29 OCTOBER 2010; A RATHER LACKLUSTER DATE, WITH A SLAPDASH 2 IMPISHLY PAIRED WITH AN EQUALLY CAVALIER 9, GIVING WAY TO A BLAND INDIFFERENT NUMBER,LOST OTHERWISE IN THE JAMBOREE OF DATES, ALL REPEATED STOICALLY IN CYCLES OF THREE SIXTY FIVE..
YET EMANATING MISERY, DEFEAT, VICTORY, INJUSTICE, HATRED...
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY ANGER...
AS WE WATCHED NERVOUSLY WITH EYES PROTRUDING OUT OF OTHERWISE CALLOUS SOCKETS, THE COUNTDOWN TO A DECISION THAT HAD BEEN SIXTY YEARS IN THE MAKING, THERE WAS A PALPABLE EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR, UNDERPLAYED EVERYONE TO A FAULT, BY NOISY POLITICIANS SINGING SURPRISINGLY SANGUINE MELODIES, BY CLUMSY NEWS CHANNELS THAT TRIED TO GLOSS THE MACABRE, AND FOR ONCE BREED LOVE IN PLACE OF THE VIOLENCE THEY HAD GROWN SO ADEPT AT...EVERYTHING HAD BEEN FORGOTTEN, THE PEOPLE WANTED PEACE, AYODHYA WAS A CHAPTER OF THE PAST, PAINFUL NEVERTHELESSM YET A CHAPTER THAT HAD BEEN TURNED OVER BY ALMOST EVERYONE, WEIGHED DOWN BY LEAFS OF MORDERNITY, WRITTEN IN THE CURSIVE OF SECULARISM.
ONLY WE HADN'T.
THE BOOK ALWAYS OPENED TO THE SAME PAGE. AND UNFORTUNATELY, IT WAS A STORY WE ALL LOVED TO READ..
I AM NOT A WITNESS TO THE HORRORS OF 1992, WHEN THE STREETS WERE COVERED IN BLOOD, WHEN WE CREATED HELL IN ALL ITS GLORY,WHEN SWORDS TALKED, AND HEADS ROLLED LIKE SPARE TIRES, DEFLATED, MUTED, BUTCHERED. I WAS A TODDLER THEN, CAREENING MY WAY UP THE EVOLUTION LADDER, EVEN AS MANKIND DESCENDED INTO UTTER PANDEMONIUM. YET IT AFFECTED EVERYONE, THE DUST THAT ROSE FROM THE RUINS OF BABRI CORRUPTED THE AIR, POLLUTING IT TO NO END.THE PLUMES WERE JUST AS DEADLY, BUT WORSE THEY WERE SILENT. THEY ENTERED THROUGH OUR NOSTRILS, ANGRILY SUCKED IN BY LUNGS THAT FELT CHEATED BY WHAT THEY BELIEVED HAD ALWAYS BEEN THEIR AIR. THEY WOULD DO THEIR JOB SOON, THEY KNEW IT. IT WASNT OVER YET.
I WAS SITTING IN THE CORNER OF MY CLASS WHEN THE DECISION WAS ABOUT TO BE ANNOUNCED. THERE WERE FOUR OF US, BOYS WHO HAD GLEEFULLY GOWN INTO MEN, WHOSE AFFLUENT LIVES HAD BLOCKED OFF THE RIGORS OF TRUTH, LIKE SUNCSCREEN, THOUGH MORE EFFECTIVE. WE KNEW LITTLE OF WHAT HAD PRECEDED US, YET WERE SKEPTICAL OF WHAT COULD SUCCEED. THERE WAS NO REASON TO FEAR THOUGH; JUST THE OTHER DAY THE DEAN HAD PROMISED US PEACE, THAT A MODERN DAY CAMPUS LIKE OURS THAT NURTURED ENLIGHTENED MINDS WOUDL NEVER BE BOUND BY THE SHACKLES OF RELIGIOUS ZEALOTRY. WE WERE RESPOSIBLE MEN AND WOMEN, THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW. RATIONALITY WAS PART OF OUR DNA.
