Here a Muslim's passion is to protect Hindu temples

[bornhyderabadi]

PATHRA: Mohammad Yeasin Pathan has paid a high price for his devotion to history. Muslims have shunned him, Hindus have kicked and punched him and anonymous callers have threatened to kill him.
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<br>But none of this has dimmed the Muslim school clerk\'s determination to work to preserve a collection of 18th-century Hindu temples in West Bengal.
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<br>\"I passionately respect history. Everyone should, and it does not matter whether one is a Hindu or a Muslim,\" said Pathan, speaking amid the terracotta-and-brick temples in the Hindu-dominated village of Pathra West of Kolkata.
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<br>Pathan\'s volunteer efforts over the last two decades to preserve the 34 temples at Pathra are rare in India.
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<br>\"I remember a number of years ago, I was kicked, punched and slapped by some Hindus when I stopped them from taking away bricks of temples to build houses. They told me to keep out of the affairs of temples,\" the 50-year-old practising Muslim said.
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<br>\"Some Muslims still call me kafir (non-believer).\"
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<br>\"I wanted to stop looking after temples when the Babri Masjid (Mosque) was destroyed and, but I realised Muslims and Hindus have to live together,\" said Pathan.
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<br>The bespectacled father-of-four said that, after the Mosque\'s demolition, some Muslim clerics near Pathra urged Muslims not to socialise with him because he looked after temples.
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<br>\"Luckily, the boycott call did not really catch on as people felt it could cause tension.\"
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<br>The atmosphere worsened again in 2002 after a fresh outbreak of communal violence in western Gujarat -- the worst since 1992 -- in which more than 1,000 people died.
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<br>\"Some people, I don\'t know which religion, called me after the Gujarat riots and said they would kill me if I continued my work with Hindu temples. But I will not stop,\" Pathan said.
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<br>Many credit Pathan with preventing Pathra\'s temples from disappearing over the years due to the theft of bricks and the corrosive impact of time and nature.
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<br>He spends most of his spare time checking on the temples or campaigning tirelessly to get official government help to protect and restore them, travelling even to New Delhi and Kolkata to lobby for support.
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<br>At Pathra, dotted with temples mostly dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu most Hindus welcome Pathan.
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<br>\"Some Hindus don\'t like him but most of us respect him for he is a good human being and has done selfless work for our temples,\" said Prabhas Bhattacharya, a cloth salesman, sitting outside a temple.
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<br>Bhattacharya belongs to a panel set up by Pathan to help restore the temples, some of which rise 70 feet (21 meters) high.
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<br>Due to the committee\'s efforts, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has agreed to consider declaring Pathra\'s temples -- built by feudal landlords between 250 and 300 years ago -- as monuments of national importance and taking over their upkeep.
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<br>The ASI has already restored five temples, filling in cracks and putting in bricks in gaps created by stolen ones.
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<br>But a number are covered with vegetation, with figurines of Hindu gods and goddesses crumbling on their tan-coloured facades.
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<br>\"Pathan\'s efforts in protecting the temples are all the more commendable as he is a Muslim,\" said Bimal Bandopadhyay, a senior ASI archaeologist.
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<br>For Pathan, history is also about learning.
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<br>\"It is great to learn from history. You can learn from its glory and its mistakes. One lesson is the need to live in peace.\"
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[bornhyderabadi]

HI friends, I was very much moved reading this atricle, I almost got tears in my eyes after reading this. We hear numerable examples of people from each sect doing exemplary work for each other, this is one of those inumerable ones.
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<br>This gives hope to people in doubt, relief for those in pain, courage for those frientned that not all is lost and still humanity is very much alive among us, that\'s a very comforting thought.
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<br>I would like to request each one of you to post such similar incidents where some one from other religion has done some thing for people person from other religion, or just few lines of encouragement and this my friends will show our strength of \"unity in diversity\" , and will discourage persons from creating any kind of unrest for personal gains.Thanks

[Learner]

Thanks Friend,
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<br>These are the people we should look up to and emulate.
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<br>Our politicians do nothing but sow discord in the name of religion. Beware My Friends.

[pavani]

Very well posted, brother. Actuall I wanted to post this too, but then in the other boards, that veg/non veg issue and ragging issue postings irritated me, so I forgot what I wanted to post! Keep it up

[Deepa]

Hi Pavani,</br> </br> From many days we have daily been interacting through these message boards, and it\'s like we have become friends. Well, may I know about you, what you do? Still doing your Bachelors/Masters or a job? As far as my details are concerned, I am in a networking company, working abroad.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

Two thumbs up to Mr. Pathan.
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You can check yesterday\'s Yahoo photos for a pic of this guy.

[bornhyderabadi]

Thanks for your support. I would like to tell you one thing. Don\'t lose heart over other boards. I have read most of your postings and have strongly backed you each time.