Winter was about to set it but the climate around Tube factory in Jamshedpur was still warm. I was playing with my brother on the veranda when mom called us inside. Doors were shut and all windows closed even though it was still not cold outside. We were pushed to the living room where Doordarshan was broadcasting news. It was quite unusual for DD to broadcast news in the evening but I soon found out why. Babri Masjid was being attacked my Kar Sewaks with unconfirmed reports that it has already been demolished. Even though at that age, 9 years, no one gives a damn about politics but I was born sensitive so was infuriated at a Masjid being demolished. Even though I didn’t know the names of RSS/VHP/BJP leaders but their continuous venomous speeches had made me realise that that they are ‘bad people’, at least for the Muslims (Fortunately Shahi Imam Bukhari was not a media darling at that time).
Everyone’s eyes were fixed to the BPL TV which we bought few months ago. We had the extra ordinary comfort of electricity supply for 24X7 free as my father is in the central electricity department but still that day extra care was taken to shut the lights off in other rooms. 4 of us were sitting in the room with my father looking through the Railway schedule. Finally news dropped in at around 8 in the night that Babri Masjid has been brought down. DD even showed images from the site where Kar Sewaks were on the top of the dome with their weapons, few ‘bad leaders’ claiming victory for Hindus and also calling it just a beginning. So that meant even the Mosque in Kashi and Benras were under threat.
My mom then told us that we are leaving for Puri tomorrow morning. We lived in area where these Kar Sewaks could easily walk in our house and take that BPL TV. Plus my mom told us later that the area on the other side of the Tube factory was cleansed of Muslim population in riots of 1979. Next day reports came in of riots breaking out in many parts of country. My school was closed so that meant I didn’t have to make excuses when it reopens. We left for Puri in the evening only to return back when the riots in the other parts of the country have calmed down. Why Puri? Well its a city of temples and there are few local Muslims! We had a nice trip roaming from one temple to another in the city tour sponsored by hotel we checked into. Our BPL TV was still there and things returned to normalcy in few weeks.
Being a sensitive child I learned a lot from the experience-
1. Names like Honey and Sunny don’t reveal one’s religion (this is what we were called on the trip to Puri)
2. There is someone called Mr. Togadia who hates Muslims more than he would have hated his girl friend after being ditched by her.
3. Muslims aren’t safe in India. They can be killed at will. Women can be made to lose there purity and most horrifically even the child in the womb of a pregnant women isn’t safe.
4. People can go to any extreme to impose their ideology on non-believers.
5. Congress cannot protect the rights of Muslims. (Late Shri P V Narshima Rao is soon to be a hated man among Muslims. No one celebrated when he died but no one expressed his sympathies either)
6. Muslims in India are aliens as we came to India via the lineage of Babar and hence our cleansing is as prerequisite as was that of the British to establish India as a world power to reckon with.
7. We have 60 or so Muslim nations so why do need India to live!
I slowly started feeling grown up. Suddenly the whole world seemed to be an entirely different place to me, it was now divided into compartments of Hindus and Muslims. Even though nothing happened at school but I occasionally heard conversations, of seniors, in which the riots were being discussed. I never said a word when I used to hear someone’s happiness at the Babri Masjid being destroyed but just swallowed this bitter pill without disturbing the lines on my face.
To be continued….
[Inspired by the movie 'Black Friday', review here 
]
{ 6 trackbacks }
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Rain 03.03.07 at 1:46 am
Interesting. You sarcastic posts have really made me a slave of your blog
Sharique 03.03.07 at 1:29 pm
Thanks a lot for the appreciation Rain
I Me My 03.03.07 at 10:06 pm
Those are some awful realities to face as a youngster, especially when you are a part of the minority.
I was under the impression that majority of Indians are peace loving and tolerant of different religions; I guess religious fundamentalism is flourishing there too.
Manas Shaikh 03.04.07 at 11:25 am
I didn’t quite feel the heat of Babari masjid demolition, because I lived under secular CPI(M). Who did not like religion. They don’t know how to handle religious sensitivities, but they know how to stop a riot. They do that when needed.
I heard from my mom later that my father and my cousin (ten years older than I am) stayed up all night on the roof.
