Lots in a name

Chapter 4
There are ample examples to show what divide is in sociological terms.
Coming from up north, from the state of Himachal Pradesh, I have been
witnessing phenomenon of class, caste and communal divides at various places
wherever my quest for the daily bread has taken me.
Communalism is not a new concept for any one of us. The generation to which
we belong has heard enough about partition and post partition communal
violence. But it is only in Gujarat that I came to face and tried to analyse
the hows and whys of this machine that churns out hatred, bloodshed and
irrepairable losses.
Gujarat at present, I talk of the period between 2002 and 2005, has all the
ingredients to experiment with the limits of human sanity. There are
numerous examples, small anecdotes that  I will dole out as I proceed. These
instances and anecdotes just go on to show how hate mongers, from various
communities, have gone to the level of abusing the constitution with
shameless which words simply cannot describe.
I did give that example of a HIGHWAY HANUMAN. The Hindu god already has
enough pseudonyms like Pavanputra (son of the wind), Marutinandan,
Bajrangbali – and these all are names which people remember with a sacred
reverence. Now why add something absurd!!!
There is more to it as friends told me later. During riots one also came
across media reports which talked about a  Hulladiya (Rioting)  Hanuman.
Several months later, on August 24, 2005 to be precise, I actually went to
Hatkeshhwar area in Amraiwadi locality of Ahmedabad where there was a temple
of Rokadiya (Cashier) Hanuman. This somehow did not surprise me much because
it simply went with the Gujarati penchant for money!!!
It was in the summer of 2004 that India took on Pakistan in a cricket match
on a Tuesday and thanks to a heavy duty performance by ace batsman Virender
Sehwag, India mauled the Pakistanis. It was an occasion enough to cheer for
cricket fans (though I myself do not like the game. I knew that it would be
the hot topic of discussion as the mention of the word Pakistan is as good
as an abuse in the nationalist Hindu circles of Gujarat and people would
take an extra cup of tea to celebrate Indian victory over their enemy.
It would have been fine if discussions centred around performances, failures
or even an extra effort to defeat the traditional rivals.
But the statement that shocked me was from an educated Hindu youth who
claimed to work for a newspaper. He came up with  the point,’’ You know
Sehwag is a Hanuman bhakt (worshipper) and since the match was held on
Tuesday which is Hanuman’s day, Hanuman himself descended to help India win
over the enemy!!!’’ The connection and explanation was beyond my
comprehension and I knew there was no point in talking sense.
But it so happened that India lost to Sri Lanka, the following Sunday. I
could not help but quipping to the same fellow,’’ What happened this time ?
Did Ravana descend to defeat the Indians ?’’This was enough to send him on a
ranting and rambling exercise, which is so common amongst the fanatics. He
was quick to point that anti-nationals like me were out to defame India and
spared no effort to fan anti India sentiment
Let’s move over to another glaring example of the levels to which thinking
of even educated people can stoop once their mind is governed by the
philosophy of hate. This time again it happened to be a person whom I had
just met while covering a couple of political rallies. By the small that we
had shared I knew he supported the cause of right wing Hindutva as he kept
on quoting people and books supporting the ideology. It so happened that I
bumped into him during the course of an official assignment. As I was about
to depart I just remarked that I had to go to the nearby market in old
Ahmedabad to purchase dates as I loved having dates in winters.
‘’Do you also eat dates ? I thought only Muslims eat that fruit,’’ he asked.
I had no reply to this one.
I could just wonder since when have fruits started getting identified with
religion. Tomorrow someone just might as well say that Apple is a Christian
fruit or Orange is a Hindu fruit. Later I came to know that I was not the
only one to have had such an experience. A senior journalist with a Hindi
daily had also been confronted with similar remarks.
As if this was not enough I got to hear the logic behind dates being
classified as a fruit eaten by Muslims. A Muslim friend told me that Islam
spread from Arabian lands and since the staple diet of people in the Arabian
deserts has been milk and dates, hence dates have come to be closely
associated with Islam.
Another small observation which has huge social bearing is that Hindus in
Gujarat mostly refer to Mohammedans as Muslims or Miyas while Muslims always
refer to the Hindus as Gujaratis. Neither is sub consciously willing to
accept the other as himself. Aren’t both the citizens of the same state and
hence aren’t both Gujaratis. The divide goes more deep. Despite knowing
Gujarati language Muslims, particularly in central Gujarat, prefer not to
converse in the language which gives another point to hard line Hindus that
if Muslims can’t accept Gujarati language how can they accept Gujarat to be
their own ! There is another dimension to this point. A large number of
Muslims in this region are migrants from Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
and claim to be not comfortable with a new language.

