Witness communal harmony like never before with Hindus in the city visiting dargahs and wishing Muslims on the occasion of Eid and Muslims contributing in their own way in setting up the Ganesha pandals. Hyderabad is all decked up in a festive mood. As Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid-Ul-Fitr fall back-to-back, there is one side of the city where all the haleem and shopping stalls have been uninstalled their pandals and the other side of the city is grooming up with many Ganesh pandals in various colours and forms.One such place where Hindus and Muslims contribute in each others customs and traditions is on the Hari Bowli Road in Shah Ali Banda. The Rathi brothers, who are very famous for their variety of Ganesh idol arrangements, special laser light effect and landscaping, also very surprisingly share their credit with their neighbours Mohammad Khaleel, an aquarium shop owner and Khader Ansari, the owner of Green Well Function hall. One of the brothers, Vivek Rathi says, “Our Muslims neighbours and locality people help us a lot in the decoration of our Ganesh idol and a few contribute by giving us chanda (contribution in the form of money).” He further adds, “Khader sahab helps us with the carpets, planks and beams for the pandal, whereas Khaleel bhai provides us with an aquarium, which is an added attraction to our pandal.” Adding to this, Mohammad Khaleel shares, “Service to God should be the motive. One has every right to follow their religion, but it is always nice to be a part of other religious activities and get to know about their customs as well.” He also adds, “I always love to contribute to this festival. We install a water fountain in front of the Ganesh pandal and also put up an aquarium inside. We never charge anything, because this is for the Lord, and to keep him happy one can at least do so much.”Mustafa Ansari, Khader Ansari’s brother and co-owner of the Green Well Function Hall says, “It is another reason for us to get together and work on communal harmony. We always love being a part of the festival.” He informs, “As a part of our contribution to God we provide some essentials like carpets, planks and tents to the Rathi brothers who make the Ganesh pandal. It’s is really satisfying.”Adding to this, Khader says, “The whole reason is giving it to the Lord. We may not be directly involved in their customs and rituals that are performed, but we are happy that in a way we can learn and be a part of their festival as well. It’s more about bringing the concept of a happier society, which everybody wants to be a part of.”
Comments
0 comment