OR SO WE THOUGHT.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE BABRI VERDICT?" I ASKED ONE OF MY FRIENDS, CITIF NO OTHER SEASONED DISCUSSION TO EMBARK UPON.
THE MAN WHOM I HAD ADDRESSED WAS ONE WHOM I ADMIRED FOR HIS DEMEANOR, HIS DEDICATION, AND HIS LACOSTE SNEAKERS THAT I HAD NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANYWHERE.
STILL, I WAS ABOUT TO BE SURPRISED.
"WHAT?" HE SAID PERHAPS TAKEN ABACK THAT I HAD ASKED HIM THIS.
"WOULD YOU MIND," I ASKED PLAYFULLY. "IF THEY DECIDE AGAINST US?"
US, A WORD THAT EVOKED A RESPONSE, PLAYING OTHERS INTO GLEEFULLY ACCEPTING HANDS.
WHICH IT DID...
I HAD MERELY INTENDED TO HUMOR HIM, AT BEST ELICIT AN EDUCATED OPINION. YET AS SOON AS HE HEARD THOSE WORDS, HIS EYES BLOTCHED WITH RED, HIS VOICE LOST ITS REGULARITY, ENTERING A DOMAIN I HAD NOT SEEN OR HEARD PREVIOUSLY.
"OF COURSE,!" HE REPLIED HAUGHILY, ALMOST SHOUTING IN THE PROCESS. "IT WILL ANGER ME IF THEY RULE AGAINST US. THAT LAND IS UNDOUBTEDLY OURS."
AND JUST LIKE THAT, I WAS FLABBERGASTED.
THE MAN SITTING ACROSS ME, A FRIEND WHOM I HAD BEFRIENDED YEARS AGO, NOW SEEMED CRIPLLINGLY UNFAMILIAR. HIS WORDS HAD PUSHED HIM DOWN THE ALLEYS OF RELIGION, A PLATFORM THAT I ALWAYS FOUND SHAKY AND HAD HENCE AVFOIDED STEPPING ON. JUST LIKE THAT, HE HAD ALIGNED HIMSELF WITH THOSE OF HIS KIND, MEN WHO REFUSED TO SEE REASON, WHO KNEW THEIR WANT ELUDED ANY CAUSE, AND HENCE RESORTED TO ANY MENAS POSSIBLE TO BEND THINGS THIER WAY. HE WAS ONE OF THEM, HE HAD ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF THEM. ONLY I HAD NOT CARED TO NOTICE.
SOON THOUGH MY COLLEGE ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS. MY CAMPSUS WERE CORDONED OFF, AS WE WERE HASTILY PUSHED OUT SO THAT PEACE COULD BE BROKERED, RENTED IF NOT BROUGHT. THE BUSES CEASED TO EXIST, ROOTED TO THEIR SPOT FOR FEAR OF BEING BURNT, OF BECOMING VENTS FOR HATRED, OUNISHED PERHASP FOR HAVING THE AUDACITY TO BE IN MOTION WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE HAD COME TO A STANDSTILL. COPS WERE OUT IN NUMBERS, PATROLLING THE STREETS LIKE DENIZENS, AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOMETHING, SOMEONE COULD ERUPT, A POSSIBILITY THAT HAD NOT LONG AGO SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE. THIS WAS US, SECULAR, UNITED, DEFIANT; SCARED, CHASTENED, HUMILIATED.
THERE WAS NO HOPE THEN. THERE WAS ONLY FEAR.
