रचना-संसार : मई 2025

गुरुवार, 29 मई 2025

गज़ा के नौनिहालों
तुम्हारे दुःख और पीड़ा की कोई तुलना नहीं है।
अगर यही सब चलता रहा
तब एक मिटती जा रही नस्ल के नौनिहालों
तुम भी एक दिन खत्म हो जाओगे।
तुम्हें इस ग़म को भूलने का कोई मौक़ा नहीं मिलेगा
सिर्फ़ ग़म है जो जिंदा रहेगा
और वह धरती भी
जो तुम्हारा बिछौना थी।

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Anand Bahadur, Chiragfoundation Drsabiha Banda and 33 others

शुक्रवार, 23 मई 2025

KUNJAD-KASAI (ENGLISH)

Kunjhad-kasaai

(lower cast in Indian muslims)

“Where do Kunjhad-butchers have manners…after all your Syeds have taken the contract of manners?” Muhammad Latif Qureshi alias M L Qureshi used to speak very little. Even if he spoke, he would speak like a tear in his shroud. In such a way that the person in front would be left swallowing blood.

Zulekha stared at him. Before spewing out every bitter thing, her husband Latif Sahab’s face tenses. There is no expression of pain or happiness. His eyes widen and Zulekha starts looking for a shield for herself. She knows that her husband’s bitter words are about to be fired.

Muhammad Latif Qureshi Sahab’s face was calm now. This meant that he was satisfied after shooting the arrow and wounding his opponent.

Zulekha wife got irritated--''Why are you dragging Syeds into this, we don't believe in casteism here.''

Latif Qureshi shot the next arrow at the target--''If you don't believe in casteism then why are your father and mother running around Bihar in their own community to find a bride for their only son? Are the girls here so immature or has the culture of the girls here changed?''

Zulekha started giving explanations--''Why will they bring a daughter-in-law from Bihar, when you already know, then why do you taunt. Hey....there is pressure from mother, grandfather and uncle to take the daughter-in-law from Bihar.''

''Wow brother, well said. If you want to marry a boy then there is pressure from mother and uncle, the marriage has to be done within the family. If you want to arrange the girl's marriage then find a boy with a job. Whether the caste is of weaver or Kunjar-butcher. Whatever it is, everything will be fine. Wow, wow...we have accepted the might of the Syeds!''

Zulekha became unarmed. She had the Brahmastra of women in abundance, which is also called 'Ashru-Shastra'. Men get scared of these tears. Latif Qureshi was also not an exception. He got scared of this Brahmastra of Zulekha. He thought that the attack seems to be a bit too harsh. To settle the matter, he mumbled some formulaic sentences--''You are the one who brings up the topic and then starts crying after losing. What was the need for you to say that the girls of MP-Chhattisgarh here are prostitutes. They make people poor. Your brother will become poor. I agree that there is pressure from your maternal and paternal grandparents, due to which you people have to do this marriage within your own family. It is a very simple matter. Come on, make tea quickly..!’’

Zulekha swallowed her tears and gave up--’’Every parent wishes that their daughter should rule wherever she goes. For this, any kind of compromise has to be made.’’

‘Compromise!’’ Latif said, chewing each word.

The matter became tense again.

‘That is it…..that is what I am saying that one has to compromise. And you know, compromise is done under compulsion. When a person is compelled by his power, then he compromises. Like….!’’

Zulekha understood. The fire of bitterness will flare up even more.

‘Our relationship is also based on the foundation of this unfortunate ‘compromise’. On one side, the son-in-law of the Kunjar-butcher community, who earns money and works in a bank, on the other side, the question of family and bones, blood and nose. It was a matter of a girl, someone else's wealth, so for a earning son-in-law, your family sacrificed the name of the family.''

Zulekha started crying and went towards the kitchen. Muhammad Latif Qureshi sahab lay down exhausted on the cane armchair. Looking at him, it seemed as if he had won a war and was getting rid of his fatigue. He used to experience this kind of 'relaxation' by hurting his Syed wife Zulekha. He thought it appropriate to play such a 'drama' after getting the news of his only brother-in-law's marriage.

Zulekha's own relatives also had plans for her younger brother Javed. Only son, property worth lakhs. Latif's uncle had made efforts for Javed. Latif's uncle is a sub-inspector in Shahdol and has acquired a lot of land in the village itself. One girl and one boy. Two children in total. Uncle wanted to get his daughter married in the best possible place. His daughter was also very talented. She was educated till B.Sc. For a girl of good character, good looks, family, punctual, tall, slim, pure and having done a course in beautician, uncle had visited Zulekha's father Syed Abdul Sattar's house many times. Every time he got the same answer that the boy had no intention of getting married right now.

