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South Asian Film Festival in Goa from Fri (June 27) to Mon (June 30)
At Kala Academy, and ESG, Panaji, Goa
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076384.html
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Cheers Dears
By Augusto Pinto
The Mosque in Moira
Dears,
Do you like to tittle - tattle?
No dears, you don't need to put on those solemn and pious faces and tell me
that you hate gossip and never listen to rumours. Of course you do. So do I.
So does everyone else. There's no need to be ashamed about it. Rumours are
where you get the real masala about what's happening in the world, not the
government gazettes that masquerade as newspapers.
And most of the time, the gossip that we listen to is dead right. Okay,
maybe here and there the details go a little awry. But by and large, what we
get through the grapevine is fairly reliable.
So why does gossip have a bad name? The reason is that when it does go wrong
it can go spectacularly wrong. Like the time when an A. I. R. reporter
believed a rumour that the former Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai had
kicked the bucket and broadcast the news without double checking. There was
a furore when it came out that though the old urine drinker was doddering in
his 90s - he was very much alive.
The reason why I'm bringing up this matter is to tell you a real life
incident that occurred in my wise village of Moira. Some time ago there was
a ruckus about a mosque that was coming up in the village. The information
came up in an interesting way. A truck overloaded with stones took the turn
at Luis's bar, but unfortunately its wheels went too close to the side of
the road, which couldn't bear the weight and crumbled. The truck overturned
and crashed into the house of poor Jose D'mello below, ruining his balcao.
When the villagers asked the truck driver, who luckily escaped unhurt, where
he was taking the stones he muttered something in Hindi about a mosque.
"Mosque? Where Mosque - they cried? There's no Mosque in Moira!" The shocked
Moidekars went to investigate and found that the stones were being taken to
a site that hitherto was believed to be a private residence that was coming
up bang opposite the St. Sebastian chapel in Povoacao.
All hell broke loose and a debate began to rage about the pros and cons of
the mosque. One very wise Moidekar thundered," We Moidekars will never allow
a Mosque to come up in Moira.But natural..." This sentiment was echoed by
most of the villagers, both Hindu and Christian. There was dark mutterings
about how the public would be woken up early in the morning by the call of
the Azaan over the loudspeakers.
However there were some dissenting voices. One Moidekar somewhat foolishly
opined aloud, "Why is it "but Natural" to deny Muslims the right to
practice their religion? If I mistake not the Constitution of India
guarantees such a right to all its citizens!!" He was greeted with angry
stares.
Stories began to circulate about how arms would get stashed there and how
terrorists might hide there. People began to talk about how the muezzin's
call to prayer would wake the elderly and the babies, unmindful that the big
Church bells and the temple music did that anyway. In the meanwhile the
Panchayat decided to act before things took an ugly turn and ordered the
construction to be halted pending investigation. This helped to cool tempers
and after a while the matter was forgotten.
A couple of months later while going on one of my walks that-a-ways with my
big German Shepard Laskar, he stopped near the Povoacao chapel for a sniff.
That's when I noticed that work at the alleged Mosque site was going on in
full swing.I asked myself, "What does this mean? Is a Mosque actually going
to come up here?"
The mystery was resolved by my local barman Sada, who is the de facto Panch
member (our ward is reserved for women, and his wife won).
It seems that when people questioned the truck driver, who happened to be a
Muslim, as to where he was taking the stones he replied in Hindi that he was
taking them near the "Masjid". What he actually meant was that he was taking
them to the place opposite the chapel - but not being a Goan, and not
knowing Konkani or at least the word for that Christian place of worship, he
used the word "Masjid"
So what might have resulted in a communal confrontation arose simply because
the villagers didn't care to check their facts properly, and instead
preferred to rely on rumours and conjecture.
Till next time then
Cheers (ENDS)
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The above article appeared in the June 25, 2008 edition of the Herald, Goa
under the title Relying On Rumours
