Ideology of Peace
Foreword
~ 8 ~
such incidents in my life. I would like to recount
one of them to illustrate my point.
Once, in the days of my youth, my elder brother set
off along with his friends to go hunting. He insisted
that I should go along too, so I had no option but to
join him. We left in two cars, and after about two
hours’ drive, we passed through the outskirts of the
city and came to fields and orchards. Now my
brother and his friends started hunting birds
perched high up in the trees. Then they handed a
gun to me and asked me to fire at a bird (
kahlak
)
sitting at the top of a tree.
I did as they asked, took the gun, placed it against
my shoulder and aimed at the bird. But when the
bird came exactly within range, I had such a feeling
of unease that I could not bring myself to pull the
trigger. I handed the gun back to my brother. My
heart was so heavy that I immediately took leave of
my brothers and cousins, walked some distance on
foot and then took a bus back home to Allahabad.
I am a pacifist, but my pacifism is not of a strategic
nature. It is not a formula for justifying support in
one case or opposition in another. My pacifism
