Ayodhya's drums of communal harmony

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Ayodhya: December 6, 1992 was perhaps one of the saddest days for the Indian Republic. On this day, the Babri Masjid was demolished, but as we remember the day, the only Muslim drum-maker in the troubled town of Ayodhya says that communalism is a foreign phenomena and was brought from outside.

Zohra came to Ayodhya about 40 years ago from Benaras. All this time she has been unknowingly drumming up a rhythm of communal harmony and hers is a beat that everyone would like to listen to.

Her shop is in the lane of Ayodhya that leads to the Hanuman temple. Zohra's quick response to all questions reflects that she is used to the media, but for a town that has a small Muslim population, what does communal harmony mean to her?

"I make drums and I have taught my sons kirtan and bhajan (Hindu and Sikh hymns). We play them in Hindu temples," says Zohra. However, she adds that Muslims rarely buy things from her shop.

In Hanuman Gadhi, devices that signal Hindu-Muslim unity are sometimes predictable - like the First Punjab Dhol Party owned by Taj Mohammad, Zohra's son. He plays the drums inside temples and the people of Ayodhya respond to this beat in one voice.

Murals of Gods in temples could not agree more with that notion of harmony and will never see eye to eye with the votebank politics that the Mandir-Masjid controversy brings with it.

The one thing that the people of Ayodhya insist on is that communal violence was alien to their town till 1992. The lane leading to the Hanuman temple where Zohra has been making drums for the last 40 years resonates with that claim.