Fatiq's Take on Peace Project

From the 2001 section my brain, contributed by a surfeit of layers of nostalgia, a rusty image of the Wagha Border rushed through my brain, screening moments of conceited conformity, moments when I stood and watch the Flag of my country and saw red instead of green. It is said that when Molana Abul Kalam Azad was asked about Partition he found it to be absurd and said that Muslims would die in this part and Islam would die in that part. He later became the first Minister of Education in the Indian government and died denouncing the concept of Partition.

The uniformed voices of the soldiers’ beat reminiscent of an automaton reverb through my ear drums. In the air above them, I see demons in the sky sniggering jests on their misery. And in that subtle moment I joined those demons because they, fortunately, had the power to think.

In this demonic world the first person I met was Saadat Hasan Manto who hailed me into Toba Tek Singh, a city with no religion, no heaven above it and no hell below it; a city of dreams. It was located right above India and Pakistan. Manto was the minister of propaganda under the cabinet of Molana Abul Kalam Azad who was the Chancellor. And the rest of the cabinet was still to be made.

For years I didn’t want to leave that city because for me, Partition didn’t happen. It was like a blank page in the books of Nigel Kelly, a misplaced thought in my mind and a fictitious account in the words of others. But for some reason I didn’t felt proud of myself. There was guilt, a feeling that what if I was on the wrong side what if my heaven was hell after all. This confusion and anguish seemed never to end, until, until 2nd March 2014, when I talked to Aakash Chandran. Someone I never expected to meet, a sheer coincidence which proved out to be the greatest incidence in my life.

I remember we talked for about 2 hours, and as much I would like to brag about being delighted to explore a new friend with an entirely different culture to explore. I won’t. Because I won’t be saying the truth then.

Aakash seemed to me someone who lived next door, someone I meet everyday, for starters we had the same language, the same belief, the same understanding of how things were, he knew about Ramadhan and Eid, I knew about Holi and Diwali, where was the difference?

My guilt didn’t lose it that simply. We started asking each other questions, like existent questions, personal questions. Our family structures, again the same. The choices we had for college, that same too. Indian and Pakistani politics, and that was too  And then the moment when Mirza Ghalib came up, my guilt vanished and I knew I was right, the boundary between us was just an imaginary strait of steel.

This project for me was particularly special because it helped me realize the reliability of the ideas in my mind. Aakash for me was what Pluto called the other half of my being. He was an individual who represented an entire part of me which was torn apart in 1947.

This peace project for me was not life changing perhaps but it is life assuring. Aakash and all the other people I met in this journey made me realize that we are not alone. There are people out there who still believe in Toba Tek Singh. People who still believe that the truth always does prevail. People for whom there is no India and Pakistan. What only exists is humanity. And that is all that counts.

A lot can happen over Skype!

The first interaction with my partner for Building Peace Project was on 2nd March,2014, a Sunday. Once we were told about each-other by the Organization, we exchanged a few mails giving each-other a brief introduction and decided a day to have our first chat.  Interestingly, that was the very same day India and Pakistan were battling out in a One Day Cricket Match and here we were, playing, stating, analyzing our thoughts. Fatiq and I, both, aren’t that much into cricket, but yes , as the norm goes, we also,like our other countrymen, look forward to the match between the men in blue and green. We earlier decided to have a talk sometime in evening but because of the match, we re-scheduled it at 10 PM IST. 

I forgot that I had to talk to him at 9:45 and it was mom who gave me the Aren’t-you-forgetting-something look whilst signaling to the wall clock. “shit!” Was the very next word from my mouth as I rushed to my room, opened my laptop and logged on to my Skype account at 10:05 PM and dialed for the peace builder across the border. 

I was curious as well as tense and when I am in this deadly combination of moods - I speak a lot. As a result, it was me who started the conversation.

“Hey! Aakash this side.”

He reciprocated the same from other side.  

He described himself as a student of Economics and Political Science in the Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS), which I was pronouncing as ‘L-U-M-S’ and he corrected me on it saying it is ‘LUMS’ as it is ‘LUNGS’.

The Lahore University is a world within itself, much different to the external environment. It is a place cherished by each student as they can be totally themselves without being worried about the regulations of the society. The infrastructure of the university is awe-some (I checked the pictures before hand), the reason behind it was it being funded by the US along with central government of the same country. Pakistan for me, as I pictured it, truly was a deserted place and having a university like LUMS in the heart of Pakistan blew me away and made me realize how wrong I was in picturing the other nation the way I did. He further told me about Lahore and Islamabad being the two most developed cities of their country. On being asked about the safety measures, he assured Lahore being the safest place in the country, as after the partition, a large part of army generals moved to Lahore. Also, it is the residing place of the elite club, therefore, it is a well guarded place to live in.

The next issue we discussed was the exorbitant fees structure of Indian Private Colleges and that of Pakistan, which further led to the discussion on the Indian population. His question “Do you have people in Delhi who die of hunger? “ left me paralyzed for half a second. He was in total awe of my country and for half an hour or so I could not understand why is he being so *Goody Good* about India? The answer was the difference of prevailing socio-political situations on the both sides of borders. The same feeling was growing inside me for Pakistan – a land of misconceptions. I could feel his inquisitiveness mixed with excitement and his immense love for “Bollywood” flicks. From Shahrukhwe went on to movie Rajneeti, he asked me whether I have seen it and is the political situation the same like it was in it? My answer was in denial to the first part of his question but then not to the second part of it as I realized we were talking about India being politically obsessed country, which was not ignored by the people across border even. He was fascinated by how we Indians, LIVE, EAT, BREATHE politics. I gave him an insight then into Delhi’s politics and how a third party defeated the two giants of Indian politics.

