Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): In these times when communal mistrust is in the air, the families of Anwar Khan and Gajanand Khobragade are setting an example of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Both the families live in the Ashoka Garden locality and are neighbours. Gajanand, 41, and his wife Pooja, 30, fast during the entire month of Ramzan and the two families break the fast together in the evening at Anwar’s place on a common dastarkhwan. The preparations for the meal are made jointly by Pooja and Uzma, the wife of Anwar. Both the couples have one son each and they too, join the feast.
“Since they do not eat mutton and we do not like fish, the usual Iftar menu is daal-chawal, sabzi and occasionally, chicken,” says Anwar. The two families - a Muslim from Bhopal and a Hindu from Maharashtra - had first met during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Gajanand had lost his job as a security guard at a factory in Mandideep. The family was hand-to-mouth.
Anwar, a social activist, was helping arrange food for the migrant labourers, students and others who had been stranded in the city due to the sudden imposition of lockdown. It was then that he came to know about the family of Gajananand. He visited their home and discovered that he and his wife were keeping roza (it was the month of Ramzan). “They told me that on some days they had to break their fast with salt and water,” he said. Anwar arranged food for them.
After the lockdown ended, Anwar persuaded Gajanand to shift to his home. For four months, the two families lived together. Anwar used his contacts to get a job in a hospital as a security guard for Gajanand and also arranged a rented home for them. Since then, the two families have been friends.
They also celebrate Hindu festivals together. “During Navratri, the phalahar for Gajanand Bhai’s family is prepared in my kitchen and on Sharad Purnima, both families enjoy kheer in the moonlight on the terrace of my home,” Anwar says.
When asked what persuaded him to go out of the way to help Gajanand, Anwar quoted a verse from the Quran, the English translation of which reads: “One who spends the night with a full stomach while his neighbour is hungry, has not believed in me. One who spends the night clothed, while his neighbour has no clothes, has not believed in me.”
“It is definitely unusual, especially in these times. I have never seen this kind of bonding between families of two different religions, says secretary of Jeevan Sarthak Foundation, Dr Shailendra Dubey.