On the other hand, Lalu stopped the Rath. I respect him for that.
By the way, do you know that it is the muslim majority areas that are safest during the riots? Contrary to popular belief, mixed areas are very dangerous for monorities. Sikhs also know that from 1984.
Sharique 03.04.07 at 12:21 pm
“Mixed areas are safer” Is this a popular belief!!! I can never agree with this.
CPI (M) and Lalu have been successful in containment of riots and I too respect them for this.
Sharique 03.04.07 at 12:24 pm
I Me My,
[quote post="462"]I guess religious fundamentalism is flourishing there too.[/quote]
It has been there in India since independence. The bloody partition further widened the gap between the 2 communities. Even though the feeling is dormant but it just takes few provocations to bring them to light.
Manas Shaikh 03.04.07 at 1:45 pm
Sharique, if you have not, watch children of heaven. I have posted it onto my blog.
I Me My 03.04.07 at 7:37 pm
“It has been there in India since independence.” Pardon my ignorance, but is that true about all the religious groups that are in India?
If the bitterness is known to be ‘dormant’ how come the government or other social/religious organizations have not addressed it and brought it to the fore so that it can be addressed and cleansed. From my few readings on this subject I’ve figured that whenever a group within a country feels or is marginalized and nothing is done about it then what results is the situation as is in England today; the Asian youth there has inbred anger which surfaces every now and again ‘at the slightest provocation’. What is worse is that they emerge the worse off after each incident of provocation. Such a situation can be averted if people are proactive in a rational way.
Sharique 03.04.07 at 10:03 pm
[quote post="462"]is that true about all the religious groups that are in India?[/quote]
Yes. In fact India was partitioned based on religious lines. Jinnah felt that rights of Muslims cannot be safeguarded because of hindu majority so he demanded a separate state. Now organizations like the VHP and RSS treat the remaining muslims as traitors and accuse us of supporting pakistan. There whole argument is that pakistan should accept the remaining muslims and make india a hindu country. Kashnir problem came in late, this animosity existed long before that. Kashmis and the terrorism that followed gave the fanatics another excuse to torture muslims.
[quote post="462"]how come the government or other social/religious organizations have not addressed it and brought it to the fore so that it can be addressed and cleansed[/quote]
It has been repeatedly pointed out. I am really surprised that you are not aware of the ground realities here!! i mean being such an avid and vociferous reader like you. I think one the major reason being that US media never paid any attention to it. But anyway the situation is really bad and this animosity, which exists on both sides as people belonging to both the religion get killed, has definitely not decreased. If you have time please go through IM blog
http://indianmuslims.in
Eagle 03.05.07 at 1:13 am
Good writeup Sharique.
Sharique 03.05.07 at 10:39 am
Thanks Eagle for dropping by
trip 03.05.07 at 4:18 pm
religious riots is a problem with India for a long time. even during the british period, riots used to take place. the animosity is real. i learned my lessons too in a similar fashion. this was before the babri movement or any riots in mumbai. its was the reliance cup. me and my kid brother were playing in our mostly catholic society in mahim. i was not interested in cricket. India were playing england in the semis and india were losing. suddenly four young muslim boys (there’s a huge muslim locality in mahim) came to the gate and threw firecrackers in out compound right at us. my kid brother was really scared and started crying and i was scared too, not of the crackers but of something alien. not the dress, not the cap but the smiling faces of those young boys and their pleasure at India’s defeat.
my father who was out of india was shocked when he heard abt it when he returned. i rem he used to donate to a charity next to our house that was looking after afghan refugees. soon after this incident there was a VHP sammelan at shivaji park and my father took us there. we got the ‘garv se kaho…’ head bands but i refused to wear as i was ashamed of what my catholic friends will think. i also rem my father angrily talking abt this muslim doctor who had planted over 100 (or some such high no) homemade bombs in mumbai over a period of many years. he was caught arnd the same time too. i rem somebody saying ‘whats wrong with ‘these’ people…
This is how we sensitive people have been converted to a tribe. personally i’m convinced religion is to blame for this as religion is nothing but a large tribe.
Sharique 03.05.07 at 10:01 pm
trip,
I agree. This hatred exists on both sides.
