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n By Richard M. Waugaman, MD on them was transparently dishonest,
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Akbar Ahmed’s Play “Gandhi and Jinnah scapegoating them for the violent leg-
Georgetown University acy of imperial Britain’s cynical divide
School of Medicine Return Home” at Cosmos Club and conquer strategy.
As a talented playwright, Ahmed
n November 11, a shortened
version of Ambassador Ak-
Obar Ahmed’s play, “Gandhi
and Jinnah Return Home”, was per-
formed in a read-
ers’ theater format at
the Cosmos Club in
Washington, DC.
This is the third
time we have per-
formed one of
Ahmed’s splendid plays. Directed by
the multi-talented emergency phy-
sician-attorney-theater professional
Hugh Hill, our cast was enthusiastic
about presenting the play to our au-
dience of Club members and guests.
Hugh commented that the events of
October 7 made the play all the more A full house watches the play Akbar Ahmed, Zeenat Ahmed and Hugh Hill, Director of the play
topical, but “it is in keeping with the
Ambassador’s lifelong efforts to help the BBC, Akbar Ahmed has devoted with that character. In live theater, we dim recollections from a course I once uses subtle humor to change the au-
see the multiple facets of Islam, and decades to his scholarly efforts to edu- always feel closer to the dramatic char- took in British Colonial History. West- dience’s head and heart. For example,
in this play, Hinduism. He shows with ern media hasn’t done much to keep we hear Jinnah complain to his sis-
clarity that neither is monolithic, but his memory alive. So, I didn’t really ter about Hindu sexism, followed by
through profound misunderstandings, have any view of Jinnah. When Hugh Gandhi complaining to his wife about
each has adherents who are capable of cast me in the part, I did some read- Muslim sexism. Churchill then com-
terrible things”—as happened after the ing, and managed to find a few news- plained to his wife about the sexism of
1947 Partition. reel clips of Jinnah delivering speeches. their “colonial subjects.” The audience
The play is especially timely, with re- After playing his character, I’ve gained laughed appreciatively about his clue-
ligious and ethnic conflicts threatening a much deeper insight into some of the lessness about the clever Clementine
to spin out of control on a global scale. complexities of his situation and his re- then offered to order tea for her hus-
Terror Management Theory convinc- sponses to the series of challenges and band. Westerners are gently forced to
ingly teaches us that, when afraid for Akbar Ahmed with Farhan Bhaba Akbar Ahmed with Sri Mirajkar play- disappointments he confronted while confront our maladaptive habit of pro-
our lives, we are at risk of abandoning playing Mr Jinnah ing Mr Gandhi - a Manjula Kumar trying to keep alive the ideal of a unit- jecting onto people who are different
democracy and becoming more tribal, production ed, multi-cultural India. In summary, from us our own prejudices, including
as we long for authoritarian leaders cate non-Muslims about the exemplary I’d say I have come to view him as the our own misogyny.
who offer the cynical false promise of history and ideals of that religion. acters. We may prefer those who most last/best hope for a Muslim leader on Although Westerners remember
protecting us against those who are dif- Author of some two dozen books and closely articulate our own feelings. the subcontinent who could chart a Churchill’s heroic leadership during
ferent from us. What actually protects director of five films, Akbar has also Churchill, perhaps, for Westerners. But path towards a peaceful societal evolu- World War II, we see a deeply flawed
us is greater understanding and toler- turned to writing plays, which are es- we then see each character through the tion.” man in Churchill’s angry denial of his
ance of members of other “tribes.” pecially suited to reaching the hearts eyes of others on the stage. Churchill, Most surprisingly for a Western blatant racism. Ahmed is using theater
We have lost ground since “xenia” and minds of audiences through a in particular, doesn’t fare well in that audience, we learned from the play exactly as Shakespeare described it—
was one of the most important social collective experience that connects us process. Jinnah and Gandhi begin by some astonishing facts about pre-colo- holding a mirror up to the audience, so
values in ancient Greece, where strang- with the millennia before written lan- rehashing their old disagreements and nial India. Few of us realized, for exam- we can see ourselves more objectively,
ers were welcomed, and a lifelong bond guage, when poems and epics were recriminations. But they, too, develop ple, that it once boasted a GDP that was warts and all.
was formed between host and guest. sung or recited to audiences by bards. more and more empathy for each oth- 40% of global GDP. Or that centuries Ahmed depicts a moving recon-
Shamefully, too many of us non- In “Gandhi and Jinnah Return er. And we learn each has long respect- of Mughal rule were characterized by ciliation between the title characters
Muslims equate Islam with terrorists. Home,” the audience has the opportu- ed the other’s faith tradition. exemplary interfaith respect and toler- by the play’s end. We only regret that it
They tragically get far more news cov- nity to listen to and develop empathy Larry Franks, after performing the ance. Churchill’s character expressed didn’t take place during their lifetimes.
erage than the vast majority of moder- for a range of major and minor char- role of Jinnah, said, “Despite a college truly shameful contempt for both In- But, like Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, it
ate Muslims. Called “the world’s lead- acters. In film, close-ups of a character and post-graduate education, I was dians and Pakistanis, but his efforts to should motivate us to be agents of rec-
ing scholar on contemporary Islam” by encourage viewers to identify more barely aware of Jinnah except for some blame the bloodshed of the Partition onciliation whenever we can.

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