Muslims Seek Durga's Blessings

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God's too big to fit into one religion. But he's still one

>From Pioneer News

Saugar Sengupta/ Kolkata

 

"the Mother prefers my fruit to those of her Hindu children."

Muhammad Bilal, Bengali Muslim

 

What beats isn't always the stick. More often, it is the heart. And

every heart doesn't crack at the sight of catastrophe. There are many

which pick up the scattered limbs to recreate man.

 

Seventyfour-year-old Chand Khan, a victim of riots, is one such limb

who considers himself a minute part of the relentless epic. "Maalik,"

he feels, "is one. It is the same powerhouse that provides light to

entire mankind."

 

Chand Khan is by no means a minority. Like him, a multitude of

Muslims at Kolkata's Muhammad Ali Park, feels proud to be associated

with one of the highly-rated Durga Pujas drawing over five lakh

visitors annually. Though the lion's share of the Rs 15-lakh budget

is met by sponsors and businessmen down the busy Central Avenue, a

chunk of the local Muslim populace volunteers a reasonable

donation. "Those who cannot give the chanda make up by providing

drinking water to visitors," says Mansoor Ahmed, a committee office-

bearer. And the lame Ajiz, a local pick-pocket, suspends his passion

for four days of puja and reverts to a vegetarian diet in repentance.

The celebrations that started elsewhere in 1967 had to be shifted

following a Government order to the Muhammad Ali Park in 1978, "when

local Muslims voluntarily came forward to take part in the Puja,"

maintains Vinod Sharma, the committee secretary.

 

 

 

Take for instance, fruit vendor Muhammad Bilal who quite haughtily

affirms that "the Mother prefers my fruit to those of her Hindu

children." There could be a communal tinge in Bilal's statement

but, "I prefer to be communal than shun the Mother." The poor vendor

trudges all the way to Sealdah to procure the phal prasad. His

affinity with Durga doesn't, in any way, make him a lesser Muslim. In

between his business at the pandal, he spreads out a chadar to offer

his namaz five times a day. Beneath his flowing beard, Bilal hides

his generous khuda whom he worships in the form of Durga.

 

 

 

Concedes Javed Khan, a local businessman and hotelier, with a

chuckle: "I don't deny there is a communal divide. Often, Muslims

jostle with their Hindu brethren for space in the pandal during

Pushpanjali. And, you have to see the crowd of Muslims during the

distribution of khichri to comprehend oneness."

 

 

 

Assimilation or not, by an unspoken writ, the entry of beef is

prohibited in the predominantly Muslim vicinity during puja, claims

Ejaz, a local resident. "Many households stop roasting chicken during

the festivities. Most locals have mutton instead, as they know that

sheep is only allowed to be sacrificed before Shakti," says Sahid, an

active member of the Puja committee.

 

 

 

Interestingly, what has accumulated over the years around the

Muhammad Ali Park has begun to trickle down to other parts of the

city as well, with a host of other puja committees in Khiderpore and

Kalighat boasting of more and more Muslim and Christian

functionaries. Not surprisingly, when Law Graduate Alamgir Reza

chants, "Ya Devi Sarbabhuteshu Shakti Rupen Samsthita..." to follow

up with "sarva dharma samanwaya sarva bhava rakshaye," you get the

mandatory goose pimples.

 

 

 

True, what bleeds isn't always religion. As a rule of nature it is

pure blood - that glues man and his limbs.