I Me My 03.06.07 at 5:57 am
Do you think a separate country would be the answer, a solution to all this?
The India Pakistan divide after the British left was aimed at putting an end to the hostilities between the two religious communities, wasn’t it? I guess that didn’t happen; apparently the embers of hatred are still smoldering just as bright if not stronger.
trip 03.06.07 at 7:33 am
I do not think another partition is the answer. my granny once told me that two strangers will live happily as neighbors, but once a house is split between two brothers, they will never live happily as neighbors. moving from religion to spirituality is the only answer. lets move to a lower level of membership of our tribe
BTW Shaarique, i watched these two documentaries – Jesus Camp and Friends of God. watch if you can. quite scary stuff. these are the same american baptists with deep pockets (thanks to Bush they now get US Gov money too) that do ‘humanitarian’ work in India. Trust me we are headed for more trouble there. we need more tolerance, not more hatred.
Sharique 03.06.07 at 9:34 am
trip,
Partition can never be an answer to the existing tension. Spirituality may be but I am not sure
I will catch up with those documentaries. I suggest you watch “power of nightmares’. Its a BBC documentary which unearths many things to light.
I Me My,
I don’t support another partition. Actually the partition of 1947 was unfortunate as lead to unprecedented human suffering. The initial plan was to carve out Pakistan from muslim majority areas which meant there would have been smaller Pakistan spread all over India! It has served no purpose as Pakistan still struggles to be a democracy and Muslims in India still struggle for their lives.
2jay 03.10.07 at 11:47 pm
Hello Shaarique
I am sad to know about the situation in your country…One race fighting among each other due to different faith. I pity the children and women…they must have been constantly in fear to live in such condition. Reading you write-up make me realised how fortunate I am, how fortunate are my children to live in Singapore free of riots and violents. Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-religion country in which its citizen lives peaceful in harmony side-by-side as good neighbours. My mum’s neighbour is an Indian hindu…very kind and generous…we help each other. My hope for India… to be a country that is safe to live for everyone, fellow citizens…to respect each other faith for the benefits of all.
Sharique 03.11.07 at 7:08 am
Dear 2jay,
Thanks for the prayers. I too hope the same but still, even with differences, we coexist and this is what ‘unity in diversity’ is! I know the relations are strained because of reasons but lets hope with time this animosity is wiped out.
noemaun 03.12.07 at 10:05 am
salaams.
all the three blogs have been written very well. hope the readers get the right message.
Sharique 03.12.07 at 10:54 am
Wassalam noemaun,
They did! the response has been overwhelming
Rohit 03.16.07 at 12:43 pm
I felt sad to read that you couldn’t use your real names during your Puri trip.
I too was a kid at the time of the demolition, and I remember some Hindu friends praising it as correcting a crime perpetrated by Babar. I disagreed, and argues that two wrongs didn’t make a right.
Rohit 03.16.07 at 12:45 pm
Another memory, about mixed localities:
I come from a locality of Delhi where there are approximately 25% Sikhs and 75% Hindus. During the 1984 riots, my father, grandfather and all adult males of the locality (Hindus and Sikhs combined) used to stand guard at rooftops, with “lathis” and whatever else they could manage, so that no troublemaker entered the area. And their efforts paid off – there was no violence in our area.
So, I feel mixed localities can be safe or unsafe, depending upon the relations between the communities living there. In our locality, the relations between Hindus and Sikhs are excellent, because this locality was originally settled in 1947 by Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan. Having come from similar backgrounds, and having experienced similar hardships (on both sides of the border), there is a feeling of kinship towards each other.
And now, for a disturbing thought: can humans share a feeling of kinship only with people who are *similar* to them? Do we automatically feel threatened by those who are different?
Sharique 03.16.07 at 7:22 pm
[quote post="462"]can humans share a feeling of kinship only with people who are *similar* to them? Do we automatically feel threatened by those who are different?[/quote]
Rohit, unfortunately its true! I do also feel that Sikh-Hindu relation is different from a Muslim-Hindu relation for lot of reasons. One of them being that RSS hates Muslims but treats Sikh as their own. Muslims are considered traitors because Pakistan is an ‘so called’ Islamic republic. A Sikh’s culture is more similar to that of an Hindu.
