Every time any terrorist attack happens anywhere in India, we unfortunately tend to label all Muslims as terrorists
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All for one, one for all: When one puts friendship before religion there is total acceptance file pic |
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I learnt this way back in 1994, when I got my first job in New Delhi. I didn't know where to get a house, and so I sought the help of a friend who was studying with me at a leading computer institute in Delhi's posh South Extension. At that time, my friend Mohammed Aliwaris was staying in Gafar Manzil, which is located inside the Jamia Millia Islamia College.
I had no hesitation even though this was a predominantly Muslim area. Some of my friends were not very comfortable remember this was early 1994, just over a year after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
But I stood firm and joined Ali at his residence. If I'm not mistaken, I was perhaps the only Hindu and the only Brahmin in the area at that time, but I had no cause for concern. The only minor problem came from food as a staunch vegetarian, I had to be careful about what I ate! But Ali had a word with the local hotel manager, who promised to always have vegetarian food available for me.
I stayed there for around eight months, but not once did any Muslim make me feel like an outsider. My friends cooked food separately for me because I was a vegetarian. We used to enjoy movies together. Never was the fact that I was a Hindu in a Muslim area allowed to mar any celebrations.
Looking back, I think that all this was possible because we put friendship before religion.
And during my stay in Gafar Manzil, not once did I find any Muslim who had the slightest sympathy for Pakistan.
They were all, to the last drop of blood in their veins, true Indians to the core.
Though I have not had the honour of meeting my old friends from Jamia after I moved to Bangalore towards the end of 1994, I remember my Muslim friends from Delhi every year when I visit Melkote, which is around 130 kilometres from Bangalore, for the famous Vaira Mudi festival. The story of this deity's Muslim wife locally called 'Tuluka Nachiyar' dates back to Ramanujacharya's times and should surely inspire all of us to look beyond the boundaries of religion.
When I called Aliwaris to ask him if he was okay with the idea of me writing this piece, he was delighted and told me that, with the exception of a few parties with vested interests, there is absolutely no reason why all religions cannot coexist in India.
Aliwaris, who has returned to India after spending many years abroad, has come back here to his motherland. That is proof enough that he loves the country of his birth.
Nobody has any right to make him prove this every time some terrorist sets off a bomb somewhere.
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