Once proud of its Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, Varanasi now faces a shift, where even a simple question can lead to doubt, and an identity card feels essential for safety.
Priyanka, your narrative is simple without any frills of literature and so it hits the raw nerve instantly. You have poignantly woven in the hapless state of the dying trade of Banarasi sarees and connected it with the crumbling of the secular thread of our vast country, one that we were most proud of. The analogy fits perfect. This is a time of great upheaval, both emotionally as well as culturally. The seeds of suspicion and hate have been sown and there is no escape from it. One can only hope that writers of your ilk pens articles like this one that highlights the sorry state we have slipped into and hopefully jolt us out of our complacent state. Good work. Keep going. It's always a pleasure to read your stories.
Thank you for always reading, engaging with and appreciating my pieces. This piece in particular, you know how difficult it was to share. But yes, I hope that the sorry state is reflected upon more often in whatever way or form possible. 🤍
Thank you so much for reading. I was so conscious before publishing this. I wanted to talk about the situation, the incident. But it was as much about me and my biases as it was about the larger narrative that's unfolding. And I am so so thankful to readers like you who have seen the complexity of the situation beyond the writing :)
Thank you so much for reading, Farah. My heart has broken a couple of times in these last few months because of similar incidents in different cities. I have been trying to process all these very intimate conversations I have had with complete strangers, while also thinking if I can do justice to what they have told me through my words.
For now, I just hope that we, as people, rise up to the situation and fight back to restore the beautiful fabric of our country.
As someone who spent his formative years studying in Banaras, forty years ago and been back as recently as this February. The divides whether regional (Purvanchal vs Madrasi or Bengali), religious (Hindu or Muslim), and caste (Pandit, Thakur or Chamar) has sporadically sparked, something into minor flames and occasionally into conflagrations. Yet, as you rightly point out in these last ten years it has worsened a whole another order of magnitude as much through "not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people" as Martin Luther King Jr. said. You are brave enough to acknowledge your (passive) role in it the rest of us are yet to catch up.
After many years my wife and I were in Mumbai in June and rode autors and cabs everywhere and were lucky that several engaged earnestly in how they see "dharm" being used to separate people often cynically for political ends. So the voters seems well aware though once in five years is too infrequent to effect lasting change was their consensus! Personally I'm convinced work at a decadal level is needed to recapture a shadow of the tehzeeb!
Thank you for reading, appreciating and sharing your experience. And yes, the silence has been more harmful in many ways. Hope we all find ways to speak up. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.
Loved this piece..it is truly sad how the fabric of our country is being damaged..your first visit you write was in 1994..did you witness any tensions then? Cos it was right after the Babri demolition...also would love to read about the weavers that you were researching on
Thank you so much for reading and appreciating, Deepti. I was hardly ten in 1994 when I visited Varanasi, and wouldn’t really know what was happening at a larger level. But I had gone to a family friend’s house, a Muslim family, during that visit and I remember the warmth. Years later and when I started understanding things better, I met people who spoke to me about the horrors post Babri. And I have learned much more while talking to the weavers. I will hopefully write about those soon. And thank you for showing interest, it will hopefully motivate me to get back to it and finish it soon.
Priyanka, your narrative is simple without any frills of literature and so it hits the raw nerve instantly. You have poignantly woven in the hapless state of the dying trade of Banarasi sarees and connected it with the crumbling of the secular thread of our vast country, one that we were most proud of. The analogy fits perfect. This is a time of great upheaval, both emotionally as well as culturally. The seeds of suspicion and hate have been sown and there is no escape from it. One can only hope that writers of your ilk pens articles like this one that highlights the sorry state we have slipped into and hopefully jolt us out of our complacent state. Good work. Keep going. It's always a pleasure to read your stories.
Thank you for always reading, engaging with and appreciating my pieces. This piece in particular, you know how difficult it was to share. But yes, I hope that the sorry state is reflected upon more often in whatever way or form possible. 🤍
The simple narrative style on a very complex situation which needs careful reading is very moving. Thank you for writing this.
Thank you so much for reading. I was so conscious before publishing this. I wanted to talk about the situation, the incident. But it was as much about me and my biases as it was about the larger narrative that's unfolding. And I am so so thankful to readers like you who have seen the complexity of the situation beyond the writing :)
My heart broke a little . This feeling of being undone has been written well.
Thank you so much for reading, Farah. My heart has broken a couple of times in these last few months because of similar incidents in different cities. I have been trying to process all these very intimate conversations I have had with complete strangers, while also thinking if I can do justice to what they have told me through my words.
For now, I just hope that we, as people, rise up to the situation and fight back to restore the beautiful fabric of our country.
As someone who spent his formative years studying in Banaras, forty years ago and been back as recently as this February. The divides whether regional (Purvanchal vs Madrasi or Bengali), religious (Hindu or Muslim), and caste (Pandit, Thakur or Chamar) has sporadically sparked, something into minor flames and occasionally into conflagrations. Yet, as you rightly point out in these last ten years it has worsened a whole another order of magnitude as much through "not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people" as Martin Luther King Jr. said. You are brave enough to acknowledge your (passive) role in it the rest of us are yet to catch up.
After many years my wife and I were in Mumbai in June and rode autors and cabs everywhere and were lucky that several engaged earnestly in how they see "dharm" being used to separate people often cynically for political ends. So the voters seems well aware though once in five years is too infrequent to effect lasting change was their consensus! Personally I'm convinced work at a decadal level is needed to recapture a shadow of the tehzeeb!
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Thank you for reading, appreciating and sharing your experience. And yes, the silence has been more harmful in many ways. Hope we all find ways to speak up. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.
It is heart breaking … but thank you for writing this.
Thank you for reading, Natasha. And always being so encouraging 🤍
Yes, all of it is very heartbreaking and this is just one of the incidents I have written about, there are so many.
Loved this piece..it is truly sad how the fabric of our country is being damaged..your first visit you write was in 1994..did you witness any tensions then? Cos it was right after the Babri demolition...also would love to read about the weavers that you were researching on
Thank you so much for reading and appreciating, Deepti. I was hardly ten in 1994 when I visited Varanasi, and wouldn’t really know what was happening at a larger level. But I had gone to a family friend’s house, a Muslim family, during that visit and I remember the warmth. Years later and when I started understanding things better, I met people who spoke to me about the horrors post Babri. And I have learned much more while talking to the weavers. I will hopefully write about those soon. And thank you for showing interest, it will hopefully motivate me to get back to it and finish it soon.