How I Missed Obama's Speech

I have always been a bit sceptical about the existence of the "Arabstreet" that some of my colleagues keep talking about. But I can tell you forcertain that the "Indian street" doesn't exist. This country is just toobig, and too diverse, to sum up as having a single opinion. Yesterday, I wentlooking for it anyway. My task: Find a bunch of typical Indian Muslims with whomI could watch Obama's historic speech.

My translator, Salman, an Indian Muslim himself, wasn't too optimistic. "Tobe honest," he said, "we can find some cafe or something and round up somepeople, but we're not just going to find somebody who is watching it."

Because of the recent election and the furious pace with which the newgovernment is unveiling big-ticket policies – including a speech by the Indianpresident to reveal Manmohan Singh's 100-day agenda today – Obama'ssuperspeech kinda slipped under the radar. There were no big previews, just someagency copy on the international pages, buried deep in the newspaper.

We decided our best chance was on the campus of Jamia Millia IslamicUniversity, a school that, as its name suggests, has a good number of Muslimscholars, but is also known for its cutting edge film and multimedia department.Outside the Islamic Studies department, we spoke with 25-year-old MuhammadYafiruddin, a bearded MA student dressed in a traditional salwar kameez andwearing a skull cap.

"Are you planning to watch Obama's speech to the Muslim world?" I askedhim.

"No," he said. "I'm not interested in what he has to say. He's justanother oil and war hungry American. He's only doing this to keep America'sinterests safe. His Muslim identity is only a disguise."

"As an Indian Muslim, do you think that this speech is addressed to you?"I asked

"His speech is directed at the heads of state and bureaucrats in theaudience; it's not meant for common Muslims on the street like me, nor are weinterested. The only difference between Obama and Bush is that Obama has a cleanpast and Muslim ancestry. One I hate, and the other I'm indifferent to."

It sounds pretty bad when I write it down like that, but it wasn't theravings of a fanatic. More like the typical political fire you'd get from apolitically active college student anywhere. Muhammad was a friendly guy, andhappy to talk with me. He just wasn't going to watch Obama's speech – nomatter how we tempted him with getting his name on the Internet.

He did, however, know where we could find a cafe with a TV where a lot of Muslims hang around. "La Jawab Coffee House," he said. It turned out theplace was in the neighbourhood infamous for last year's so-called "Batla houseencounter," in which several young Muslim men, suspected of being terrorists,were gunned down by the police. The community has called for an independentprobe into the incident.

Unfortunately, though, it hasn't turned La Jawab Coffee House into a hotbedof political discourse. When my buddy Salman and I got there, a Hindi filmcalled Gayab had just started on TV, and nobody wanted to miss it towatch Obama make history. 27-year-old Rizwan had dibs on the TV, and he refusedto back down. The movie is a comedy about a nerd who turns invisible so he canget a girl, fails to make her love him, and becomes a superhero instead. Sonaturally I understood where they were coming from. But this was yet anothertime I wished I had a TV camera—even a fake one. People will do whatever youwant if you tell them they're going to be on TV. They'd have switched over toObama in an instant.

As it was, by the time Salman finished his pitch, Obama's speech was halfover, and we'd come up empty.

Instead, I had to walk across the road to the Madrassa, where I met MaulanaMohinuddin Zulfi, the imam and speaker of the mosque. He was in charge of about50 eight and nine year old kids who were apparently learning to shout at the topof their lungs, so he wasn't planning to watch Obama's speech either. But I wassomewhat cheered that he planned to watch the highlights later. I'm a highlightsguy, too, I thought. What is this nonsense about a clash of civilizations? So weasked him what he thought.

"Bush was a devil, but Obama is the exact opposite—as of now," he said."Now we must wait and see what he does. George Bush's bad deeds have given abad name to America, and that's why a lot of Muslims hate America."

"Well, I can see you're busy now, but it sounds like you're interested inhearing what Obama has to say, right?"

"I'm looking forward to it. I will read every detail of what Obama says inthe newspapers. I hope he speaks well. He is a man of good intentions, and hehas a good chance of succeeding in bridging the gaps caused by hatred by tellingthe world that America is not essentially anti-Islam."

"What about American culture? Are you afraid that your way of life is underattack by Western influences like MTV?"

"There's no fear," the imam said. "But we feel a certain disgust aboutthese things. It would be better if MTV were closed down, but it caters to acertain audience. So we can just tell our people not to follow that culture."

Salman and I slunk out of the Madrassa with the stink of failure surroundingus. Not only had we not been able to find any Muslims glued to theirtelevisions—well, except the guys watching Gayab (the invisiblesuperhero). But also we had missed Obama's speech ourselves.

From the highlights, though (yep, I watched 'em), it appears that Obama may,indeed, have gone a good distance to satisfy exactly the demands of India'spolitically aware Muslim community. At Jamia, I'd asked Yafiruddin to tell mewhat he wished Obama would say in his speech—even if he wasn't going to watchit. "The first thing Obama should do is apologize for what has happened inIraq and Afghanistan," he said. Another MA student, 25-year-old Rashid Aziz,said, "The first thing he should do is stop the settlements and thedestruction of Palestine—especially the use of white phosphorus."

You guys all caught that live while I was arguing about Hindi movies. But Ibelieve he came pretty close to doing both.

Courtesy globalpost