AHMEDABAD: A plateful of saffron-flavoured biryani followed by a mouthful of kaju katri. With Bestu Varas (Gujarati New Year) falling on Wednesday, and Eid most likely on Friday, some households in Ahmedabad are likely to have cuisines that can boast of a “cultural exchange” between the Hindu and Muslim communities.

The two festivals are coinciding after a gap of nearly 100 years. Ranjit Gohil — a Muslim social worker from Kochrab, who runs an NGO for the handicapped — will get together with his friend Chandu Bhati. “New Year celebrations will be at Chandu’s home, Eid at mine,” says Gohil.

Last year, when the two festivals were three days apart from each other, Gohil shopped for Bhati’s home during Diwali, while Bhati bought decorative items for Gohil’s family for Eid. “This year, we are going to organise a fair to sell garments made by handicapped people, during the festivals,” says Gohil.

Shabbir Hashmi, a resident of Rakhial, brought together around 40 members of both communities at the garden near Chakudia Mahadev last year, when the two festivals were three days apart from each other.

“Ours is an area whose ‘border’ is the Nagarvel Hanuman temple. We just need to cross the temple to be with the other community in Amraiwadi. Even this year, we are planning to have a grand get-together,” he says. While Hashmi’s neighbours may not be missing out on the inter-communal mingling even after the 2002 Gujarat riots, those who’ve had to migrate to other areas after the riots, feel the absence of an interface between the two communities.

Parimal Bhatt, a resident of Sharnam apartments at Satellite, fondly remembers his neighbour Nishi Qureshi, who was the only Muslim resident in his building. “Eid was a time for sheerkhurma for all residents. After 2002, her family became apprehensive and soon left for Delhi.

“We don’t have a Muslim neighbour now, and with the ghettoisation Ahmedabad has, we don’t expect interaction between the two communities anymore,” he says. After 2002, many Muslims from Saraspur, Maninagar, Paldi and Navrangpura, have moved to Juhapura. The interaction between the two communities, which existed earlier, has ended.

Ashfaq Rangwala, a resident of Juhapura who earlier lived in Navrangpura, feels that now most efforts to create harmony between the communities now seem forced. “Most people have to make efforts to organise a get-together of the two communities. Only social workers do it, the rest have become used to living without the ‘other’,” he says.

— By arrangement with The Times of India