Mufti Mumtaz recalls how WWI cast a shadow over the Indian subcontinent one year after it started. It was a time of hardship, people were getting sacked, and jobs were scarce. Unfortunately for him, he graduated right in the middle of this tragedy. Despite having good qualifications to his name, he found it very difficult to find a job. 

Through the aid of a friend, Mumtaz Mufti was appointed headmaster of a school in Dharamsala in Punjab. Dharamsala was a Hindu majority area, and the school where he taught had only himself and two students who were Muslims. This didn't bother him of course. Hindus and Muslims lived in close proximity before the partition and often had closely established relationships. 

It wasn't until Mumtaz Mufti asked one of his Hindu students to bring him a glass of water did he realise how the customs of a Hindu majority area differed from a Muslim majority one. He discovered that the Hindus thought it incorrect to give a Muslim water by their hand. The situation was so serious that they had invented bamboo sticks which they could use to create distance between themselves and a Muslim if one ever wanted water. 

One day Mumtaz Mufti was strolling through the hills of the town. He became thirsty and stopped in a small village. On asking a shopkeeper where he could find water, he was directed to a Muslim's house. But when Mumtaz stepped into the house, it bore no resemblance to a Muslim household. Instead, it contained items of Hindu custom and ritual. The strangest thing of all though was the house's Muslim occupant, who was dressed from head to toe like a Hindu local, but was in fact, a Muslim. This man's name was Ram Deen. 

Mumtaz Mufti goes on to explain that Ram Deen is in fact not one man, but a state of mind which was fast becoming common during the pre-partition era. It was becoming the lived experience of most Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. He goes on to cite the writings of Gaba, a lawmaker, who published detailed statistics on the differing conditions between Hindus and Muslims, from the number of cars owned to the number of pupils in colleges. 

He explains why it is important for the upcoming generations of Pakistan to know about Ram Deen, the person and the mindset, so they may understand why it was necessary for Pakistan and India to be created. 

Mumtaz Mufti expresses his sadness at the fact that Muslims of today do not take lessons from the past, and their anger or courage or what have you, comes and goes as quickly as soda bubbles. 

With much ferocity, Mumtaz goes on to express his frustration at how the latest trends seem to be enough to sway the minds of Muslims in Pakistan, who, under the influence of alien traditions and thought processes, begin to stray far away from their own values and culture.