Praying on the road...how is one to react?

Americans do think like Indians. Evil grin. Kidding. Hope your husband is feeling better.

@vandana7 He is doing better. Now he just needs to regain his strength so he can sit and stand without assistance. He also needs to gain strength in his hands.

Agreed. And not in places meant for public. They have their religious temples, mosques, churches, whatever. But roads and other public places are not for such activities.

@kaylachan How true. But Hindus tend to move in throngs on roads slowing the traffic, while Muslims tend to spread a cloth in specific direction and offer prayer at different hours each day in specific manner. How they pray is not objectionable per se. Where they pray is.

@vandana7 That can be said for anywhere really. Here I wish we had that problem. Instead we have trigger happy people who shoot others just because.

@vandana7 Prayer in and of itself is subjective. There's no "right way" to do it. That's why I said what I said. For example, if someone lets go of the wheel to cross their hands over their chest to pray, that's dangerous. Or, if they stop in the middle of the road to perform a physical action. Or, hell even closing their eyes while behind the wheel. That's stupid. It's dangerous. But, taking a deep breath and mentally reciting a prayer, or thinking isn't dangerous and is also praying. It's all about how it's done. Religion is one of those things that's subjective and indivualized.

The person was not moving. The move was to provoke. What was the traffic policeman to do? If he lets the man to continue such a thing, it will become a regular nuisance and will be copied on other roads too. People from other religion will also resort to such a thing (as if they are not already).

@vandana7 Taze him? Here they will usually try tazer first, then shoot.

@RebeccasFarm We are not that rich a nation to provide tazers to policemen. LOL

What do you say about 1. Vinayak Chavithi and visarjan procession 2. Janmashtami processions 3. Durga pooja processions 4. Marriage processions 5. Ramleela processions 6. Processions with miniatures of the deities including Sai Baba in the evenings. Anything done on roads other than traveling is wrong. I am myself feeling sorry for the policeman. It is a conflicting situation. You stop a person from one religion it creates conflict.... it is not about majority. It is about not using the covered western commode as table to have dinner.

@Daljinder I beg to differ slightly. We build houses with kitchen and washrooms. Why would you not pee and poop in kitchen or cook in the washroom? Each room has a specific function. It is meant for that purpose. Like that roads are for commuting. Nothing else. For religious celebrations there are function halls, and temples and other places of worship. Authorities should not be used for such purposes. Including the political big wig visits. Such things bring down the efficiency of the system. People can be convinced. With growing population, there will be more celebrations. What used to be one marriage per month may become one marriage per week or per day. How is that acceptable? So ... such things should be discussed on tvs extensively. People can be made to understand that today it is somebody else that met with an accident or couldn't reach the hospital in time, tomorrow it will be they or their loved ones. We are not a country that suffered excessive brain drain. So majority will understand. If necessary, we can have a referendum like the UK referendum.

@vandana7 With the amount of population we have, any kind of procession will cause trouble to commuters. But we are also a country where we celebrate so many festivals as you mentioned above. I will also add Muharram and Gurpurab to the list. These are not daily things and can be managed by coordinating with authorities to manage crowds and congestion. It is impossible to stop people from celebrating their festivals on roads unless you want unrest and conflicts. It can be done gradually, however. It must be done to cope with the growing population. We can start by banning the pandal system on the roads. Living in Bengaluru, any of these processions is a nightmare because even without these processions, the traffic here is horrendous. Lastly, this specific situation mentions daily prayers which are to be done five times a day. This is a daily thing and hence, it is under scrutiny. It is not about a particular community. Anyone of any religion or faith who thinks it is their right to pray, they are right. But if they think it is acceptable to abuse that right by praying on roads then they are wrong and deserve just action.

Once praying is allowed on road, others will do elsewhere, and this will become a regular thing. Don't people have places to pray? It is not as if they were doing such a thing before. So why now?

@vandana7 it is absurd to pray on the road while driving. People can pull over in designated places and pray, that would be safe for everyone. What if your airplane pilot starts praying during flight?

@andreea_v LOL... nice question...he doesn't even get a chance to pee without getting another person in place...you are trying to make him pray. LOL

People believe freedom is when they can do what they want to do, irrespective of what another person feels. That is anarchy. Then if one does it, there is retaliation.

I don't say we Hindus are saints either. We have those processions of Durga Puja, Vinayaka, Janmashtami. Even Holi. All should be banned on roads.

The guy must have resisted the order of the policeman, which led to the policeman beating him and kicking him. Nobody starts beating without exchange of words. That said, Hindus too disturb traffic. So the courts are not gonna take the side of the policeman and treat it as religious intolerance. Let us consider the second scenario where the policeman tells the guy to worship elsewhere, and the guy refuses, so the policeman starts calling superiors, who say let law take its course, book him. That becomes a tongue in cheek type of attitude by Muslims, who will do it again and at multiple places on different roads. What are we looking at? Provocation? Or retaliation at Hindus who have been resorting to breaking down mosques to build temples? It is unfortunate that the country is so obsessed with religion.

It is a complex situation Judy. If one objects, it is deemed as religious intolerance, and if one does not, it becomes a traffic issue, apart from a precedent for similar act more often or on other roads as well. Places of worship are there for a reason. In this case, it is to provoke because Hindus have been resorting to tearing down mosques to build temples.

I agree. If we don't pray in restroom, we should not pray on streets. Some places are simply not right places for worship.