We all are hypocrites!!!!!!!!!!!
We all are hypocrites!!!!!!!!!!!
When it is said that the muslims are denied houses to live in- whether as tenants or owners, it should not have come as a surprise, (the way it has), I presumed that we have already become accustomed to this harsh reality, and have accordingly adapted ourselves to it, like we do it in the case of roads in between potholes; strikes of public services disrupting our life in reaction to something done or said in the other corner of the world or bomb blasts or communal riots carried out to fulfill the adventure streak of the political parties and so on.
But as usual I was wrong.
It was in 2004 in suburbs of Delhi when in the process of house hunting we were struck in between two projects to choose from, that the marketing guy of one of the projects while enlisting his project’s merits told very proudly that none of the buyers are muslims. As far as I remember the conversation went as follows;
Marketing guy (MG): besides other advantages I have mentioned earlier, the biggest difference you will feel will, when you come to live here.
We: (stared blankly at him,waiting for him to elaborate)
MG : you see you will have like minded people around you. While buying a property it matters a lot to be around people who are like you.
We: (we continued to stare wondering how he knows what kind of mind do we have)
MG: (elaborating through a floor plan) see this is bought by Mr…….. Khanna, this one by………….. Mr. Ghosh, this one by Mr…………Garg and this one is under our consideration.
We: (at this point my husband chuckled) going by the names it seems we are going to have a multi regional pot pourri here.
MG: another thing sir, you will not find a single muslim here.(he offered by gesture to show us the possession chart of the whole project)
We: (at this point my interest was attracted) and why is that so?
MG: we tell them that no flats are available, the whole project is already sold.(he had said with a self satisfying expression)
His documents on the paper were crying out loud that he was lying,( a number of flats were still unsold), a lie he was not ashamed of confessing, but was using as a tool to convert prospects into buyers, people before us must have appreciated it that there will be no muslim among them, that is why he was continuing with this strategy. I suddenly felt ashamed that he considers me as ‘like minded’ to them.
On my way back I had asked my husband ‘then where do they live?’ He had told me that they live in their areas and that you will rarely find a hindu there, as you don’t find a muslim here. ‘so if they want to live in such premium apartments is it imperative that their fellow brother turns a builder and build for them only? Will they let us buy their creations? Rather will we buy in their area? And if we do not invest in their projects, will their projects be tenable? Are there sufficient number of muslims to afford heavy investments to make real estate projects ’only for them’ economically sustainable?’
On reaching home, I tried to find out a few muslim real estate investors. You try to do it too, in your leisure time while you ponder on the following questions as well:
· By forcing to create separate ‘hindu ilaka’ and ‘muslim ilaka”, are not we creating ‘area bombs’, the likes of which can be sampled in the form of jammu and Kashmir, where ultimately the fight between two religions has become a war of two regions.
· Why in my whole musings above I have used ‘they’ for them and ‘we’ for ‘us’?
Why has this demarcating line become so clear that no one asks for any clarification? Why is a demarcating line necessary afterall?
Am I also a hypocrite when I call them' they'?
When it is said that the muslims are denied houses to live in- whether as tenants or owners, it should not have come as a surprise, (the way it has), I presumed that we have already become accustomed to this harsh reality, and have accordingly adapted ourselves to it, like we do it in the case of roads in between potholes; strikes of public services disrupting our life in reaction to something done or said in the other corner of the world or bomb blasts or communal riots carried out to fulfill the adventure streak of the political parties and so on.
But as usual I was wrong.
It was in 2004 in suburbs of Delhi when in the process of house hunting we were struck in between two projects to choose from, that the marketing guy of one of the projects while enlisting his project’s merits told very proudly that none of the buyers are muslims. As far as I remember the conversation went as follows;
Marketing guy (MG): besides other advantages I have mentioned earlier, the biggest difference you will feel will, when you come to live here.
We: (stared blankly at him,waiting for him to elaborate)
MG : you see you will have like minded people around you. While buying a property it matters a lot to be around people who are like you.
We: (we continued to stare wondering how he knows what kind of mind do we have)
MG: (elaborating through a floor plan) see this is bought by Mr…….. Khanna, this one by………….. Mr. Ghosh, this one by Mr…………Garg and this one is under our consideration.
We: (at this point my husband chuckled) going by the names it seems we are going to have a multi regional pot pourri here.
MG: another thing sir, you will not find a single muslim here.(he offered by gesture to show us the possession chart of the whole project)
We: (at this point my interest was attracted) and why is that so?
MG: we tell them that no flats are available, the whole project is already sold.(he had said with a self satisfying expression)
His documents on the paper were crying out loud that he was lying,( a number of flats were still unsold), a lie he was not ashamed of confessing, but was using as a tool to convert prospects into buyers, people before us must have appreciated it that there will be no muslim among them, that is why he was continuing with this strategy. I suddenly felt ashamed that he considers me as ‘like minded’ to them.
On my way back I had asked my husband ‘then where do they live?’ He had told me that they live in their areas and that you will rarely find a hindu there, as you don’t find a muslim here. ‘so if they want to live in such premium apartments is it imperative that their fellow brother turns a builder and build for them only? Will they let us buy their creations? Rather will we buy in their area? And if we do not invest in their projects, will their projects be tenable? Are there sufficient number of muslims to afford heavy investments to make real estate projects ’only for them’ economically sustainable?’
On reaching home, I tried to find out a few muslim real estate investors. You try to do it too, in your leisure time while you ponder on the following questions as well:
· By forcing to create separate ‘hindu ilaka’ and ‘muslim ilaka”, are not we creating ‘area bombs’, the likes of which can be sampled in the form of jammu and Kashmir, where ultimately the fight between two religions has become a war of two regions.
· Why in my whole musings above I have used ‘they’ for them and ‘we’ for ‘us’?
Why has this demarcating line become so clear that no one asks for any clarification? Why is a demarcating line necessary afterall?
Am I also a hypocrite when I call them' they'?
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