30, Oct 2023

Dilip Chowgule and Ghani Tamboli have been jointly running a paan shop for 23 years at Shivaji Chowk in Kolhapur, that has turned the epicentre of communal violence recently.

Friends for 45 years, religion never came in between Ghowgule and Tamboli. “It is funny that you are asking me how we two did business together for all these years just because I am a Hindu and he is a Muslim. It never occurred to us that we were from different religions,” Chowgule said, giving a hearty laugh.

“Do you really think that relations developed through generations would break over rumours and propaganda,” Tamboli asked.