Will You Marry With Gottra?

Would you yourself marry within the same gotra? Asked Naveen Jindal, the two times Congress MP and icon of young India. It was an interview with TOI where the tables had suddenly been turned. "Yes", said the perplexed reporter. Jindal persisted, "will your parents also not haave any problem"?

When he received "no" for an answer, Jindal insisted that the reporter call up her mother. "Let me speak to your mom and ask her", he said.

"Do you rally want to speak to her"? He answered in the affirmative. "You call her now and let me hear what she has to say", said the 40 years old tycoon and graduate of University of Texas Business School.

The reporter telephoned her parent and asked if she would have a problem if she wanted to marry a boy of the same gottra. Jindal asked for the speaker phone to be switched on and heard the parent reply "NO", even as she followed it up with the suspicious question, "but why do you ask"?

Eventually, the MP took the correspondent's mobile and spoke to her mother to check for himself. When the older lady took Jindal to task for promoting regressive castes views, he tried to defend himself: "No, I am not encouraging any thing (bad)", even as he sought her opinion on what was "the way around" if a same gotra marriage had to be allowed in a north Indian Hindu family.

Universal

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Bible)

May we unite in our mind, unite in our purposes, and not fight against the divine spirit within us. (Atherva Veda)

Set your faces towards unity, and let the radiance of its light shine upon you. Gather ye together, and for the sake of God resolve to among you. (Baha'u'llah)

When we really begin to live in the world, then we understand what is meant by brotherhood or mankind, and not before. (Swami Vivekananda)

True happiness comes from a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one other and the planet we share. (Dalai Lama)