Re: [Arkitect India] A Tale of Two Mosques That Do Not Exist

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ajay mahajan

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Aug 30, 2010, 9:30:45 PM8/30/10
to arkite...@yahoogroups.com, keerti jayaram, jaya gmail, Ishteyaque Ahmad, apoorvanand, ram puniyani, lalita ramdas, Meeta Sunny, Prof Mridula Mukherjee, delhi-environmen...@googlegroups.com
those new to the conversation... pl see the moving mails below first if you can.... 

I found tanvir and hridays mails mature, sensitive and moving. 

Tanvir has raised this an important issue at an appropriate and opportune time. Hriday has made it poignant and gently immediate. 
 
There are any number of us who are not narrow and bigoted in our views and faiths, who see no place for violence as a means to resolve conflicts or express emotions and who value understanding and compassion as integral to our faiths. 

Many of us have lived through several situations of communal violence and engaged with them as best we then could. Often the non bigoted, 'secular' citizens are slow to wake up, get moving and have come together in the immediate aftermath of events of extreme communal violence. There were significant redeeming citizens initiatives like in the aftermath of the anti-sikh riots of 1984, mumbai in 1992-3. provinding much needed relief and support to victims and preventing the situations from worsening further. Undersandably, sometimes, we were taken by surprise at the suddenly and rapidly occurring events. And also we are not organised like the communal and bigoted are. 

Imagine the difference it would make if we would express ourselves, share, take initiative, come together in whatever ways and forms beforehand, to try and prevent and pre-emt violent situations. On coming together as citizens, it can be v effective to engage the authorities concerned, to be prepared to ensure that no violence is allowed to take place and is checked at the outset. 

I say this, also on the basis of experience. A diverse and motley ever growing group of us did this in the broad Okhla area of Delhi in 1992, post the Babri Masjid demolition, to very effective, dramatic results. By getting together as citizens across communities and classes and then also engaging with authorities. A right wing political party was attempting to incite trouble by exploiting the communal situation. The citizens initiative took the wind out of their sails so completely that they had to abandon their plans and this preemted any violence or incidents whatsoever in that communally charged atmosphere.

I have no doubt the best and most effective time to move and act is before events unfold, like now in the case of the upcoming Allahabad High Court judgement. 

I have learnt repeatedly from historians and some of India's celebrated bureaucrats that Riots and communal violence either cannot take place or can be controlled within hours if the political and bureaucratic adminstration is clear and decided about doing so.   

THis is the time to let them know that we know this. And also to express our non communal views and voices. Enough acrimony has been spread and lives have been lost on this issue over the last two decades. Enough is enough. No more violence and unhindered spreading of acrimony. It is high time we moved on differently. 
    
Peace and Trees

Ajay



--- On Sun, 8/29/10, vbs udaipur <vbs...@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: vbs udaipur <vbs...@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Arkitect India] A Tale of Two Mosques That Does Not Exist
To: arkite...@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, August 29, 2010, 8:08 AM

 

We all hope and wish for peace and kindness to and concern for each other.
Can we also do something that would make this happen?
Are there not enough of us?
Hriday Kant


From: Tanvir Salim <ssa...@comcast.net>
To: AMUNe...@yahoogroups.com; thealig...@yahoogroups.com; thegood...@yahoogroups.com; world ofaligs <worldo...@yahoogroups.com>; arkite...@yahoogroups.com
Cc: sufia...@gmail.com; ssa...@student.umass.edu
Sent: Sun, 29 August, 2010 12:25:38 AM
Subject: [Arkitect India] A Tale of Two Mosques That Does Not Exist

 

ASAK all,
 
The first one was demolished by the religious zealots under the watchful eyes of the government, and the another one is yet to be build. The one that was demolished was in India, a country vying to be the next super power, and the another one whose blue print is in the works, is in the United States, the only super power as of today's date.
 
The first one dominated our hearts and minds for the past couple of decades, and unfortunately thousands of lives were lost over this piece of land. One will think that nothing like that will happen in the United States, because the United States is a mature country, and people here are tolerant and believe in the co-existence of other religions, as they did immediately after the unfortunate event of the 9/11. The world is watching with apprehension, the way America is going to react. If we go wrong, then we will be giving the grenades in the hands of the people, who wants to see the basic principles on which this country is found, to crumble. These people are the same people who have hijacked a particular religion, a religion that stands for peace.
 
There is a verdict that is going to be delivered by the High Court for the demolished mosque in India. This has created uneasiness in India and nobody knows what will happen next. If we go by the events that happened in the past, we will be quick to see the gathering storm.
 
These are our times, and the events are going to be unfolding under our watch. We will do what the "silent majority" has been doing every now and then. We will complain, moan, point fingers and after everything is said and done, we will quietly slide back in our shells, in our comfort zones, and will wait for something else to happen somewhere else, so that we can again repeat, what we are good at.
 
This is the holy month of Ramadan, and most of us believe that in this month all our prayers are answered by the almighty Allah.
 
Let us pledge to take some time off and pray to Allah that the tale of these two mosques simply remain a tale, and no unwanted incident happens, and lets pray that we all could live in peace.
 
This is the least we can do.
 
Thanks
 
Tanvir Salim
B.Sc Engg 1983
Boston, USA
 


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