,
a town in India where Muslims constitute more than 70 per cent of the
population, has always
been considered a communally sensitive place. But there is an area in
Malegaon where a mosque and a mandir exist side by side and where both
Muslims and Hindus have been living in peace for several years. This, in
fact, is true of the entire town. Except for a select few who always try
to create trouble, the whole town is comprised of peace-loving people. And
yet the town has earned the tag of being a communally sensitive place.
My mohalla, or locality, is called ‘Qila’
because of the historic 17th century fort that lies within it. Many Hindu
and Muslim families have been living here peacefully ever since it was
built, living in harmony and helping each other out whenever the need
arose. A few steps from this historic fort lies an akhada, an
ancient Indian gymnasium. The akhada was jointly managed by Hindus
and Muslims and even now has some Muslim names on its managing body.
Sometime in the 1930s, when a masjid was built adjacent to
this akhada, a mandir was also constructed alongside. This was
enough to make the mohalla into a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Even today Hindus and Muslims pray together at their respective places of
worship, mocking all those who call Malegaon "a communally sensitive
place".
It is not clear why the area, which was supposed to be a
symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity, came to be considered a communally sensitive
one. This is particularly surprising given the absence of a single
incident, arising from the proximity of masjid and mandir, which has
caused communal disturbances.
Still, ever since I was born a quarter century ago, I have
noticed policemen sitting around my mohalla. It was under the
watchful eyes of the policemen that I visited the masjid while my fellow
mohalla-wallas visited the mandir. This always surprised me. I
remember asking my father why the policemen were always around and I
recall his prompt reply, "Because of the masjid and the mandir." The
masjid, the mandir and the policemen, I failed to understand a damn at
that time.
As I grew older, it gradually occurred to me that it was
because a masjid and a mandir existed side by side that my mohalla
was considered a highly sensitive place. But believe me, despite all this
hype about the so-called sensitiveness of the place, I seldom noticed any
tension between the two communities in my neighbourhood. Not even when the
rest of Malegaon witnessed several riots. People in this mohalla
have always maintained peace and lived in remarkable mutual respect and
understanding.
If this were not true, how was it that water from the
tanks at the masjid were routinely used when the expansion of the mandir
was recently underway? What’s more, I still remember the Ganpati and Shiv
Jayanti processions that passed through my mohalla on marvellously
decorated trucks. The battery operated systems that we see today were not
in use then and truck after truck in the procession ran electrical
connections from my house. Likewise, others in the mohalla too did
not hesitate to lend a helping hand.
Forget the daily excitement of prayers five times a day
which a Muslim in the mohalla offers concurrently with fellow
Hindus performing pujas. The festival season, which normally begins with
the Ganpati festival in August, so enlivens the atmosphere of the
mohalla that it remains memorable for the whole year. The lighting,
the decorations and the huge pandals is all very mesmerising. The muezzin
bellowing the azan, the call for prayer, and the simultaneous chanting of
bhajans by the pandit and his fellow mates, all this is nothing short of
thrilling.
But despite the peace and harmony that people in this
mohalla live in, the policemen are normally here as usual. And when my
two-year-old son asked me why policemen are seen around our mohalla
I, unlike my father, had no answer.