Once Muhammad Latif Qureshi sahab, when he was at his in-laws' place, he heard with his own ears--"What do these bastards think of me? Not only did they give me a girl, did they even give me respect?" When he pointed his finger, he started to hold it back. Will the daughter of these Dalits become our daughter-in-law? This is too much."

Zulekha's maternal uncle was saying this. Latif sahab was lying in the bedroom at that time. People thought that he had gone to sleep, so they were arguing in a loud voice. Zulekha's father had silenced his uncle by scolding him.

Latif swallowed the insult.

That is why he wanted to take revenge for that incident from the daughter of that family, i.e. his wife Zulekha. After much deliberation, today the frying pan was hot and he attacked! What does it matter how mean, how shameful was his attempt to hurt Zulekha and attack the evil of casteism prevalent in the Indian Islamic society? His aim was that just as his heart was hurt, someone else's heart should be hurt in the same way. The pain of others had become a balm for his own pain.

Zulekha's sobs were tearing the kitchen curtains and coming out. Son and daughter had gone to the supermarket for shopping. There was peace in the house. The sobs breaking this peace were becoming a lullaby for Latif Sahab's tired body.

Muhammad Latif Qureshi sahab was feeling as if all the proud communities of Syeds and Sheikhs were crying and repenting.

Oh! He also came to know in his teens that he belonged to a family of butchers. He only knew that Islam is the only religion in the world where 'Mahmood and Ayaz stand in the same row'. Islam is a new social system. Where there is no problem of high-low, white-black, male-female, small-big, caste. There is a king like Mahmood and a simple soldier like Ayaz, but it is only Islam that made both of them stand in the same row during namaz.

No one in his family is a butcher. All are in government service. Apart from Sarguja, Latif's father did not have any relations with outside relatives. Latif's father had only one aim, get educated. Get knowledge by any means. So Latif became an officer in a bank while getting knowledge. His father was also a government employee, and even after retirement he remained cut off from his family relatives.

Latif was not able to make any relationship with the other Qureshi boys in his class. These Qureshi boys were the children who used to sit on the last benches, and he used to go to their shops to buy meat sometimes. Almost all his Qureshi classmates could not study further after middle school.

How could he have known then that Qureshi is a caste-indicating suffix, which along with their name reveals their social status. When he used to sit in Waaz-Milad etc., he would hear that the Prophet belonged to the Quraish tribe of Arabia. His childish mind used to calculate that when the people of the same Qureshi clan would have come to India in the future, they would have been called Qureshi. Just like the daughters-in-law of the neighbouring Hindu houses are addressed not by their names but by the name of their hometown. Such as Bilaspurhin, Raipurhin, Sargujahin, Kotamawali, Pendrawali, Katnahin etc.

Some people from big business Muslim families used to add the word Iraqi to their names, which Latif interpreted to mean that these Muslims might be related to the Muslims of Iraq. Some Muslims used to adorn their names with surnames like Khan, Ansari, Chhipa, Raza etc. In his childhood, he used to feel happy on hearing the surname Qureshi attached to his name. He liked that his name was complete like his body. There was no flaw anywhere. How incomplete it would have felt if his name was just Muhammad Latif. Like a dog without a tail, like a man without a leg, like an elephant without a trunk.

Whenever someone asked him his name in his childhood, he used to say proudly- “Yes, my name is Muhammad Latif Qureshi.”

This very prefix of the word Qureshi proved to be the biggest enemy of his marriage. When he got a job in a bank, proposals started pouring in from butcher and Chikva families. There were many proposals from the well-to-do, well-off Qureshi families who had returned from Hajj. Latif's father did not want to marry his son to them because all the money-hungry, wealthy Qureshis were zero in terms of culture and education. Money can buy Maruti but not manners.

Meanwhile, a message came for Latif sahab from a desolate Syed family Muslim family of Shahdol. Desolate in the sense that Zulekha's father, who had come from UP-Bihar to settle in this Baghelkhand of Madhya Pradesh, was once a well-off contractor. Before independence and after that till one or two five-year plans, Zulekha's father and grandfather etc. used to have forest contracts. There used to be competition in cutting trees in the forest. There used to be competition between government employees and contract workers. Who cuts down how many trees. Truckloads of wood were transported through interstate smuggling. They were very profitable in those days. From that income, the first three-storey building came up in the heart of Shahdol, which was named 'Syedana'. This building belonged to Zulekha's grandfather. Today there are many skyscrapers, but in those days, Zulekha's ancestral house was famous. People in the vicinity used to use the name 'Syedana' as their home address. This building was also active in local and regional politics. Then Marwaris came here, Sikhs came, competition increased. Profits were divided among many hands. The monopoly of Zulekha's family ended. Grand buildings started coming up in the city like mushrooms.

