25, Jul 2015

After offering namaz at the mosque, Sohail Patel religiously turns up at the Hanuman temple in Tarsali and begins chanting the Hanuman Chalisa on Saturday evenings. Sohail is soon joined by a dozen more Muslims, who hail Hanuman with bhajans. The crowd swells and a large number of Hindus joins the chorus.
For an outsider, it may be a surprising sight. But in Tarsali, the picture hardly raises eyebrows.
A large number of Muslims in and around Tarsali are ardent devotees of Hanuman.They don’t just offer prayers but also organize religious programmes along with Hindus during Hanuman Jayanti.This in a city where communal violence can break out over the flimsiest of reasons.
“I have been visiting the temple over the past few years,“ 20-year-old Sohail said. I have learnt Hanuman Chalisa and offering prayers here has helped me a lot. After offering prayers at mosque, I visit this temple and sing bhajans,“ Sohail said.