Bhopal: The ‘Hakeem Hotel’ in New Market, famous for its lip-smacking meat dishes, is closed since Navratri began on September 21 and will now re-open from Dusshera day. It also keeps its shutters down during the Chaitra Navratri and other Hindu festivals like Janmasthami, Mahashivaratri and Ramnavmi. This is in practice since 1971 – the year in which the hotel opened. And the reason is something that can warm up the cockles of your heart especially specially when a petty dispute triggers a verbal or physical spat between the two communities.
The hotel is living example of city’s ‘Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb’, which symbolises communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims. Even the hotel owner’s family does not eat meat during nine days. “Barah mahine to hum non-veg khate hi hain. Kya fark padhta hai agar nau din nahin khayein,” (We eat non-vegetarian food round the year. How does it matter if we don’t in these nine days), says Jabir Hussain whose father had started the hotel.
“We used to live in a predominantly Hindu neighbourhood. Most of my father’s friends were Hindus. So, he started this system and we are following it. And we hope that our next generation would do the same,” Hussain says. “Most of our customers are Hindus. Of our 12 employees, 8 are Hindus. They also avoid meat during Navratri,” he adds. Of course, this translates into a loss as the daily turnover of this hotel is Rs 40,000 – Rs 50,000. “But it doesn’t matter. We all need to respect each-other’s sentiments,” Hussain remarked.
Interestingly, the hotel is named after a Dargah called Dargah-e-Hakimi located in Burhanpur from where Jabir’s father Akhtar Hussain hails. “He wanted to keep the memory of his native place alive so he gave this name to the tea stall he first opened in 1968, before upgrading it to a snacks shop and the restaurant in 1971,” Hussain told Free Press.