He was shocked! Yes, much as I was once the results of elections were out. 

He asked me, Congress did lose?

I was like Yes Man. (Silence prevailed for a minute) 

Then, it was his turn to show me the face of politics of his land, where the current PM was the TIGER. He was supporter of Imran Khan, whom I also wanted to see as the face of Pakistan. The talk then revolved around the political standards and eligibility of our leaders, on which India had a better stand. He respected Manmohan Singh too for his academic record but he was also of the view “Sonia Gandhi” controlling him. Thanks to our vibrant Indian Media which wonderfully weaves the stories. He asked me about the assassination of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi and the reasons, of which I gave him satisfactory answers (I suppose) and he made me understand on how Mr. Bhutto and Madam Indira Gandhi had a pact on Kashmir and his successor Mrs. Bhutto’s assassination and the present leader, the young Bhutto’s style of functioning.

We shared details of our daily schedule and our ideologies. He is a Neo- Marxists , in complete opposition to me, i.e. Liberal. He loved reading the works of Marxian leaders especially of Leo Tolstoy, the person whose students were Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi ( I never knew this, it is him who made me know this ). I told him about the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU),New Delhi and it being the hub of Marxism. Further I gave him a brief description about my Political Science professor-Mr. Abdul Rahman as well and to my surprise he was so glad to hear about a university having Marxian values. We found out, we share few commonalities like we both are Feminists with love towards social work along with being bibliophile who supports homosexuality and hates mathematics. Though he is student of Finance but was interested in Literature. He always gets a great grade in finance though he dislikes it. I was delighted to know that he cleared his Medical Entrance Exam but finally opted for the present course. (This was the time we were laughing hard, as we could so relate to our situations). He is the Editor of Rabt, a college run newsletter too. Our discussions on how we want a peaceful future took a very beautiful turn when he shared a quote of Rumi which was told to him by his professor and that was “The road to Mecca and Mandir are the same”. This, this amazing line made me smile and smile and the moment I came out of my “ Appreciating the line mode “ I realized we were talking about how the both countries were once a same land. Even now, people on the both sides are similar whether in their attire, the way of living and thoughts.  I was aghast to know that people in Lahore face 11-12 hours of power shedding and approximately 80% of its GDP is spent of military rather than on its people. The one positive part of Lahore city would be strict enforcement of traffic rules, where not even a single policemen takes bribe and how he especially bought Bluetooth earpiece as he don’t want to get caught by the cops while talking and driving. I told him about my love for Urdu and how much I adore the language, further we discussed on ' Mirza Ghalib ki Haveli ' in Delhi.

After having one and a half hour of chat, we realized that we haven’t followed the talking points given to us for this discussion and we finally had a look at it. Then adhering to it, I got to know he has 2 siblings- one sister (10th Standard) and one brother (1st standard). Mrs. Nadeem is a housewife and Mr. Nadeem is a Chartered Accountant (Now, I know the reason of him scoring exceptionally well in finance- it’s in his blood). The discussion ended up on a good note by him answering the question “What I hope to give my counterpart during this session” and answer was- A better picture of Pakistan. 

They say ‘Well begun is half done’ and I think in these two hours of chit chat with lots of laughter, information sharing and not to forget tinge of emotions we had a great start to our Building Peace Project.

Building Peace Project- for a better tomorrow !

It was one evening when I stumbled upon Kirthi’s (Director, Red Elephant Foundation) status on Facebook saying last call for “Building Peace Project”. The name of the Project caught my attention and made me check it the very same moment. I was glad that my half a second of wait was totally worth as what I read kept me awestruck. It was not merely peace factor which captivated me but it was peace between India and Pakistan is what intrigued me. One of the rarest opportunities you can get is being a part or I should say being provided with a platform to discuss and ideate on International relations between the two much talked and 'enemy made' countries. Red Elephant Foundation brings 10 people across each border together, divided in pairs of two for a year with the agenda to reach at an amicable solution for the prevailing conflicts. It was a pleasant surprise for me to get a mail from the organization saying ‘You have been selected for the BPP’, completely contrary to what I thought when I applied. The very thought of working with an aim to come up with a peace resolution along with a Pakistani counterpart is what motivates me. Fatiq Nadeem, 19 year old, an investigative journalism aspirant is my partner for the project from Lahore. As far as I know,we are the youngest of all the pairs rolled in for the project,this gives both of us a much needed exposure into the cultural and social aspect of India & Pakistan at such an early age.  There exists curiosity wrapped with a tinge of tension not because of the existing radical views against each other’s country but because of the ways in which things will unfold. The purpose of this project is not to enter into a peace agreement only, but to acknowledge and dig out the unheard stories from the lands which were once together but now are separated by huge metallic gates. The past undoubtedly had been treacherous but what has stopped us from waving a white flag to our neighbours now? This beautiful project conceived by Kirthi and her team has given Fatiq and Me an opportunity to represent our nation and to plunge into debate/exchange of ideas/ challenging norms of both the sides, which I am extremely energized to take on.  Looking forward to expanding my friend zone beyond India, disintegrate the planted beliefs and to envisage a peaceful future belonging to both the nations.

Let peace prevail!