The day (30.09.2010), on which the Ayodhya verdict was to be announced, I was, as usual, at my office and was unaware of the event being all detached from any kind of news sources those days. At 12 noon my colleague came over to my chamber to ask me what time I had decided to leave the office that day. Not quite understanding her question I, waited for a clarification at which she informed me that, after 3 pm the Ayodhya verdict was to be declared and that our boss instructed us to leave the office long before 3 fearing a religious riot might break out as it did 18 years back at the time of demolishing of Babri mosque. The issue was seriously sensitive. As we live in a country where probably the worst of all worst religious riots took place claiming thousands of lives, we dare not to keep trust on our country fellow for keeping peace!
Listening to and understanding what we were supposed to do on that afternoon, I had a peculiar kind of feeling. At one end I was happy that I would have a half day off and could relax or do whatever I wanted back home, but at the other, I was amazed at the thought that the verdict may fuel up another religious riot!, the one in which people of different religions kill each other in the name of saving the existence of a religion! We have witnessed so many times that on crisis, The Hindus save Hinduism, Muslims save Islam, Sikhs save Sikhism, Buddhists save Buddhism, Christians save Christianity, but only God knows who saves Humans and Humanity!
The thought bugged into my brain and I got myself a little more time to think on the issue. I surfed on the net immediately about the latest news on the dispute. It was 12 noon then and I had a little more time even if I decided to leave the office before 3pm. I found from the news that some parts of the country with equal or unequal concentration of Muslim and Hindu population were kept under careful vigilance. Even parts of my city, Kolkata, where the Muslim population is greater were kept under special police attention. Astonished, as I couldn’t quite believe that our generation could really go into such a thing called a Religious Riot on the basis of the verdict and wouldn’t stop others if anything really of that kind came into happening. I couldn’t quite understand whether the recent generations of the Ayodhya victims could indulge themselves into another massacre. I understand their pain, may be not as deep as they do, but at the same time don’t they understand the fruitlessness of what happened that time? Don’t they still suffer from what the people that time thought right in the name of saving the religion and its existence?
I felt like taking a chance. I wanted to stay at the office till 6 pm and then go home after 3 hours of the verdict being announced. I felt like verifying my trust on my fellow countrymen and stand firm till the moment of crisis came. But I couldn’t stick to this thought for too long too. The other thought of having a half day off at work couldn’t be dropped at one go. Given the trust on the national integrity on one hand and a half holiday on the other, a person like me would joyfully accept the shame of distrusting the nation and grasp the opportunity of having a half day off. So I couldn’t keep trust on my country fellow, I feared of a religious riot, drew images of daggered, chopped, burnt carcasses scattered along the city streets, smog and darkness at every nook and corner of the city, either silence or crazy scary screams all over, quivering hearts inside the four walls, terrified eyes through the holes of the windows and a curfew at the end. Then I left the office at 2 pm. While on the way home, I noticed the roads to be a bit deserted.(may be 2 pm in the afternoon, early enough from the back-home rush hours, had its usual appearance and least passers-by). I first tried to think, it might be the natural appearance of the roads, but then I had to look scared, I had to distrust our national integrity, so I figured it out to be the effect of the crisis right ahead.
While on the rickshaw, the last ride to my home, I couldn’t even help alerting a few of my Muslim friends to take care, through sms. And then the fact stroke my mind that if I, being a responsible citizen of this country, chose to accept the half day off not giving any thought to what actually I should have done in this situation, how on earth I blame on my very own country people for causing a religious riot! No fancy that they too had their choice of action. If I can fall for such a trivial thing and keep my social responsibility at bay with this easiness, cant the others do the same?
I may justify my action by telling that it was just a trivial thing and no harm I did to anybody by doing that. No body would be suffering for my action by any means. But doesn’t that also imply that the other persons who demolished the Babri mosque, who fueled up the fire, who killed numerous people in the name of religion had their own kind of excuses? Couldn’t they as well have noble justification to their action as I have?
I don’t know what the other people of my city, my country did on that afternoon; whether they went back home early, shut down their businesses or braved the situation, but certainly know some people like me surely took the advantage of that so called crisis.
We talk big when it comes to bring positive changes to our country life, but little do we think about changing ourselves, while the magic wizard lies in our very own hands.
Reaching home, I switched on the TV and stuck to it until the verdict was announced. Finally by 5 pm it came out. The judges at the Lucknow court played safe by distributing the land in question in equal parts among the three groups of claimants. With the judgment, some were happy, some were unhappy too, but to our greatest relief, no riot broke out. But the issue even after 18 years showed us clearly where we actually stand and consequently, raised the question once again:
Will we ever be able to change ourselves? Will I ever be able to change myself?...if not, what’s in talking big on changing the whole country!!
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