Valuable piece of advice from a stranger- I am an Indian and whoever has even a tad little idea about the sociopolitical culture of the country understands that Hindus and Muslims have had quite an acerbic history, especially after the carving out of Pakistan. Muslims have become synonymous with Pakistan for an average Hindu Indian and I must say that Muslims arent very fond of Hindus, either, at least thats what my general perception came out to be. I was 19 then. I was coming back to home from the college for diwali vacations. The berth below me belonged to an elderly person, around 60-65 most likely. When I boarded up, it was almost dawn. As my usual ritual (I sleep as much as I can while I am traveling, and in general as well.) is during the travel, I went to sleep straightaway. I got up in the morning when it was about 2-3 hours before I reached the home. The man was looking fresh, having finished his daily-routine and was feasting on some stuff that looked like dates to me. I am not sure. He was wearing the cap and the black mark on his forehead was clearly visible; must be a regular namazi (one who offers Namaz), I inferred. He: Beta, college me padhte ho? Me:Ji. He:Hmm. Bahut achche. Hamari bhi naatin yahin kisi college se kar rahi hai padhai. Me:Ji achcha. I did not know why, but I was not trying to be affable with him. Perhaps there were some remnants of mistrust that were still there within me, of which even my elite education couldnt get me rid of. That made me harbour a permanent cynicism for him, in fact his whole community. He kept trying to make casual conversations about random things. I also smiled and replied as curtly as possible. He offered me those date-kind-of stuff. I declined. My station was nearing. I started getting ready to get down and started moving my stuff from beneath the berths. I started leaving and bid him goodbye. He smiled and said, Zyada padha likha to nahi hun, par samjhta hun chizon ko. Allah ne to ek jaise hi banaye the sab, jaane kahan se ye bair aa gayi apne beech, ki mohabbat ka jawab mohabbat nahi raha. Tumne bhi yun dil band karke rakhe apne, jaise humne rakhe the apni jawani me, to maaf karna bete, par jawani yun hi bekar chali jayegi. Jinhone hume tumhe paraya kar diya wo to wahan gaddiyon par baithe tamasha dekte hain bas. Samjhna zaruri hai. Chunna zaruri hai. Mohabbat aur siyasat sath sath nahi chal sakte. Siyasat unke liye chod do. Apna kaam mohabbatein baantne ka hai. My station was about to come. I went and stood near the exit gate. I felt that the luggage I had been carrying was heavy. I alighted at the platform and looked through the window. The man was humoring a kid from the adjacent berth. He offered the kid a sweet date. The kid gleefully accepted.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 19:05:33 +0000
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