In his eagerness to prove himself "more loyal than the king", Mr Jiji Thomson (like so many others) misses the argument.
Dear Mr Thomson, we are ALL Indians, not just the Hindus among us, but also the Muslims, the Christians, the Buddhists et al. Ergo, our traditions too are INDIAN traditions.
It's not as though only Hindu traditions are Indian; Christmas for instance is as much part of our Indian culture – go to any major city at Christmas time and watch how people celebrate. In many towns in the North, an Id is celebrated with gusto by all, not just by Muslims. Are you now telling us that our cities are not Indian?
With very few exceptions (like Israel – and Pakistan, though even the latter was not Jinnah's idea), a nation is based not on religion but on territory: those who live in a particular territory claim to own and belong to that territory. As for how different people in the same territory try and make sense of concepts that are beyond all of us (God, life after death, etc.) that is the province of religion and philosophy. That has nothing to do with their sense of belonging to their land. If you, Mr Thomson, use a calculator to figure out how much is 37037 x 33, someone else uses his fingers to do so, yet another uses "modern maths" to do so, and yet another uses "Vedic Maths" to do so, you might all arrive at the same answer. If the problem is really abstruse, maybenone of you may arrive at an answer, though some may think they are closer to the correct answer (which none of them knows) than others. But in either case, none of this has any bearing on the territory they live in or the land they consider their own. Religion is like that – it's part of your individually trying to make sense of the infinite – and just because the majority think in a particular way (a) does not mean they are right and (b) does not make the others belong less to their land.
If the Gayathri mantra (which is Hindu) must be sung in churches, why shouldn't Mass be celebrated in gurdwaras or mosque, and why shouldn't Hindus or Buddhists pray 5 times a day facing Mecca? Please do not mix up Indian-ness with Hinduism.
Kurien