Happy Birthday

…to me! Thank you, Thank you. It has been 25 useless years to date- a quarter century nonetheless. I celebrated it with a signature 12-hour sleep perhaps analogous to the life I have lived to date.

Birthdays mean nothing to me. It was purely coincidental I was born on this date- well, I was born, they tell me, at 12:01 AM (7^th Oct-8^th Oct) - so much for controversies. If we started at what we now claim to be March 1^st as January 1, I would have been born on August 8^th, which is more significant for me than 8^th Oct- why? Freedom of choice, as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. That is why when people go gung-ho on 15^th August and January 26^th, not to mention 2^nd October (purely again for Gandhi only, a certain Mr L B Shastri was also born that day, FYI), I am awestruck. How does it even matter to be proud of that tricolor for 2-3 days in a year and as much as ignore it to say the least for the remaining! For me, everyday is a celebration of life. But then again, I know much better than to hurt so many of my friends who remembered me having been born this day and wished me- even when I am no longer on Orkut! Thanks so much. Had I been in college now, people would have been vouching to do the obvious, well, assuming they could lift me up now ;) Darn! I miss having my b’day celebrated in tea-board, IISc.

And whats special this day? Lets see. “Violence breaks out in Mangalore again” Wow this is the top story on rediff! My ‘friends’ would now be thinking in terms of life being so apt to ones birthdays. For a hate-monger, this is the best gift they would say- like I give a damn, but nonetheless. Let me tell you about my experiences with communal violence in that area – my Mangalore:

Year 1992: I was in 7^th Standard. All I remember was that a certain Babri “masjid” was demolished. A small scale demonstration broke out in Mangalore and a lot of people were arrested symbolically. (I later came to know they were given a banana and let go). I could not figure out then, why a structure was important to be destroyed even if a certain Hindu ‘God’ was born there. Of course, my social studies courses wouldn’t tell me that there existed a temple at that site before destruction by Babur in 1527. This I came to know from Encyclopedia Britannica (a friend showed this to me) under entry “Ayodhya”. (Also read ASI findings by Prof B B Lal, I read it in ‘Manthan’ in 1990/91- there have been claims of independent ‘experts’ having found otherwise, who these experts are, I dont know, probably a Patwardhan or a Ashghar or a certain “Dr” Shrivastava who claimed that a mosque was built on a mosque, as expected without evidence- and I’d rather not believe these morons. After all, we aren’t YOUR monkeys either, Mr Pat ;). I then wondered why would Babur do such a thing- for all you know, he had enough land nearby where he could have built as big a mosque as he wished. But why that particular site? This context is pertinent when thinking of why the mosque was razed, according to me. A lot has been said and done on this topic. So I guess I will keep to what I saw in Mangalore at that time.

Year 1998: I was in 1^st year Engineering then. I commuted from my house in Mangalore to my college in Suratkal (19 kms). It was close to year end and the semester exams were looming large, (and as usual, I was short on attendance which means I had to attend every class). The bus in which I was traveling was stopped at Kulai, midway between Krishnapura and Hosabettu stops- some 8 kms from my college. I later came to know that the following had happened from a friend who lived in Suratkal: “A Muslim youth harassed a Hindu girl when the brother of the girl, tried to intervene. That evening, a group of Muslims came over to the girls house in a ‘show of strength’ and then one thing led to another and we had a stand-off, which led to the situation.“ I walked all my way to college (along the beach with 4 more people – Sandeep, Srinivas and two more- I don’t remember who). I also saw police firing tear gas from “Karkera’s” (KRECians, NITKians rather, will identify this as the 2^nd-hand text book shop) and was caught up in college for 5 days before I was able to get back to my house in Mangalore.