Sides of the same coin

CHAPTER 3
It was July 8, 2005. The event was the annual Jangannath Rath Yatra in
Ahmedabad where ‘’peace’’ prevailed and people were supposed to have
forgotten the 2002 riots. The police had made its quota of pre-yatra arrests
along with some recoveries. The only difference was that this time they were
reluctant to say that the accused wanted to disrupt the yatra.
Anyhow, the local media was abuzz with pre yatra stories and going by these
reports anyone would feel that Ahmedabad had become normal once again.
But the whole illusion took a beating when I went to Dariapur - a
predominant Muslim area falling in the categories of disturbed pockets.
There were scores of policemen, as expected. Muslim women were mainly
indoors and only kids lined the route from where the yatra was to pass. The
road had been got cleared by the police and everyone waited in anticipation
for the yatra to arrive.
Around 1.30 p.m. elders of the community could be seen asking the few women
outside to go indoors. The logic being given was disturbing indeed. They
were telling the women,’’ Don’t you understand that looking at idols is
Haraam (sin) in our religion.’’ The women ad others, low on literacy,
somehow understood. The children were getting smacked for venturing closer
to the road. A friend told me that things were different till some years
back when women and children actually used to line the streets.
Exactly at 2 p.m. a police Jeep with a public address system mounted on top
of it came to the spot and appeals were made to clear the road. It was quite
similar to the addressing when a curfew is about to be imposed. All of a
sudden one could see the yatra approaching. Immediately a large number of
speakers started blaring out patriotic songs and both the police and the
elders in the Muslim community resorted to blowing whistles at a shrill
pitch. I was surprised as I could not connect freedom movement or any of the
nationalist events to the religious occasion of the yatra and wondered why
these film songs were being blared at a very high level.
I decided to put this question to an elder. The reply was,’’ The yatris hurl
abuses at times which are countered by the Muslims. It may happen vice versa
also. The spats have all the potential to turn into violence. With more than
120 truck load of yatris you cannot take chances. Hence loud music and chaos
simply make abuses inaudible.’’
I could not term to terms with Muslims voluntarily keeping indoors – they
call it Janta curfew here – a concept which is a blot on the secular
society. Why do they do this ? The reply of an elder was,’’ By being indoor
for three hours we buy peace for the rest of the year.’’
All the papers the next day reported that the yatra had passed off
peacefully and the attempts to promote co-existence of Hindus and Muslims
were successful!!!

Getting a lesson

CHAPTER 2
As disclosed earlier, the lessons came in plenty, pointing to the hows and
whys of the existing social order. A few days on, somewhere in the month of
February 2003,  I decided to visit a widow home in an area called Juhapura.
The locality can easily be described as one of the biggest Muslim ghettos of
the world. In Gujarat a lay man or a newcomer like me would describe the
place as Juhapura which was initially built as Sankalit Nagar. But how does
a Hindu living in Ahmedabad describe it ? Well, the reply to the question is
MINI PAKISTAN.
Don’t be shocked if you happen to pass the locality during the visit to the
city and the taxi driver puts on the brakes to exclaim,’’  Sahib, this  is
mini Pakistan!’’ the sentence will be followed by the choicest of abuses
reserved for describing the Muslims.
Well, I happened to take an auto to the locality from the exclusive Hindu
colony where I resided. I told the auto driver to take me to Juhapura and he
readily proceeded. The shock came when he stopped at the tip of a road and
asked me that he had arrived at the destination. I told him,’’ I have to go
the widow home behind Memon hall.’’
He said,’’ This is the BORDER  of Juhapura (as if I was about to cross the
LoC) and I will not go inside the locality. You can cross the road and then
hire an auto driven by a Muslim and reach your destination.’’
I had no choice but to do what he told me. I crossed over and found that I
would have to walk about 25 metres before I could get an auto. As I walked
this virtual no man’s land, my eyes wandered to an engraving of Hindu God
Hanuman installed beside the road below which was written HIGHWAY HANUMAN.
Visiting the widow home was another eye opener. I was told that some of the
riot victims of 2002 riots were residing there. The staff there was very
co-operative and rational in thought. The place is being run by one
Mehrunissa Mansuri, fondly called Mehru Apa and I have no qualms in saying
that she has done commendable work.
It so happened that two psychiatrists by the name of Sibasis and Jaikumar
who were involved in social cause of rehabilitation were on a routine visit
to attend to the children of victims who had seen killings at their tender
age. An interesting case that they discussed with me was of a seven year old
who was suffering from tuberculosis. It was a demonstration of what violence
can do to the psyche of a child.
The two psychiatrists, after small chit chat, had asked the boy to make a
drawing. The boy enthusiastically started off on a white paper but after
drawing a line he seemed to have been lost somewhere. All one could see was
a blankness engulfing his face.
After a few minutes life returned to his face and he quipped to me, who was
a stranger for him till then,’’ You know my Abbu had a big gun !’’  This was
enough to invite a shrill voice from another room. The voice belonged to his
mother and she said,’’ That is why he was sliced in front of you into three
pieces.’’
Recovering from the shock, I was told that the boy’s father used to sell
toys and amongst those toys was a gun, a favourite of his son!!!