Saying all these doesn’t justify the animosity that exists between the 2 communities. We have to live as Indians and shun the anti-social elements out.
Rohit 03.16.07 at 9:54 pm
I think RSS loves Sikhs because during the 1947 riots, Sikhs (like Hindus) were evicted from Pakistan, and hence they ended up being on the side of Hindus. In Pakistan, both Hindus and Sikhs were killed by Muslims, while in India Sikhs joined Hindus in killing Muslims. Basically, since Sikhs and Hindus were on the same side, they are perceived as fellow-victims (of “Muslim aggression”) by the Hindutva brigade.
Another reason the RSS and BJP love Sikhs is that because since 1984, Sikhs always vote for the BJP. This has nothing to do with the BJP, though; Sikhs basically vote anti-Congress, to punish Congress for the 1984 violence.
If you check out Sikh communities on Orkut, you will actually find some Sikh youth angry at RSS for calling Sikhism a part of Hinduism. And many Sikhs sympathize with Muslims.
As for Sikh culture, I think it is a mix of Hinduism and Islam in equal proportions. Like Islam, Sikhism is unambiguously monotheistic (unlike Hinduism, which is monotheistic at its core but you have to dig through many layers to discover that). God is even referred to as Allah, and so on. But of course, there are influences of Hinduism too, like “Omkar” (derived from Hinduism’s “Om”), the importance of the saffron and yellow colours, etc …
Sharique 03.16.07 at 11:13 pm
I have seen sikh angry over the inclusion of their religion by the RSS. This ideology basically fueled the khalistan movement, they wanted freedom from the clutches of being clubbed with Hindus.
An even more sensitive child 10.11.07 at 1:43 am
I was 13 when the Mosque was demolished. Since I was always a very sensitive child, I rejoiced for I saw how unreasonable Muslims had been in refuting all efforts at reconciliation.
I was overjoyed for I felt that for the first time in a millenium, a mosque had been demolished as a response to countless temple demolitions
And one more thing, when you were a ‘sensitive’ child, Mr Togadia was not even known by anyone
noemaun 10.11.07 at 4:09 am
so your family and your surroundings put venom in your heart even by the age of 13, telling you “biased” stories of history when instead they could have thought you so many other stuffs with would helped common good.
whether the history is true or not, is a different question. the fact that your environment tries to spread hatred in young minds is despicable.
i did not know anything about communal riots from my parents or relatives, till the age when i could myself start reading from various newspapers.
sandy 10.19.07 at 3:25 pm
the rulling alliance is playing minority card consider u as minority vote bank and you are playing in there hands pitty on u pitty on india…..dnt knw where this country would go as ppl like u with close mind and religious sensitivity would always play in hands of mulla’s and congress
TRUE INDIAN 10.21.07 at 3:04 pm
I am a secular Indian and respect all the religions and more than that I LOVE MY INDIA. But It’s so painful to leave in such a great country with such a 3rd class, animal like political & religious leaders
who can do what ever they want with this country at any time. It also shame full that the people of our nation are so blind and can go to any and prove themselves ANIMAL when it comes to religion, and I am talking about all religions not one.
I would like to point out some points about which no one ever talks regarding Islamic terrorism and anti-national activities in INDIA.
- Muslims are not alone, have you ever thought about Naksalwadi. How much damage they are doing to our nation and in how many states they are active. ( all with the help of our great politicians )
- What about the MAO WADI ???
- How can you forget the LTTE and related groups ???
- The BHINDRA WALE case in PUNJAB at the time of indira Gandhi was equally worst.
- How much you know what is going on in north east states of india with the help of china ???
- Did youk know that China is currently trying their best to break the north east part of india and occupy the indian land ???
If you sum all the other terrorist groups listed above who are either fighting against a particular community or political system or against our whole nation, the numbers and the damage done by them will be FAR FAR FAR greater compared to muslims.
NOW THE BIG QUESTION ~~~~ why any of the so called hindu groups ( RSS, VHP ) are not SAYING A SINGLE WORD ABOUT THIS ?????
Please post you genuine comments on this.
bob 01.21.08 at 4:07 am
l9ZByD hi great site thx http://peace.com