1990 AD: The times were turbulent, the early
90’s. As a young man taking baby steps towards building a career in a city
which Rajiv Gandhi once famously called the dying city. The life of a Salesman
in a market which thanks to decades of imperialism of the Left Front was tough,
very tough. As a youngster trying to transform my life hoping the Govt of the
day in Calcutta or the one in Delhi would drive growth and opportunities, all I
got was a potpourri of political turmoil caused by corrupt politicians, self
seeking messiahs of the backward castes, people peddling Revolution of the
Proletariat. And jumping right into the cauldron
were yet another set of ‘desh bhakts’
who insisted on ‘Mandir wahin banayenge’!
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| Mandir Wahin Banayenge! |
I was then living in a locality which was
physically divided right down the middle between the Hindu side and the Muslim
side by the great G.T.Road. It was easy
for my young and impressionable mind which was reared on poor order-books and
pressures in the business front and the sheer squalor and filth that one saw in
the hugely populated ‘Muslim basti’
to volunteer and donate hundred bricks to an organization collecting the same to build the grand temple
for Ram in Ayodhya. The unchecked infiltrator from across the eastern border
being the primary reason for all that was wrong with my life and the country.
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 |
| Drishti pariharam Taaveez |
1998 AD: My daughter was a sickly child. Once
she was born my donations to temples and other causes close to my heart dropped
drastically as all the spare cash and some more were donated to the well being
of the neighbourhood MBBS. As multiple visits to the Doctor and the variety of
concoctions that he prescribed failed to give any permanent cure, I was at my
wits end. That is when I was prescribed an age old treatment in practice in many
villages of Tamil Nadu. The man who donated bricks to build temples in a
disputed area walked into the nearby Masjid
dutifully to conduct a ‘drishti
pariharam’ on my baby! And walked out with a ‘taaveez’ tied around her midriff.
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2000 AD: He was a
Muslim, a Malayalee, from Bombay. I was a Hindu, a Tamil, from Calcutta. And we
met up as colleagues in Bangalore! Circumstances then threw us together and we
ended up temporarily sharing the same house in Chennai. And as you would expect
the scenario was one of immense dichotomy. A Hindu thrown together with the
‘enemy’ Muslim. Was it vice-versa too? I don't know, he never gave me any clues. A strict vegetarian sharing kitchen with a beef
eater. A teetotaler (he) breaking bread
with someone who enjoyed the occasional drink (me). A Mallu and a Tamil under
the same roof! Facts are stranger than fiction as they say. Thrown together in
a city that was then friendless and unknown to both of us! Circumstances threw us together and who could
fight circumstances. The first thing that broke the ice between us was Marlboro! We were both smokers! And when not on work, we spoke the same language,
Hindi! From then onwards, me waiting outside any random Mosque in Chennai till
he finished his prayers or he being dragged to a pure vegetarian Iyer Mess took
just about that much time. A new Sunday routine was also established. I buying
him non-veg food and he buying me my weekly quota of beers. We shared our rooms
for about six months or so till I shifted to a new house with my family. It was
around the time of parting that I realized that the man who donated 100 bricks
to build a temple to spite the ‘enemy’ was long dead! And the ‘enemy’ to date
is one among my best ‘friends’!
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PS: Once while
travelling together with him by train from Mangalore to Chennai, he would speak to
other people in Malayalam and I in Tamil. A curious co-passenger was annoyed that we
were however speaking to each other in Hindi. How was this person to know that
while my friend spoke no Tamil, I spoke no Malayalam! Mera Bharat Mahaan!
Glossary:
Desh bhakts : Patriots
Mandir wahin banayenge : Will build the temple right
at that spot
Basti : Locality
Masjid : Mosque
Drishti pariharam : Ward off evil eye
Taaveez : Amulet
Mera Bharat Mahaan : India is great
