Oct 05: 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.