All this time, I did not understand why The Hindu newspaper (and Frontline) would put it as a Hindu communal riot. The way I saw it, it was anything but. (Assuming, asking Hindu women to ‘burkha’ isn’t whats on your mind right now). It took me some time to realize that ‘The Hindu’ was Marxist- I mean, yes, ironically sadistic. Meanwhile, what I was slowly becoming aware was the fact that the Muslim population in this area was on a steady rise. I conclude this from the Malabarese Muslims (Moplahs, roughly meaning son in law in Arabic) and their language. A large influx of Muslims in this (Suratkal, Ullal and Panambur) area, I could somehow correlate to trouble.

Many other issues sprung up immediately (or I must say, I became more aware of them). For example, The Chennamma Maidan (Idgah Maidan) issue in Hubli (where as rumor has it, a group of Muslim Youth hoisted the Green flag inspite of a HC ruling against the Re 1/year lease for 999 years (!!) and a SC Stay Order I nthe disputed area) and the well known National flag hoisting issue, when the ‘Rashtradhwaja Gourava Samrakshana Samiti’ (Committee to protect the honour of the national flag) volunteers were beaten up and the flag brought down in an insulting fashion by the police backed by stone pelting by an ‘angry’ (for what reason? I don’t know) Muslim crowd. May I remind you that this was even before the Babri incident.

The Baba Budanagiri incident is another such. (A google search will return you just ‘secular’ sources. I encourage you to read with caution).

Then I read this. To tell you the truth, I was not surprised. Communal divide in Mangalore is evident in every walk of life. Bunder (Harbour) is the only place where Hindus and Muslims work together – more for need than out of willingness. The whole society is otherwise divided. Areas in Mangalore are divided as Muslim majority and Hindu majority. The division is not merely religious. The Malabarese Muslims speak Beary, a mixture of Malayalam, Arabic and I must say some local Tulu. In Mangalore people speak Tulu, Konkani and Kannada. The influx of Malayalam brings with it, the Kerala border just as it did with Kasaragod, which previously was under Karnataka, a dispute even to date. (That Karnataka has a border dispute with Maharashtra over Belgaum, tells me just how liberal Kannadigas are ;)

Apparently the current stand-off started at Bappnadu Durga Parameshwari Temple (a very famous temple in Bappanadu, near Mulky, 23 kms North of Mangalore), where during the Sharada Devi celebrations (part of Navaratri celebrations in Konkan area), a tabloid depiction of Bappa Beary (a Muslim king who apparently converted to Hinduism and built this temple on the banks of River Shambhavi) was shown bowing to the Goddess. I definitely do not know what pleasure whoever made this tabloid, derived from that experience. (It must have taken a lot of effort for someone to actually recognize Bappa beary also). But my point is this- If we are so communally sensitive, are we right in proclaiming that we are secular? Isnt this ironic that a secular state has so much communal hegemony vested in itself?

This stand off at Bappanadu has sparked off the other debate where the Bajrang Dal had purchased lawfully, in an auction, a cow slaughterhouse. Thus at the famous Kudroli temple, when, during the Sharada Visargana day, some Muslim youth tied to pack away cows – for obvious reason- and BD stepped in, a riot broke out. (For people thinking on the lines of freedom of speech/ expression of Muslims in eating beef, I contend with the freedom of speech/expression/non-eat-ability of cows).

What the report at Rediff or Samachar.com or even the stories/ fantasies at Hindu/ Frontline will not tell you is that the violence is not a fresh wound. It stems from a deep religio-social divide in the society. (Politics definitely has a role to play). Islam is a religion that was NOT peacefully ‘inflicted’ upon Hindus. It would be living in denial if one were to suppose that a tolerant religion will continue to remain so in the face of an aggressor. When people talk of ‘Sangh Parivar’ sparking off communal issues, I am forced to think, why is it necessary for them to do so? A quick glance a census will be a tip-off. Our appeasing governments have done no better than add fuel to fire. Are they entirely wrong? I think not. I see it as a counterweight. And unless the root cause is not healed, any solution is only a superficial one.

A lot has been said and done, but for now my heart bleeds for my Mangalore.