[Reader-list] gujarat today: first person account

Tue Apr 16 18:08:35 IST 2002

Dear All

I have brought this from another list. But it needs to be read, and 
as the writer - Shabnam Hashmi - writes at the bottom, the silence 
needs to be broken.

Monica
------------------------------

  Date: 15 Apr 2002 16:49:21 -0000
    From: "shankar chandra" <shankarchandra at rediffmail.com>
Subject: Re: Fw: 17 April PROTEST MARCH

this was written by Shabnam Hashmi, the wife of film-maker Gauhar 
Raza who was shooting a film in gujrat. please circulate it to as 
many people as you can to show that we can, that we will unite in 
protest against
fascism. let us break the silence.
shankar.

>Gauhar bhai, jab mera beta akele bahar jata hai, main use nazar bhar
>ke dekh leta hoon, he said as we were leaving. The atmosphere was
>very tense, we knew it was not safe on the roads but we couldn't tear
>away ourselves from him. Educated, refined, sensitive
>
>He talked to us for over two hours. He broke down a number of times,
>apologised and started crying again. His house was not burnt, no life
>was lost in his family. And no one asked him if he was alive, not
>even close friends
>
>The city is full of traffic. An old acquaintance tells me normalcy is
>returning.
>
>Gauhar is recording at the studio in a market place, my 15 year old
>son, Sahir, has run out of film rolls, we go to a shop and buy rolls.
>We see the cameraman, going towards the car. Sahir asks me : where is
>abbu? In the middle of the returned normalcy the shopkeeper loudly
>repeats the word Abbu. I ask Sahir to run to the car and I run
>upstairs to see if Gauhar is still in the studio. He has left. By the
>time I climb down, the shopkeeper is talking to someone on the phone.
>I hear clearly, "the boy said abbu, must be Muslims". I run to the
>car, Gauhar is standing outside; I push him inside and tell the
>driver to immediately start.
>
>Two Muslim kids are not so lucky. They dare to come to CG Road to eat
>at a fast food joint. Surrounded and beaten up, they somehow escape
>leaving the car behind.
>
>They have defied the VHP's ten commandments, which asks all Hindutva
>followers not to buy anything from a Muslim shopkeeper and not to
>sell anything from their shop to such elements!
>
>Yes, normalcy has returned to Modi's Gujarat.
>
>Mujib bhai informs us that there are 10,200 people in the Aman Chowk
Camp.
>
>His eyes are absolutely expression less and defocused, he is not
>looking at us but stares somewhere in the distance-they removed all
>her clothes and raped my aunt, my nani tried to save her, they
>chopped her hands and then burnt them alivehe is only seven and is
>from Naroda Patiya.
>
>There used be regular RSS shakhas in their village-they were from
Mehsana.
>
>The commotion had started around 11 in the morningThe RSS in their
>khakhis, the Bajrang Dal members were going on scooters to other
>surrounding villagesand finally the mob arrived, leaving behind
>tales of brutalities and barbarism
>
>I am suddenly feeling very uncomfortablemy sandles are full of black
>soot I begin to cry, I can visualise the bookrack where hundreds of
>books must have been before they were turned into soot. This is an
>advocate's house
>
>The next house is Justice Divecha's; his wife shows Gauhar the burnt
>clock, which is still showing the time of the attack. There is
>nothing in these two houses, not even memories. We see the remains of
>the citizen's award on the wall, a few patrol bombs.
>
>The next house is half burnt, the goons have spared the lower
>portions of the walls, they have obviously used gas here
>
>Naroda Patia, Gomtipur, Chartoda Kabristan camp, Dariapureverywhere
>the same stories, one more horrendous than the previous one.
>
>We hid all the children in a room, first the police fired and then
>they gave a green signal to the mob, the looting, killing, torching
>of houses, gang rape began, the police realised that someone had
>hidden the children in a house, they break the wall and hurl a tear
>gas shell inside
>
>Vajpayee ji, you have the courage to show your face to these people.
>Or will you just write another meaningless verse and get it endorsed
>by 
>
>Ahsan Jaffery had dared to campaign against Modi during the
>by-election The message is clear, the goons, beat him up, hack his
>body into three parts, carry his head in the colony, urinate on his
>dead body and then burn him.
>
>The NDA must keep quite, Paswan ji would loose his minister ship,
>Naidu has closed his eyes, they are true Gandhi followers-bura mat
>dekho, bura mat suno
>
>Father is very angryhe shows us an official press note, released by
>Naushir Dwedi, PS to the Health Minister of Gujarat. The press
>release terming the following organisations as terrorist outfits
>accuses the Citizen's Initiative, St. Xaviers's Social Society and
>others of defaming Gujarat internationally.
>
>We are about to leave from another relief camp when we meet two
>doctors. They meet us very cordially and the one of them takes out
>pen and paper. He wants to know where have we come from, needs our
>addresses as the govt. has instructed him to keep a record of
>everyone who enters the camp. Another survey?
>
>We are sitting with a very close friend, every peace attempt has been
>attacked. Peace dharna at IIM, the Gandhi ashram meeting, the peace
>hoardings, there is hopelessness, despair, He tells us our only hope
>now is solidarity from other states, if you don't mobilise support
>then we are doomed
>
>He is leaving for his meeting, I shout after him-I will come back
>soon, he returns hugs me tightly and runs away, I know he is crying...
>
>Every time we get down from our car to shoot, Father Cedric reminds
>my son that his name is Siddharth, his father's name is Ramesh, don't
>say abbu
>
>We named him Sahir, after the great poet
>
>We are doing out last interview with an extremely enlightened
>professor, direct descendant of Wali Gujrati
>
>We had a meeting of progressive writes and Majrooh Sultanpuri, Majaz,
>Sahir Ludhyanwi, Josh and many more came from all over India. Josh
>sahab wanted to visit Wali's tomb first, I took him there Wali was
>the father of the Urdu language
>
>The professor is now 70+, a fighter all his life. He has lost all
>hope, his grand children are playing outside, they are not going to
>school
>
>Wali's tomb has been raised to the ground, we are shooting the tarred
>road. Father has seen enough activity on the road to caution me to
>call Gauhar and Sahir, we have to leave immediately
>
>We pick up our luggage and are about to leave. Suddenly this friend
>says she wants us to see something  I had hoped all these weeks,
>after reading Harsh Mander's article that he was wrong on at least
>one account, but all my hopes were shattered. The young lady has
>brought photographs, photographs of not one pregnant woman but seven
>different charred bodies, the unborn child, still clinging to the
>split stomachI am totally shattered
>
>I have to go back.
>
>I imagine I am telling my friend-I will come back again and not
>alone. If they are not letting you speak, we will come and speak.
>
>Will you join me in breaking the silence?
-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net