Am I a practicing Hindu? I’ve always thought myself to be, and so has virtually everyone who knows me – I pray at home everyday, perform the daily puja along with the members of my family, I have been involved in a number of Hindu community activities, I have helped friends organise Hindu society activities in universities, oh... and I occasionally write for Hindu Voice (maybe that counts for something too). But according to the definition announced by Britain’s first state-funded Hindu school, I would not quite make it - I'm not a vegetarian, I don't go to a public temple regularly and I don't abstain from alcohol in an absolute way.

Wonder how my late-grandfather feels about his posthumous 'excommunication' from the Hindu community after a living his whole life as a devout Hindu. As long as I had known him, he always woke up at the first light of dawn to honor the rising sun, he had been a figurehead of selfless social service in our village in India, practiced yoga and mediation till the day he died. But he wasn't a vegetarian. But then again, neither is most of the Assamese-Bengali community to which I belong (our staple food is rice and fish by the way). So I guess my whole community, and also many many other Hindu communities from around India and across the world, have now been disbarred from calling themselves Hindu.

The school had earlier stated that only those who subscribed to its definition of a practicing Hindu would be considered in its first annual intake. While this was partly retracted in a letter posted by I-Foundation (the sponsors of the school), they were still adamant: "The principles behind the Krishna-Avanti school remain the same: to promote core Hindu values" (meaning the principles mentioned earlier).

Well if we can all agree that the 'pursuit of truth' and 'inclusiveness' are two core Hindu values, then I wonder the I-foundation is serving any of these by excluding a significant proportion of Hindus with their narrow-minded and fundamentalist (if not false) definition of what it means to be a practicing Hindu.

Maybe I shouldn't take this so personally and just seek solace in the fact that the editors of Hindu Voice Rajesh Patel and Neha Gohil are also not allowed to be call themselves Hindus. Yes...they set up and manage this Hindu magazine, pray, have read many of the scriptures, were the presidents of their universities’ Hindu Societies. But I’m sure I've seen Rajesh have a drink or two and Neha never sets foot in a temple more than once or twice a year...I guess our children will just have to be content with going to a normal public school like we did and integrate with the rest of the British population. Damn!

Click here to read associated news story