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Lost In Time
Lost In Time
Divisions
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Yesterday, I was in an area that is inhabited largely by Muslims. The person who showed me around the place told me it was referred to as 'little Pakistan'. I was outraged because I am an Indian and my sense of patriotism was deeply hurt. Moreover, being Muslim means that my allegiance is to my country, the country I live in. I was upset. Each time we see Indian Muslims being questioned over their loyalty to their country and here was a man who was gleefully telling me about how the area he lived in was nicknamed 'little Pakistan'. Later when I went back home, his words set me thinking. I have never been victim to communalism, never faced any direct repercussions to Hindu backlash, and never but once lived in an area which had only Muslims. After the riots in the 'early 90s, he said that many Muslims were killed, and many made this particular area their home. And the many Hindus living there fled their homes, sold them, and even now, there are a few Hindu families who are slowly trickling out of the area after finding suitable buyers for their homes.
It feels like I am waking up to an alternate reality, one which I wasn't aware of earlier. The smaller the city or town, the deeper the trench, the more profound the divide. It wasn't that I was completely unaware of it. But seeing it played out so visibly in front of your eyes is very disturbing. As a child, my parents had never asked us to differentiate between Muslims and other religions. They were just people, good or bad. But in primary school, in Bidar, there was a stark divide between children, Muslims, who were told by their parents to not mingle with others and vice versa with the Hindu children. Not accustomed to this, my brother, sister and I were surprised and told our respective classmates to join together. After that everyone started playing together.
I feel its parents who feed discrimination and division into minds that do not have fixed ideas yet. Even in later years, there were always a few students who didn't mingle with other religions. But in the face of friendship, all barriers fell. Living in larger cities, and among mixed populations, access to affluence, all of these break barriers. Unfortunately, the current trend seems to be "ghettoisation" of communities. Muslims don't get homes for rent if the owners are Hindu, there are housing societies or apartment blocks that have only Muslim resident, there seems to be some effort to instill fear into peoples' minds that living among your own communities or ethnic groups would ensure complete safety. In smaller towns there are alsosevere caste related differences. Maybe this was an idea perpetuated by the British that Muslims are only a rung higher than Dalits, (I haven't researched it, but I do remember reading about it in Mulk Raj Anand's novel), but this is what is practiced in reality. In effect, there is so much of fragmentation everywhere. Little islands of the same ethnic groups huddled together in anticipation of an attack that may never come.
I don't like to live in a wholly Muslim area. It is stifling. There is more diversity and scope for growth when you aren't forever worrying about what your community in the same neighbourhood might say. Because of the recent spate of bomb attacks lamed on terrorists who happen to be Muslim, there is an increasing pressure on the Muslim community in India, and maybe worldwide too. People take two directions in reaction - they either become fiercely anti-Hindu, become zealots, and go to the extent of communicating, and mingling only with the Muslim community; the other direction that many take is to wear a garb of pseudo-modernism. Where you dissociate with anything to do with Islam, or being Muslim, or practicing Islam. All this negative media on Islam is making many Muslims distance themselves from Islam. I feel one does not have to stop practicing Islam in order to be seen as a law-abiding citizen, or to be seen as progressive, tolerant and most importantly, a good neighbour and helpful citizen to others.
Two years ago, a Canadian had asked me if I lived in a Muslim area or a non-Muslim area in India. To me it was absurd that anyone could think there were specially designated areas for people of a certain religion. I said, 'of course not', but the more I see it, the more reality strikes me, and hard.
All my life I have had friends from different religions, from different sections in my own religion, and these weren't differences that we were aware of. You would think education, migration, "melting-pot" scenarios would solve everything. Well, not in India. Whatever happened to diversity in plurality.

October 20, 2008 | 6:09 AM Comments  1 comments

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siddiq92 Siddiq al Hyder
June 28, 2009 | 1:23 PM
Little pakistan
There is nothing to worry about in somebody referring to that place as Little Pakistan- which literally means little Cleanly Place. take it light.
Identity crisis - this is the worst crisis faced by many in the world today! Politicians foment violence by inciting unnecessary propaganda against others-this is a well known fact. also, they make use of the phobias of the people about the unknown.
And about people living together according to their ethnicity or faith is a natural thing - Birds of same feather flock together. The same happens in US, UK, Canada & every Western Country. Chinese living in China town, indians in indian locality, etc.

In Quran, Allah says that He created people into nations, races, groups so that each identifies the other.
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