[Reader-list] Watch that bun-maska!

[mahmood farooqui]

Dilip,

Is it possible that you or people you know might be an exception in
their sense of ease regardless of demographics. Would you say it is
wholly untrue to say that a large majority of non-Muslims would be
quite uncomfortable, not necessarily because they are communalists but
for a variety of reasons, at finding themselves in a predominantly
Muslim area, ghetto or not. Particularly in the bigger cities where
the size of these conurbations may be very huge indeed.

Best,
Mahmood



On 21/04/06, Dilip D'Souza -- Sarai <dilip.sarai at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> In case anyone noticed, I missed my March (2nd) posting. Various
> reasons that I won't get into here. But I intend to make up in good
> measure (I hope). Here's something I just finished for this list (that
> I'm also trying to get published) as part of my project. Comments
> welcome. And more soon.
>
> cheers,
> dilip d'souza
>
> ---
>
>
> Watch that bun-maska!
>
>
> Strolling through the crowded streets of this city one morning last
> week, a man tapped me on the shoulder. "Are you from the
> Municipality?" he asked, perhaps because I had my little pad out and
> was writing down the words on an odd sign I had just seen. (A minor
> hobby). No, I said, I'm not from the Municipality. It's just that I've
> always wanted to walk around in this city's neighbourhoods, and this
> is one such walk.
>
> He smiled, then chatted for several minutes about the sign I had
> noticed ("Chicken Shop: Be Carefull With Wrong Weight"), the empty
> plot behind us where clearly some structure had once stood and been
> demolished, the heat of the April sun ... Then he smiled some more
> still, said "Good luck!", shook my hand, and walked off.
>
> Why do I mention this fairly routine encounter? Only because it got me
> thinking about an article I read a couple of years ago, published by a
> very impressive-sounding think tank. Its introductory blurb described
> the article as an "analysis" of the threat that Islamic fundamentalism
> posed to India. Its US-based author had written to me, urging me to
> read it and "educate" myself about this threat. Introducing himself,
> he claimed he was an "accomplished nuclear physicist", and also an
> "expert on Islamic fundamentalism."
>
> Now guys that refer to themselves as "accomplished" and "expert"
> invariably set alarm bells ringing in my mind. As in this case. Sure
> enough, this man's article was -- how do I put this nicely? -- an
> almost comical mish-mash of paranoia, twisted figures and lies that
> any self-respecting think tank editor should have flung in the trash.
>
> No wonder the man had to apply those laudatory words to himself. If
> this bit of writing was any indication of his capabilities, nobody
> else in their right mind would.
>
> But it was one sentence in this concoction, in particular, that came
> to mind during my stroll. "Non-Muslims," wrote the accomplished
> nuclear physicist, "rarely venture into areas of India where Muslims
> are in large numbers, fearing unpredictable, irrational behaviour or
> violence directed at them."
>
> There are quarters, you see, where bald assertions like this one
> qualify as "analysis".
>
> Anyway: here I was with a couple of friends, certainly in an area
> "where Muslims are in large numbers." This was the heart of Dongri,
> east of JJ Hospital. In three hours walking about, here's some of what
> we found. Bustling shops. Phone booths. Three men ironing clothes who
> asked us to take a photo of them. Young men zipping about on loud
> motorbikes, weaving dangerously close to pedestrians. Street vendors
> hawking trinkets. Owner of a massage place who told us, grumpily and
> to our great disappointment, that he had stopped offering massages
> only days previously; though if we wanted, we could pay him ten rupees
> and have a bath. (We declined). Shop-owner who chuckled when we asked
> for "Pepsi", not the multinational drink, but the common kiddie word
> for a frozen popsicle.
>
> And a man who chatted genially and shook my hand.
>
> Which of all this qualified as "unpredictable, irrational behaviour or
> violence" directed at us?
>
> Yes, I'm a non-Muslim, as is my wife and everyone in my family and the
> two friends I was walking with that day. For work, for a meal, for a
> special meal on a Ramzan night, for weddings, and even for no
> particular reason, all of us and many other non-Muslims I know have
> walked plenty of times through Muslim areas of India -- so much that
> "rarely venture" doesn't apply. Not once have we feared
> "unpredictable, irrational behaviour or violence" directed at us; not
> once has such behaviour or violence ever broken out. What we
> experienced in Dongri was just the normal, pretty much what we would
> experience in any densely packed urban neighbourhood in India. So
> normal, it didn't even really matter to us that this was a Muslim
> area. Much like Thakurdwar or Matharpacady, where we had been
> strolling two previous mornings, it was just another pocket of a great
> city. That's all.
>
> What explains the paranoia of the accomplished nuclear physicist?
>
> It matters to me, because a journalist friend's recent efforts to buy
> a flat were stymied because of his Muslim name. He has ended up buying
> in a Muslim area. (Not Dongri, but one like that). Yet now the same
> paranoia that turned him away, that left him with no choice but to
> live "where Muslims are in large numbers", will also tell the world to
> be wary of violence if they enter his neighbourhood.
>
> Now Islamic fundamentalism may or may not be a huge threat to India, I
> have no idea. I'm no expert. But when its critics use their own
> paranoid prejudice to paint it as such, and dress that up as an
> "expert" analysis, there's no reason in the world to take them
> seriously, even if they are accomplished nuclear physicists. And if
> you look at them and their writing like that, you'll know that the
> only irrational behaviour is theirs.
>
> And if you walk around the Dongris of this world, you'll know that
> they are no different from the Thakurdwars or Matharpacadys. That they
> are populated by men and women and kids, much like you.
>
> Then again, something I ate in Dongri gave me a mild stomach upset. I
> can see the words in a future "expert" analysis: "Non-Muslims rarely
> venture into areas of India where Muslims are in large numbers,
> fearing tummy upsets from their bun-maska."
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