The old city’s geography may have not changed but the social matrix is sure changing. Serish Nanisettifinds out more
Peace signs Pigeons circle over the Mecca Masjid and life around the mosque is business as usual
The pigeons are back on the minarets of Mecca Masjid circling reassuringly and picking grain from the hands of the namazis. Also back throwing a human ring around the 313-year-old masjid are the fruit vendors, the biryani sellers, the bangle sellers and the bag sellers. It is as if nothing has changed from the Friday afternoon when the Zohar namaz was shattered by a blast that lifted a 5-inch marble slab off the ground breaking it into two. Passersby pause before moving on
, vehicle drivers slow down to catch a glimpse, as policemen with fibre glass shields and batons catch the shade of the entrance, the stream of people coming out of the mosque shows everything is alright.
“Agar panch dus saal pehle yeh hota to pandhra din ka curfew guarantee (if this had happened five or 10 years back a 15-day curfew would have been guaranteed). Despite the deaths of so many people things have returned to norma
lcy so fast. Yeh to kamaal ho gaya (it is a miracle),” says Rasool Miyan, a mango seller standing in front of the Unani Hospital. The other fruit vendors nod in assent.
Ahmed, the warki dealer, has seen it all from the vantage point of his shop beside the Mecca Masjid for the past 25 years. “Look at these people, even the loss of one day’s salary is a big loss,” he says pointing t
o the young men hammering away mechanically. “See the people who sell petty things nearby, losing one day’s earnings hurts their families,” he says.
Peeping and gawking from the minarets and the walkways of Charminar are young couples and colourfully dressed tourists who bring their ignorant curiosity and make the unknown fear disappear.
The change in the social matrix makes the pearl traders near Machli Kaman particularly happy. “There have been times when we couldn’t think of coming to the area or opening the shop for weeks on end when communal riots broke out. Now, there is only a minor interruption for a day or two,” says a pearl trader who didn’t want to be named but indicated that he lived near Mitti Ka Sher area.
Though no statistics are available at this point of time, most of the earlier communal conflagrations lasted for days as the spiralling incidents of stabbing, stoning and arson used to continue.
In the news would be densely populated areas like Mir Chowk, Moghulpura, Lal Darwaza, Kulsumpura, Shahalibanda, Dabeerpura, Yakutpura, Panch Mohalla, Talabkatta etc. Now, most of the cab drivers who zip through the city to pick up and drop IT workers come from these areas.
Talk to IT workers this link becomes more clear. “Most of the cab drivers are from the old city area. They know the city very well,” says Sailaja. “On Friday most of them groaned when they heard of the bomb blast (a number of IT firms announced a holiday which would translate into a day’s pay cut). Most of them own the cabs and have a contract whereby they get a fixed amount, they have to do a certain distance and pay for their own fuel,” says Sailaja.
“People are shocked by the incident and the loss of life also shows who is going to lose. This message has not been lost on the new generation in the old city. But people should not grow complacent, there are enough politicians and religious leaders around who want to create trouble,” says Khadir, a cab driver who now has a stake in the new economy with his Indica.
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