The graph of progress of Zulekha's father, i.e. Syed Abdul Sattar or say Haji Syed Abdul Sattar Sahib, suddenly started falling down. Mafia entered the forest contracting business. Both money and physical strength were used. Haji Saheb became paralyzed. There were disputes between uncles and cousins over grandfather's property. Haji Abdul Sattar Saheb's savings started getting spent to maintain false pride. His body became weak. His voice would tremble when he spoke. With the advent of new technology in business, the fate of businessmen with old business methods is what usually happens to Haji Saheb.

Now Zulekha was in the sinking boat, she had a younger sister and a teenage brother. The elder sister got married into the Syeds but the party was not wealthy. The son-in-law was a wholesale cloth merchant and a widower. Zulekha's elder sister was quite happy there. When Zulekha completed her M.A. in political science, her father Haji Saheb became worried. There was not much demand for a highly educated girl in the family. Most of the sons were businessmen. It was very important to marry Zulekha because the younger girl Kamrun was also getting ready. Not just ready, she was even more voluptuous than Zulekha. There was only a difference of two years in their age. Haji sahib's paralyzed body was not able to bear the burden of two young girls.

He had a friend named Agarwal sahib. He was an employee of the forest department. Haji sahib's confidant in black and white! The same Agarwal sahab suggested a wonderful match in faraway Sarguja. Haji sahab got angry at him. Spitting on the ground, he said, "Shame on you, Agarwal sahab, I will not give my daughter to Kunjhad-butchers. I will survive by eating grass. But it would be better if God takes me away before such a day comes..."

He paused for a while and said, "Oh brother, is there an epidemic of boys among the Syeds?"

Aggarwal sahab started handling the matter, "When am I saying that you should get your daughter married there. Yes, think with a cool mind. I know them very well. They are from an educated, cultured family. The boy is an officer in a bank. Tomorrow he will become a top officer. He will live in a metropolis."

Aggarwal sahab started spewing out details like a tape-recorder. He knew the condition of the dilapidated walls, roofs and shaking foundation of the building named Haji sahab. He knew very well that Haji sahab was suffering from insomnia due to the worry of marriage of his marriageable daughters. His love for solitude and financial crisis had made him old by now. He was undergoing treatment. Allopathy, homeopathy, exorcism, talisman, pir-fakir and Haj-Ziyarat remedies had been tried. The disease was one thing and the patient was another. Only the money saved was decreasing and the worries were increasing.

After a day or two, Haji sahab started thinking about what Agarwal sahab had said. Haji sahab had a few conditions, which were like the twist left after the rope has burnt.

The first of the conditions was that the surname of the bride and groom should not be written in the wedding invitation cards. Neither Haji Syed Abdul Sattar should add Syed to his name nor the boy's family should reveal their 'Qureshi' title to the world. The wedding should be done according to 'Sharai' customs. No pomp and show, no band and music. Ten to twelve guests should come. The wedding should take place during the day, lunch in the afternoon and the departure by evening.

Another special condition was that no matter how many people asked at the time of the Nikaah, no one should be told about the Qureshis.

Latif and his father found all these conditions humiliating, but for a well-educated, good-natured girl from a high-class family, they finally accepted this humiliating compromise. Agarwal sahab's brother-in-law was in Surguja and he had a close relationship with Latif's father. His pressure was also forcing them.

What happened was what Zulekha's father wanted. The boy's family came for the marriage like the girl's family. This way, the daughter of Syeds was married into the family of Kunjhad butchers.

One day, a relative of Zulekha came to the bank for some work. He recognized Latif sahab. His name plate outside the cabin clearly read, “M.L. Qureshi, Branch Manager.”

Latif sahab signaled the visiting relative to sit. He rang the bell and ordered the peon to bring tea.

The visitor was undoubtedly a wealthy person and had come to the bank for finance.

Latif sahab looked at him questioningly.

He was confused. Clearing his throat, he asked, “You are Haji Syed Abdul Sattar sahab’s son-in-law, right?”

“Yes, tell me.” Latif sahab was puzzled.

He understood very well the extra emphasis on the word Syed.

“Yes, I am his relative. Earlier I was settled in Gujarat, now I want to try my luck here. I saw you at the time of your marriage. I was worried after seeing the name-plate, but your elder Babu Tiwari told me that you were married to Haji Sahab of Shahdol, so I was relieved.” The visitor was giving clarification.

Then, gritting his teeth, the visitor said--“You are one of us!”

The visitor’s voice was a mix of respect, intimacy and drama.

Muhammad Latif Qureshi Sahab’s entire being started burning like cotton. Before he could turn into a heap of ashes in the blink of an eye, he regained his composure and made the visitor’s job easy.

M.L. Latif Sahab knew very well that Muhammad Latif Qureshi’s body had been buried, but he could not bury the ‘Qureshi’ attached to his name.