Cosmopolitanism is defined in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as “the idea that all human beings, regardless of their political affiliation, are (or can and should be) citizens in a single community". This belief does not only apply to political affiliation but also to religious beliefs, which, in the case of the formation of India and Pakistan, proves to be a difficult challenge to overcome. The utopian ideal of cosmopolitanism is addressed in both Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, Cracking India, and Salman Rushdie's, The Moor's Last Sigh. Both novels discuss the difficulties faced in nation building in India and Pakistan after the departure of the British. Cosmopolitanism is addressed by both narrators in similar ways. Through both novels one can see the major challenges in implementing this ideology. These challenges include a lack of identity, maintaining previous loyalties to political and religious parties, and the violence that results when unity is severed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay A cosmopolitan is a citizen of the world, meaning that he does not necessarily belong to a particular nation, religion, or political party, but to the human species itself. This leads to an identity problem when self-proclaimed cosmopolitans realize that those who do not believe in cosmopolitanism have marginalized them from their former groups. Some Indian groups, Macaulay's so-called Minutemen, belonged neither to India nor to England; instead they were a class apart. In Cracking India, Colonel Bharucha, while giving a speech to the Parsi community, said, “We must be extremely cautious, otherwise we will be neither here nor there” (26). In this quote he warns the community that because of their service and loyalty to England, they must be careful to remain neutral because they are minorities. The Parsis have survived by remaining neutral in times of strife and conflict, which is even more important in this case with the possible departure of the British. For giving their support to the British, they would never have been welcome in India or Pakistan, and for supporting one of the Hindu or Muslim groups vying for power, they would have been marginalized by both. Since the Parsis did not have an official nation of their own, they had to remain neutral and merge with the surrounding communities, thus making them cosmopolitan in a sense and also a group without an identity of their own. This lack of identity is also expressed in the Moro's Ultimo Sospiro. Moraes' first love, Uma Sarasvati, could be described as cosmopolitan. Her past was unknown to the narrator and she did not belong to any particular group. It was simply a small town. This plurality of her background, however, proved to be her undoing, as Moor describes, “a defeat in the pluralist philosophy on which we were all raised… she was the pluralist Uma, with her multiple selves… who turned out to be the bad egg” (272). Despite Aurora's belief in cosmopolitanism, she is the one who orchestrated the events that led to Uma being exposed as a liar, using this ideology to gain a foothold in and provoke a wealthy family. the end. Uma is just one example of how a cosmopolitan cannot survive in a community that does not recognize cosmopolitanism, even the Moro himself struggles with his own identity. Just like the Parsis in Cracking India, the Zogoiby could be classified as Minutemen of Macaulay, in the sense that they adopted much of Western ways and attitudes towards Indian culture, explicitly defined them as such inhis drunken outburst at a party. Throughout his life Moor struggled to fit into the community, not only due to his physical deformity, but also due to his lack of belonging to a certain culture due to his family's cosmopolitan views. Upon his departure from India he states: “There was nothing to keep me in Bombay anymore. It was no longer my Bombay, it was no longer special” (376). This distance described by Moor from his hometown can be seen as the end of his cosmopolitan community. Since the battle for power over the city between Muslims and Hindus, and for economic power against political power, has destroyed his community, he is no longer welcome. If he had joined a religious group or political party, I doubt he would have left. It can be assumed that he would feel a sense of belonging to his city and would choose to stay and help his affiliates regain control despite his family ties, which were frayed from the beginning. When unity is broken, a cosmopolitan society reacts with violence. It is impossible to maintain this ideology without a unifying force or common moral understanding. India's religious differences between Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs give way to different beliefs and moral obligations. Only with something that binds them together can these differences be overcome. As previously stated, the country did not consider itself cosmopolitan, so not everyone shared the belief that they were citizens of the world trying to get along peacefully. In Cracking India, the departure of the British broke the unity among the Indian people. In the struggle for independence, each religious community shared a common goal and a common enemy: the English. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Parsis would all assimilate together in the park, citizens of a common goal. Once independence was pursued, Hindus and Muslims began to vie for power to enable their people to prosper. The narrator, Lenny, has seen this change and states, “I have become aware of religious differences. One day everyone is themselves and the next day they are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh Christian” (101). People were no longer those of a common community, but members of one religion or another. This inability to separate from one's religion is one of the most difficult challenges of a cosmopolitan worldview. It is only those few people, unified by their love for Ayah, who remain cosmopolitan for a short period of time. Lenny notices this after being dragged away by the Sikh group in the park: “Only the group around Ayah remains unchanged. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis are, as always, united around her” (105). Once this unity is broken, this group of friends also turns to violence. Ayah's love becomes a quest for power and dominance in much the same way as India's quest for power. Ice-Candy Man supposedly kills the masseur to further his pursuit of Ayah's love. The Sikhs and Hindus in the group leave to escape the communal violence that is taking root in their close-knit group. This group of cosmopolitans cannot resist the effects of religious segregation and violence becomes commonplace. In The Moor's Last Sigh, violence between peoples occurs even when unity is shattered. To a small extent, this can be seen in the Zogoiby family after the death of Francisco da Gama. This clash was inevitable because “the family was already hurtling towards that catastrophic conflict, the so-called 'battle of the in-laws'” (33). When the patriarch of the family dies, the children inherit the business, and the matriarch's greed pushes the family to divide and attack each other. The family unit was held together by Francisco and his business of.