Why I am a Hindu

by Shashi Tharoor

(When I went to a temple, I prayed in an odd combination of English, Sanskrit and my ‘mother tongue’ Malayalam, instinctively convinced that an omniscient God would naturally be multilingual.)

word ‘Hindu’ did not exist in any Indian language till its use by foreigners gave Indians a term for self-definition.

There are simply no binding requirements to being a Hindu. Not even a belief in God.

exemplified the Hindu idea that religion is an intensely personal matter, that prayer is between you and whatever image of your Maker you choose to worship. In the Hindu way, I was to find my own truth.

a religion whose rituals and customs I am free to reject, a religion that does not oblige me to demonstrate my faith by any visible sign, by subsuming my identity in any collectivity, not even by a specific day or time or frequency of worship.