Let us join our hands
We'll sing and pray
To the one Almighty God
In our own sweet way

Let us light a lamp
Of friendship and joy
We'll live in peace
As time goes by

Let us not run away
Where the roads split in two
For a lone child lost
Let the helping hand be you

Let us sing and dance
On a tune straight from the heart
Hand in hand we dance
Never to go apart

Let us ponder over
The ways in which we go
Like rivers of different regions
In the sea they flow

So let us join our hands
In memories of today
And walk on the path of love
That leads us to His way



The Story Behind

I would like to tell a short story. This poem is inspired from this fictitous and beautiful story. Here it goes:

In a small village, two cotton farmers decided to finally sell their cotton yield to the nearest industry a few miles away in the city. So they decided to plan their journey to the city. They decided to go together. But this posed a problem. They had opted for different ways to go to the city. They argued with each other. Each of them felt that he was right. But the problem could not be resolved.

So they decided to take the advice of an old and experienced farmer. They placed their problem in front of him. The first farmer said, "I am going to take the path running parallel to the fields. It takes a longer time to reach the city but it is even and safe from robbers. I feel safe. I would get the profits I deserve. Its the best path to reach the city". The second farmer said, "I beg to differ. I want considerable profits. I am going to take the road through the forest. Its risky but in life, no pain and no gain. I am ready for the occasion. I will reach their before. I can't assure safety but I can assure greater profits. Can my fellow friend assure me of that?"

This was followed by a strange silence in the room. No one said anything. The old man patiently listened to the two farmers and smiled. The two farmers looked even more perplexed. Seeing the look on their faces the old man finally replied, "My friends, it doesnot matter what road you choose to reach the industry. The people at the industry won't ask you that. They are only interested in the quality of the cotton".

That ends my story.

Moral: The two farmers were the representatives of two different religions: Hinduism and Islam. The different ways they were talking about were actually their religions. The cotton symbolized what the religions preached. The old farmer was God.

Because I am a firm believer of secularism, I strongly believe that one must respect every religion and the people belonging to that religion. India has proved that many religions can reside harmoniously if all of us make a conscious effort towards it. So I feel sorry for people who are born with a fanatic outlook towards their religion. People who claim to be fanatics and indulge in violence, terrorism and killing are infact the biggest violators of their religion. They don't seem to empathise with the others. This can result in riots and killings. I feel that the greatest religion in the world is humanity and the universally spoken language is love. That's because it is always implied and grasped naturally. You don't need to inculcate values and principles like other religions. If you befriend or love a person irrespective of his religion, I firmly believe that he'll respond to it with equal amount of affection if not more. That would bring only peace.

The problem is people are prejudiced about a religion and they judge a person by his religion and not by the person that he really is. They don't take into account the fact that family values play an all important role in shaping a personality and not just the religion.

I purposely chose Hinduism and Islam in the story as I feel if we join hands and vow never to fight again, we can truly form an inimitable force. All religions of the world basically preach only love, humanitarian values and the truth that we are only a part of God's creation and our life's aim is to be one with God.

Only by trodding on this path by uniting forces, we can reach and truly grasp the meaning of religion and God. This in turn will make the world a better place to live in.