Inshaallah VS Hey bhagwaan

I had gone to Kashmir for an internship with a local English daily “separatist” newspaper. I was there for two months and once I returned, everybody used to ask me about my stay. Tired of repeating the same things again and again, today I wish to speak about something else.

There is a bunch of buddies in my class who call themselves the “bhai-log”. Syed Nabeel, a kashmiri muslim is best friends with Chirag Mahlotra and Gaurav chopra (both Delhi Punjabis) as well as Abhishek Kaul, a kashmiri pandit. Not only do these people hang out together, they have also gone on a 29-day all-India road trip on their bikes.
Each year, the four go to old-Delhi areas during the month of ramzan so that Nabeel shouldn’t be alone during his Iftar. Chirag’s family is Delhi-based and they are particularly fond of Nabeel.

Once I was back from Kashmir, I joined Hindustan Times. Peerzada Ashiq, a young Kashmiri is a close friend of Ashutosh Sapru, a KP who left the valley when armed militancy began. After a tiring day at work, I have often heard Ashiq murmur “Hey Bhagwan” without really being conscious that he is referring to a “rival God”. On the other hand, when someone asks Ashu if he would like to go back to Kashmir, he too, quite unconsciously says, “inshaallah”.

These might be small, irrelevant things. But I have been watching them closely ever since I came back from Kashmir and I feel that the so-called tags we all are made to adhere when we are young are often baseless.

We have notions about Muslims just as they have notions about us. I had never imagined the concept of “Halal” could have such a logical explanation behind it. Neither did anyone ever explain the concept of Roza.

When ‘panchtantra’ was being written by Vishnu Sharma centuries ago, he must never have thought of restricting the beautiful moral stories to Hindu children. In the same way, the stories of tilism-e-hoshruba would fascinate a Hindu child as much as it would attract the attention of a Muslim kid.

I, in my post, haven’t said a word about my stay in Kashmir. Because the love that people showed me there and the affection I have developed for them is way beyond words. When hearts meet, all barriers are broken and all that remain is the feeling of being “one”. All I can say that in my 20month stay, I never NEVER missed my folks. And after the period got over, I have been pining to get back to Kashmir. This, despite the fact that all my friends, my room mates, my colleges- everybody was a Muslim. I hardly met any pundits there.

To my parents shock, I have more Muslim friends now. And though they may never understand what I feel for them, I know they have created a place for themselves in my heart just as I have done so in their hearts and their lives.