h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear friend,

You have written this in the most objedtive fashion. Thank you. I was reading a biography of Jawahalal Nehru at the time, I had no idea of the history of India and Pakistan and had long been an admirer of Gandhi who had visited South africa in the early twenties,I wonder where I shall find the other four sections of your history??

Will the fighting ever cease.? Is it basically a religious problem, Muslim versus Hindu? Are the Pakistau nation so different from the Indian nation?

I wish I could understand the problems. !

With kind regards

alsoRan80

Hi alsoRan80.

I apologise for not replying any earlier to you.

Thank you very much for your nice and much appreciated remarks.

I will try and answer your questions as much as I can.

Both Hindus and Muslims, prior to the partition had lived in peace - almost like side by side and as neighbours as well. Indeed if you go to India today, there are many Muslims who are married to a Hindu and vice - versa and they respect each others religion. There are also some Bollywood actors who are married to a Muslim and also vice - versa. Example Hrithik Roshan has a Muslim wife and Shahrukh Khan has a Hindu wife. More recently I came across some information that Mohamed Ali Jinnah's parents were originally a Gujarati (Hindu) family but because they took up fishing as a business, many considered them as unacceptable and were therefore asked to leave the community and when the family made enough money, they requested the community elders to accept them back but were denied and as a result, they converted to islam. I was not able to get confirmation on this and therefore I am not sure whether this is true or not. But one thing was for sure, Mohamed Ali Jinnah was born in the Indian state of Gujarat, possibly in the city Porbandar.

Regarding the other four sections, the link is:http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A44326730
and if you see at the top, it will have Parts two, three, four and five and all you need to do is to click on the relevant parts and it will just take you there. Let me know if you have any problems on going onto those.

Regarding the fighting! I don't know whether this will ever cease but I am not for it as it brings nothing but destruction and ruins peoples' lives and their living. At the moment, I know that there's a lot of tension between India and Pakistan due to the attacks that took place in Mumbai in 26th November 2008.

Lastly regarding Mahatma Gandhi, he was in South Africa in the late 1800's as a lawyer and I have also written about him on this site. The link is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A41358828

Thsi article describes his life and the events that took place at the time as well as his time in South Africa. I hope you like it and i hope that I have been able to answer some of your questions. Let me know if there's anything else that you would like to ask.

I am currently researching on some other topics as well and when they are ready, I will naturally be adding them on this site.

Thanks,

kitrapsjasani.