Laying the Foundation Stone, by Jaanu Nagar
When one dwells in a place, one also abides by the ideas that are accepted in that place as being ideal for living. We even think of our future from within the mesh of these ideas. What seems to be at stake here is a consensus, arrived at over a long duration, about what should be sustained as the basis according to which life ought to be led. When a dwelling that has existed for a long time is broken, it is not only their homes that people are evicted out of. Demolition threatens people by scraping at the very foundations they have built their entire lives on.
It was after the demolition of many homes that some people found a place to live in, in Ghevra. The demolition of ones house leaves one steeped in many difficulties. In some ways, the energy mustered by different people to take care of their daily needs after a demolition, becomes a new basis on which to start constructing life afresh in a new place.
These needs include food, water, electricity, roads, means of transport, ways of earning a living, a house, a toilet. But there are some things which have more to do with ones heart and with a search for inner peace and self confidence, which also need an externalisation and a form. Such as: a mosque to offer namaz, a gurudwara to listen to guruwani, a church to find some peace of mind, a temple to pray in. These find their own place amidst the jostle of the everyday.
And they have in Ghevra too.
It was after the demolition of many homes that some people found a place to live in, in Ghevra. The demolition of ones house leaves one steeped in many difficulties. In some ways, the energy mustered by different people to take care of their daily needs after a demolition, becomes a new basis on which to start constructing life afresh in a new place.
These needs include food, water, electricity, roads, means of transport, ways of earning a living, a house, a toilet. But there are some things which have more to do with ones heart and with a search for inner peace and self confidence, which also need an externalisation and a form. Such as: a mosque to offer namaz, a gurudwara to listen to guruwani, a church to find some peace of mind, a temple to pray in. These find their own place amidst the jostle of the everyday.
And they have in Ghevra too.
Construction of different houses for offering prayers has begun in every block in Ghevra: Pir Baba's shrine in I-block, a main mosque in C-block, a small mosque for gathering to offer prayers in H-block, and so on.
And in G-block, on a piece of land by the lake that has dried up, people practicing different religions have got together and decided to build a temple that will give space to many different kinds of beliefs and rituals.
Aready, way back in 2006, to decorate this location, a bust of the ancient poet Valmiki had been established here. But it did not have any permanent structure built around it.
People's decision to build a temple, which is their response to the inner calling of the place about what its eventual make should be, is in contradiction to the use the government has assigned to it. A group of people has therefore got together with the "Uproot the Mafia from Society" campaign and announced that nothing else but a temple can be built here.
An idol of lord Hanuman has also been established here now. A small garden, which harks back to a mythical garden, has been constructed so that all those in the colony who want to gather to pray can do so in it.
But everything about this place is not based on the mythical alone. One morning, god knows from where, a cobra appeared in this exact place. A mongoose also appeared and attacked the giant cobra. People who were passing by saw this. Soon the place was surrounded by many pairs of eyes. Seeing so many people, the mongoose escaped. The cobra lay on the ground, badly injured. People began to disperse.
Then some people carried the cobra and lay him beside the bust of Valmiki. They tended to its injuries and offered it milk into which turmeric had been mixed, so its injuries would heal. Different things were tried to revive the cobra, but it died after twenty four hours.
Many people got together to perform the last rites for the cobra. The cobra was cremated. A pedestal of bamboo was built over the cremation spot. A female and a male form of the cobra were imagined and skillfully moulded out of clay and set up over this pedestal.
Many people contributed money for a havan (sacred hindu ritual that involves a fire ceremony) to purify the place. Thousands of mantras were chanted throughout the performing of the havan.
Though the place still belongs to the government, the dwellers of Ghevra colony have made it into their place of worship.
31 December 2007
And in G-block, on a piece of land by the lake that has dried up, people practicing different religions have got together and decided to build a temple that will give space to many different kinds of beliefs and rituals.
Aready, way back in 2006, to decorate this location, a bust of the ancient poet Valmiki had been established here. But it did not have any permanent structure built around it.
People's decision to build a temple, which is their response to the inner calling of the place about what its eventual make should be, is in contradiction to the use the government has assigned to it. A group of people has therefore got together with the "Uproot the Mafia from Society" campaign and announced that nothing else but a temple can be built here.
An idol of lord Hanuman has also been established here now. A small garden, which harks back to a mythical garden, has been constructed so that all those in the colony who want to gather to pray can do so in it.
But everything about this place is not based on the mythical alone. One morning, god knows from where, a cobra appeared in this exact place. A mongoose also appeared and attacked the giant cobra. People who were passing by saw this. Soon the place was surrounded by many pairs of eyes. Seeing so many people, the mongoose escaped. The cobra lay on the ground, badly injured. People began to disperse.
Then some people carried the cobra and lay him beside the bust of Valmiki. They tended to its injuries and offered it milk into which turmeric had been mixed, so its injuries would heal. Different things were tried to revive the cobra, but it died after twenty four hours.
Many people got together to perform the last rites for the cobra. The cobra was cremated. A pedestal of bamboo was built over the cremation spot. A female and a male form of the cobra were imagined and skillfully moulded out of clay and set up over this pedestal.
Many people contributed money for a havan (sacred hindu ritual that involves a fire ceremony) to purify the place. Thousands of mantras were chanted throughout the performing of the havan.
Though the place still belongs to the government, the dwellers of Ghevra colony have made it into their place of worship.
31 December 2007
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