NEW DELHI: A heartwarming conversation between a mother and her little daughter on ‘why Muslims wear skullcaps‘ is now going viral on social media platforms.
The post is originally written by Meghna Athwani, a fellow passenger who witnessed the conversation between mother and her little daughter is about the significance of the white cap that Muslims wear.
The mother-daughter duo was travelling in a carshare with the narrator and a Muslim passenger. Driven by curiosity, the child asked her mother in front of everyone – ‘Why is this uncle wearing a cap in the evening? There is no sun outside!”
The mom gave a beautiful explanation to the little child, “Have you not seen me covering my head with a dupatta , whenever i visit the temple ? Or when some elder guests come to our house? Or when i have to touch the feet of your grandparents? It is sign of respect or to pay our regards my child.”
Athwani post is shared little over 855 times but it went viral after a Facebook user Vinu Mathew posted the same content on his page on 17 July. It has already been shared nearly, 26,000 times with 57,000 users liking the post at the time of writing this piece.
Here is the text of the heartwarming story posted on Facebook:
Today, I was travelling in Delhi through Uber Pool,
I was the first rider, then a young lady with her little daughter joined us and in the end, after about a km, a Muslim guy sat in the front seat.
This guy was wearing their traditional white skull cap.
So this little girl got curious and asked her mother , “Why is this uncle wearing a cap in the evening? There is no sun outside!”
Till now, the radio was on, the Muslim guy was having a conversation with the Driver and I was drowned in the book.
But this question made me take my eyes off the book, the conversation between the Guy and the Driver stopped and the Driver lowered the volume of the music player.
I thought of explaining something to the kid, but, the mother was already ready with the answer.
She said, “Have you not seen me covering my head with a dupatta, whenever I visit the temple? Or when some elder guests come to our house? Or when I have to touch the feet of your grandparents? It is a sign of respect or to pay our regards, my child.”
The girl wasn’t quite convinced. She came up with another question, ” But who is this bhaiya paying respect to? There is no temple here. He is not touching the feet of anyone. Neither is anyone so big in age sitting in this car. So, who is he trying to give his regards to?”
Surprisingly, the mother was ready for this too.
She very calmly replied, ” His parents have taught him to respect everyone he meets and to pay them his regards. Just like I teach you to say Namaste to guests.”
No one was expecting this reply.
Not even the Muslim guy himself.
I was the first one to take the cab so we reached my destination first.
I got down, smiling, and thinking,
If this is what the common man thinks about people around him.
If this is what people are actually teaching their children,
If this is how today’s generation wants their children to learn.
Then our politicians are failing at dividing us. All the orthodox idiots are failing in disturbing the secular fabric of this nation.
Communal harmony can be better maintained if parents sow the seeds of love, mutual respect and tolerance.