SOON THOUGH, THE SCREENS CAME ALIVE. CAMERAS BLINKED, AS CHANNELS LAID BARE THE VERDICT, SCANDALOUS, CLEAN AND IMPARTIAL. THERE WERE FLASHED SIGNS OF VICTORY, CALLS WERE MADE, SMILES EVERYWHERE, JUDGES WHO GRAPPLED FOR THEIR MINUTES OF FAME. THE GAMES WERE JUST AROUND THE CORNER, AND THE ENTIRE NATION BREATHED A COLLECTIVE SIGH OF RELIEF. THE POISONOUS PLUMES THAT HAD LONG INHABITED OUR INSIDES, THAT HAD TRESSPASED OUR HEARTS WITH SUCH IMPUNITY, HAD AT LAST BEEN EXHALED INTO OBLIVION. THERE WAS PEACE, BROUGHT MAYBE, BUT IT PROMISED TO LAST FOREVER.
FOREVER, NEVER, NOT.
AS NORMALCY TOOK BACK WHAT IT HAD INITIALLY LOST, AND THE EVERDAY STRUGGLE BECAME THE ENGAGING TROUBLE, I PUSHED THE ISSUE TO THE BACK OF MY MIND, CONVINCED LIKE OTHER THAT IT HAD BEEN ISOLATED WHERE IT WOUILD DIE A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH.
BUT IT WASNT OVER. FAR FROM IT.
AS I MADE MY WAY THROUGH A MUSLIM DOMINATED AREA, THE LUSHNESS OF THE LANDSCAPE DISAPPEARED INSTANLY BY THE GRAYNESS OF MELANCHOLY. THERE WAS DISAPPOINTMENT WRIT LARGE ON SEVERAL FACES. EYES STARED BACK, BEARDS ASKED QUESTIONS, VEILED FACES THAT MUMBLED PHRASES, FORMED THOUGHT THAT NEEDED NO WORDS. THE CAB DRIVER, A PIOUS HINDU DEVOTEE, STARED BACK WITH EQUAL DISPLEASURE, MUTTERING CUSSES AND PRAYERS THAT QUAINTLY SEEMED FAMILIAR. LOOKING BACK IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR HE CAUGHT MY FACE, AND THE INCERTITUDE WAS ENOUGH FOR HIM TO BLUSTER.
"KOI NAHIN SAHIB." HE SAID SMILINGLY. "WE WON!"
SO WHO WON THEN? WAS IT THE CAB DRIVER, HIS SNEER PERSISITING LONG AFTER HE HAD LEFT, OR WAS IT THE SHOPKEEPER WHO KEPT STARING AT THE TV SREEN WHILE HANDING ME MY DAILY RATIONS? WAS IT MY SISTER'S MUSLIM TEACHER, WHO ALWAYS SMILED AT ME JOCULARLY, BUT TURNED AWAY IN DISGUST ON SEEING ME TODAY? WAS IT THE SADHUS WO FLASHED THEIR TAINTED SAFFRON IN RAPTURE, OR THE MAULVIS WHO CURSED UNDER MUTED BREATH, VOWING TO AVENGE THE INJUSTICE?
WAS IT US, THE NEW LOT AS WE ARE CALLED, WHO WITNESSED ONE OF THE MOST DRAMATIC TRIALS OF OUR TIME, TRANSCEND TIME ITSELF, AND RELIGION, PERHAPS AN ENTIRE NATION, YET END IN SUCH UNCERTAINTY? OR WAS IT THEM, THE ONES WHO HAD SEEN BLOOD FAR TOO OFTEN TO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT IT FELT LIKE,SMELLED LIKE, TASTED LIKE, THOSE WHO HAD TODAY EXPERIENCED VICTORY, OR THOSE WHO HAD ENDURED DEFEAT?
WHO WON THEN? PERHAPS WE WILL NEVER KNOW..
THE LAND WAS CUT INTO THREE PARTS. IT DID NOT OOZE BLOOD, FOR IT HAD BEEN DRAINED OF IT LONG AGO. GOD WAS COMPROMISED, AS THREE PARTS CUT UP AN ENTIRE NATION..
AND WE ARE STILL STITCHING IT TOGETHER...
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