A Journalist Reveals Creativity, Sustainability and Spirituality – We reveal the unrevealed.
A very disgusting, disgraceful and dreadful thing happened in Mumbai on December 7, 1992. Babri Masjid was demolished and Mumbai began burning due to riots! I was studying then and was almost caught in the crossfire between the warring communities. Luckily, by God’s grace, I returned home in one piece. Taslima’s (is a real person and a very good friend of mine) telephone booth was burnt during the riots and she had to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. I wrote this story, The Human Bond! (Part III), after the riots were over for an additional course I was taking then. I am sharing the same here:
The Human Bond! (Part III)
Days passed and December gave way to January. One day, Radha was busy with an interview of a Parsi doctor a couple of blocks away from her hostel. When she came out of the building, she found people running helter-skelter. There were sounds of glass breaking in the nearby street.
Radha being a very curious girl went to investigate. The small street was littered with glass pieces. A whole group of men, holding glass bottles were running about. One man’s eyes fell on her. He yelled for the other people’s attention and started running toward her, holding a bottle aloft, ready to strike.
Shell-shocked, Radha stood rooted to the spot. All the logic had drained out of her. Suddenly, she felt her name being called. It was Taslima. She was sitting in her tricycle a few feet away from her, yelling. That did it. Radha ran toward her friend, who told her to jump into the vehicle. She promptly obeyed and sat awkwardly on the cycle behind Taslima.
Taslima began peddling fast, but not before the girls heard a glass bottle splinter right behind the vehicle. Within minutes, they had reached Taslima’s home.
“Beta, one day you saved my daughter’s life. We cannot repay you in any way. Whatever we do will fall short of full repayment. Please be comfortable in our small home and we will try to serve you the best we can. I know you are a Brahmin. We will cook only vegetarian food for everybody during your stay here,” Taslima’s mother said with tears in her eyes.
“Auntyji, please think nothing of it. Taslima has already repaid by saving my life and honor. I would love to stay with you for a while. I guess, one good turn deserves another,” Radha commented thinking of the significance of man-made barriers like religion, caste, creed, etc., which had made the human being a fanatic.
