Hindu-Muslim Tensions

I didn’t need the two bombings to know that Hyderabad is a bastion of religious intolerance. On the second day of my arrival, I experienced the most blatant religious discrimination that I had ever seen first-hand. I was in the market for a cell phone, and a Muslim friend had offered to give me his old one. When I told my Hindu friends, they practically exploded.

"Do not take the phone. We do not know this Muslim boy."
"He is a Muslim. You cannot trust him."
"They may turn violent any minute."
"Don’t give them any personal information."
"Don’t you remember the Twin Towers?"

They continued ranting and raving for about 10 minutes, and I was literally stunned into silence. I think my jaw even dropped as I stared at them. It was this expression that prompted them to say the line about September 11, I think. I wish I could say that I jumped right in and started gently pointing out that not all Muslims are extremists or killers, but it was my second day in the city, and I didn’t know this couple very well. I was silent.

Two days later, I was having tea with the same couple in addition to another couple from the school. They brought up the whole cell phone incident, and the other couple immediately agreed. This time I tried to stand up for my Muslim friends, explaining that they had been very kind to me. They told me not to be fooled. "That is how they act on the outside. You do not know what is inside. Don’t be fooled. Don’t trust them. They will cheat you."

A week later in the staff room, some of these same people expressed disbelief at the bombings. "Why would anyone want to do this? Why would they want to ruin their own city? They are killing their own countrymen."