Women-led Muslim org takes kids of different faiths to Bandra’s Mt Mary Church

Children pose for a photo outside Bandra’s Mount Mary Church on Wednesday. Pics/Jyoti Punwani

For someone who has never seen the inside of a church, the imposing hall of Bandra's Mt Mary Church with the statue of Virgin Mary would be a breathtaking introduction, as it was for the 25-odd children visiting on Wednesday afternoon.

It wasn't just being inside a church that was a novel experience for the children. Barring a few, most of them knew little about Christmas, they admitted. Some had never met a Christian before. Hence, for most, everything was new; the church, the stalls selling candles, figurines and crosses, the short talk on Jesus Christ by a BMMA member, and the links drawn between Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Islam by Noorjehan Safia Niaz, the BMMA's co-founder.

It was in 2018 that the BMMA decided to do something about, what Noorjehan described as, "the increasing emotional ghettoisation" in the predominantly Muslim slum, with pockets of Hindu settlements, in Bandra East where they worked. "Nobody knew anything about other communities, and nobody wanted to know," said Noorjehan. "On one hand was the amplification of hatred since 2014 and on the other an ignorance so deep that Hindus couldn't pronounce Muslim names, and vice versa."

BMMA member Bharti Shetty performs the Dussehra puja and distributes prasad to the kids

Bringing together children to break this closed mindset seems to be the best solution. "In their day to day life, these 11-17 year olds were not likely to meet children from other faiths. So we decided to create occasions for them to mingle," said Noorjehan.

Thanks to the work done by BMMA volunteers, parents entrusted their children to them. They brought together groups of Muslim and Hindu children and took them to Ganpati mandals, to see tazias during Moharram and to watch a tulsi vivah. The trips included a brief talk on the festival and its rituals, and sharing of sweets typical to the festival. The next trip will be to the Rajab ki Niaz - a feast during the Islamic month of Rajab in January.

While there has been no resistance from parents, there were times when children were reluctant to go on such trips, said Farheen, a volunteer. She said that some teenagers once told her, ‘Hum toh Muslim hain, hum kyon jaayen unke tyohar mein (we are Muslims, why should we go to others' festivals)'. "There's so much hatred these days. There are videos of Muslims being forced to chant Jai Sri Ram. We have to show children that Hindus worship Ram just as we worship Allah, and that a puja is not some anti-Muslim activity," she added.

Speaking about hatred, Noorjehan said, "Today, Hindutvawadis are burning Santa Claus figurines. For years, [Islamic preacher] Dr Zakir Naik has been telling Muslims not to wish Christians on Christmas."

While these trips haven't yet resulted in lasting friendships, as new groups of children are taken on every trip, they have given them experiences that they might not have had otherwise. Muslim children have played garba with their Hindu counterparts and enjoyed prasad at volunteer Bharti Shetty's home, while Hindu children have seen a tazia from up close. On Wednesday, children from both faiths heard Christmas songs for the first time.

But perhaps the best part of the Mt Mary outing was the visit to a nearby park. Children ran together to the roundabout and got off only when called by Santa Claus waiting to hand away gifts.