BETTIAH: Among his favourite students is filmstar Amisha Patel who led the nation to hum: Kaho na pyar hai. Post September 11 (9/11), the professor himself is humming the same tune of love and tolerance.

Meet Howard E Hunter, professor emeritus in the department of comparative religion at Tufts University, Cambridge, Massachuchets, who is these days on another visit to Gandhi's India.

Beating the dusty rural track to Gandhi's ashram in nearby Vrindavan village, Tufts was "moved to the core to see where the inspiring and profoundly significant achievements of Mahatma Gandhi began in India".

Post 9/11, the relevance of Gandhi seems more real to the professor of comparative religion than ever before. Hunter came to Bettiah after attending a conference on a Gandhian alternative to a world without terrorism and war at Thiruvananthapuram.

"Intolerance is a personal failure to accept reality, a failure of intelligence, an error of judgment about ultimate truth; an error which breeds psychological disorder; an error which breeds social and political disorder", Howard told Times News Network.

Amisha's teacher is truly Gandhi's disciple. Explaining his characterisation of intolerance, he said, "Intolerance in the name of religion is a deep betrayal and perversion of authentic religion."

Yet, the professor justified America's war on terror. "There are extreme actions which defy tolerance. September 11 is one of them," he said. Howard condemned the brutal killing of Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl.

"It is time we realised the futility of mindless war and terror. It is relevant to learn the religion of Gandhi. In popular language, Howard's filmstar student sang the message of peace. Kaho na pyar hai. The professor agrees.

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