Humra Quraishi*
It was extremely shocking to hear what BJP’s Anurag Thakur had to say in the Parliament vis-a-vis jaati and his absolutely crude remark hurled at the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. Of course, Rahul Gandhi handled it very well. Like a gentleman and a man equipped with not just knowledge but class and refinement.
I recall Khushwant Singh telling me soon after he had met Rahul Gandhi that he was very impressed with the young Gandhi, as he came across as sincere and earnest and also very well aware of ground realities. All these aspects to him get writ large as he is taking on the Right-Wing rulers of the day. His rejoinders are not just crisp and tight but also apt. He seems one person who will halt the havoc and save this country and the masses from the ongoing disasters.
Today, the grim fact is this: the Right-Wing rulers of the day do not wish to talk or dwell or focus on the severe problems facing the citizens. They seem so busy trying to unleash hatred for the ‘other’ along the Hindu-Muslim strain, that they don’t seem bothered whether we, the masses, live or die!
They can’t see the seriousness of it all, with basic infrastructures giving way, as Nature’s fury is on the rise… unabated floods and disasters hitting and killing so many among us. They don’t dwell on the rising prices of everyday commodities… rising to such an extent that it’s getting difficult to run the kitchen. They don’t talk of the rising numbers of the unemployed. They do not even acknowledge the fact that corruption has corrupted the education sphere in that dangerous full-fledged way, affecting the future of hundreds and thousands of our students. They don’t talk of the rising crime graph. They don’t seem bothered if hate crimes and lynch killings are happening more than often, in the midst of the communal pollution spreading out all around as never before. They don’t seem bothered if hundreds of us are rendered homeless after bulldozers destroy home after home. This is the plight of the citizens!
It gets obvious that amid this severe crisis cum havoc, all possible ways are being put forth by the Right-Wing to add to the communally tense atmosphere. Today, distractions are on, along with the Hindu-Muslim strain. Any crisis, big or small, is then dragged along those typical communal ploys to distract and hoodwink the masses. It’s an utterly painful situation. After all, Hindus and Muslims have lived together in this country for centuries. Mind you, co-existed with a certain level of respect and love for each other. Togetherness between communities was intact till about the 70s, where each community realized the differences and yet lived on par.
Though several of my parents’ and grandparents’ friends would not eat at our place, they would decline rather too subtly: “aaj hamara vrat hai” (today we are fasting). Probably, the non-vegetarian fare cooked in our homes came in the way, but it was so gently put through that there was nothing hurtful about it. Refinement or call it sensitivity was still intact, to a great extent.
Today there could be attacks on the food and fruit sellers along the various alibis, but we decided to keep away! There could be hundreds and thousands of food bloggers and foodies and food enthusiasts, yet not one stands up to voice their disgust at those Right-Wing communal tactics… unsparing even the daily wagers, all those hapless sellers!
Can food and fruit be spared from this Hindu-Muslim thing? I’m reminded of what Sufi Hazrat Nizamuddin said – words along the strain: when our Creator didn’t discriminate between countries and communities and castes and creeds whilst spreading out His bounty – sunshine and trees and fruits and rivers and the air we breathe – then who are we, the fragile human beings, to interfere and throw about those don’ts?
Where are the watchdog groups that could order the communal characters to shut up just there and then, so that they can’t get further with their communal ploys? Today, it’s getting frightful how television debates take place; shrieks and counter-screams, never really focusing on actual issues and genuine concerns of the citizens… Even at the cost of being repetitive, let me say only a handful are speaking out… resisting the poisonous unleashes spread out by the Right-Wing forces, who seem as though determined to push the already battered, shattered communities into some sort of oblivion or towards hopelessness of the worst sorts, where even that basic confidence gets hit.
Looking back, as a child or even as an adult I wasn’t particularly confident about my knowledge of the various customs and also about the meaning tucked in the various greetings and more along the strain. Though my parents had engaged a maulvi sahib, there were few free-flowing meaningful discussions at home. In fact, I started saying ‘As-Salaam-Alaikum’ with a certain degree of confidence, only after Khushwant Singh insisted he would greet me with that greeting, after prefixing “Tum kaise Musalmaan ho… As-Salaam-Alaikum nahin kahtee ho!… This greeting carries such a beautiful meaning – May peace be on you.”
Let me also rather too sheepishly add that though Awadhi cuisine was famous and food was center stage in my parents’ home (my parents always employed a khansamah/cook and the dining table laden with at least three if not four dishes at every meal), but here again, I was somewhat apologetic about the non-vegetarian fare tucked in my tiffin.
I recall an incident from my school days that relays how children react to offbeats. It was during my father’s posting in Jhansi, with my younger sister Habiba and I enrolled in the St. Francis Convent, where lunch had to be ferried from home and eaten in a common dining hall. When Habiba would excitedly open the huge tiffin (got from home) and take out those hugely rounded rumaali rotis and kebabs, I used to sit all too embarrassed, more so as I’d look around and see the tiffins of the other kids stuffed with the usual daal and sabzis and smaller rounded rotis/phulkas… I recall even pinching my sister’s arms for over-displaying the rumaali rotis and inviting comments from the school kids, “Never seen these types of big, huge rotis… so different… you’re eating different stuff! Why not our type of rotis… our phulkas and daal. You’re different…”
All those subtle harmless taunts that one heard during those yesteryears seem all too harmless and subtle as compared to the dangerous ongoing communal unleashes, starting after the Babri Masjid demolition… the biased role of those at the helm ever so obvious, as though ‘okaying’ the dangerous build-ups.
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