Aditya Bakshi might have faced dire consequences if his friend had not dragged him out of an ugly religious bantering at Meher Chand Market’s MI Food Center. That’s how food politics works here!
I have always believed that besides Bollywood and fashion, food is one amazing affair that unites India strongly. In North, you enjoy Southern delicacies while in south, I have heard of mega successes of food chains that sell North Indian stuff. However, it is quite disturbing that people find stupid ways to discriminate even over our rich food legacies. Last week, my friend Mayank Goyal and I halted at a popular roadside food corner, MI Food Center, famously located at Meher Chand Market, Lodhi Road. The place is known to serve lip-smacking Mughlai delicacies. Mayank, being an extrovert, found a great company in a middle aged man with whom we shared the table. We exchanged banters as our order took good 15 minutes, thanks to our corner-most table. As I gorged over Khameeri roti dipped in deliciously cooked chicken, I heard somebody screaming “Hindu, Hindustaan, Tum Log…” At that point of time, that was too less a reason to deviate from my indulgence. However, the repeated cuss earned my attention. As I turned around, I saw two guys abusing the manager, the man who was taking the orders, and blatantly blaming him for delaying their order because of their religious orientation. According to them, the manager, being a Muslim fellow, was more hospitable to people from his community than ‘Hindu’ customers. “Hum Hindu hain, isi liye humko pehle nahi de raha… Yeh Hindustaan Hamara hain… (We are discriminated because we are Hindus. This nation belongs to us),” these kind of idiotic dialogues were being made at the spot.
Disgusted to the core to witness the lame argument, I went ahead (with all patience I had) and politely intervened. “What has his religion got to do with your delayed order?” I asked one of the guys. It was a Sunday evening, and like us, there were many others waiting patiently for their order to come. Yes, we all do get a little impatient but those two not-so-gentlemen were hell-bent on accusing the MIs manager. When I again asked them the same question, the temperature of their religious blood rose probably quite high and they threatened me to stab there and then. This argument continued for a few more minutes and finally they said, “Tu yahin ruk, main abhi batata hun” (You stay here. I will see you in a minute). I was shocked that one of the guys threatened to kill me just because I stopped him for saying nasty and illogical remarks at a public spot. Unlike most of my friends in minority groups, the MI man kept listening patiently and did nothing about this. His silence could only be justified because he had a business to run. But isn’t that also something to be ashamed of? Why should one accept such fanatic behaviour? In a volatile atmosphere that we are living in, such situations take no time to escalate and even spark bigger riots. What if other Muslim fellows who were present there got irked by this mindless jingoism and had retaliated then and there? I would not like to think further as my friend dragged me out of that ugly spat but I am absolutely disgusted to learn that we are not only fostering such nonsensical behaviour where we attempt to kill each other for delay-in-order or losing our patience levels but also fail to recognise that the Indian Constitution grants equal rights to each and every citizen of this country.
Going by the situation, I would have either ended up badly injured or dead probably if my friend didn’t become that adamant to pull out of the situation. Apparently MI is merely a few metres from the Lodhi Road Police Station and also falls in the much-hyped Lutyen’s Delhi. Aptly said by Richard Dawkins “Religion is capable of driving people to such dangerous folly that faith seems to qualify as a mental illness”. Not only fanaticism, for this folly, I would also blame the short temper and needless ego of the people. The city of Delhi never ceases to surprise, one can find fatal clashes over parking issues, a minor road rage turning into a bloody fight, street food vendors being beaten to death, and what not.
Yes, there are communal riots, prison riots, sports derby riots, but this incident, an accident rather, could have sparked communal food riots – a new addition to the Hall of Shame. Everything that religion is and does for its adherents has a lot to do with understanding of basic values of humanity. Something we have failed to acknowledge.
(The writer is an independent marketing and PR professional. You can contact him on Twitter @adibaks)
Disclaimer: Born Of Web has confirmed about the incident with the owners of MI Food Centre. However, the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this website. We encourage people to share experiences that can challenge the redundant ideologies. Write to us at <bornofweb@gmail.com>
