The Talk
Today the battles have started early on. As a nation we somehow missed the effect of 9pm bulletins in our 10 am classrooms. We forget that our children borrow our subconscious biases and our speech. Today they stand as a mirror to the society we have become. Speaking to families across 12 cities, Nazia found a rise in bullying on religious lines in the past few years in the top schools of the country. It resulted in the publication of her book ‘Mothering a Muslim’ that has been widely and positively commented upon.
Says Nazia: ‘Every mother today is the victim of a world of hate and hostility. Hate affects not just the tormented but also the tormentor. And we don’t know which one our child will be. I worry for the children who are part of communal bullying at school. I worry for my daughter who will be joining them tomorrow in the same playgrounds and classrooms. Hate sees no religion, it will suck in every child to spit out disturbed adults. Can we really afford to look the other way right now? We need to speak, not for ourselves, but for our children.’
Her talk is around this book.
Nazia Erum
Ms Erum is the author of ‘Mothering a Muslim’, recently published by Juggernaut Books. She has handled communications for the Global Fund and authored many publications for lead development organizations, including the United Nations.
She is also a columnist with leading media houses, a TEDxSpeaker and founder of The Luxury Label.
