranti (mid-January), I was part of all
that. Personally, I think it’s important to have a religious identity.
You can’t be afraid of religion. You have to deal with it, otherwise
look what happens.

How do you deal with it?

I did my first katha-prasangam (performance of
story-recitation) at our Shiva temple. My mother taught us the Quran (my
father was a Communist and his brother, PT Pookutty, was the first
Communist municipal councilor of Kayamkulam nearby). But my mother never
forced religion on us. I learnt that all South Indian Muslims were
Sunni in a very amusing way. Some years ago, a gentleman from Hyderabad
called my elder brother, Shamsuddin, with a marriage proposal for me. I
answered the phone and pretended to be my brother. When he asked if we
were Sunni or Shia, I didn’t know. I only knew the Quran. So I said,
“Shia!” in a wild guess. The man hung up at once. Only then did I
discover this.
– See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/columnsothers/resul-on-religion/article1-408887.aspx#sthash.MYAmDUgO.dpuf

First Men in India