ABSTRACT
A journey to Mecca is every Muslim's lifelong and ultimate goal. The minds of such TV audiences, when emptied of their local cultural history and identity, look for some kind of roots, and find solace in Arabia, mistaking it for their ultimate religious identity. Naipaul travelled to many non-Arab Muslim countries, but the Muslims of one country he forgot to observe were from his own, India, the complexity of whose cultural roots the author have tried to explore a bit. The present cultural decadence might have led to some alienation, but it would be a blunder to call the last millennium a culturally rootless one for Indian Muslims. Modern technology and consumerism help the faith in many other ways as well. The 21st-century cyber Muslim has more sophisticated toys. It is also equipped with a screen to display verses from the Koran and an electronic diary of prayer times and religious holidays.
