History Shall Be Witnessed by the Ignorant---> ME!

It’s Wednesday evening here in India, and tomorrow is an exciting day.  For a few weeks now, we’ve been hearing rumors about “curfews”.  Now… hear me out.  One thing you must take into account is that when we hear things here, they are usually in broken English, we don’t watch the news, and it seems like none of the staff really feels like informing us about things…ever.  So anyway, the idea of a curfew sounded like it meant several possibilities: it could mean simply that classes are cancelled and we have the day off :), or it could mean that if we go outside we’ll be shot by the police :(.  That was a literal rumor, but not true.  Anyway, there was a possibility of one of these curfews last Friday, and when Friday finally rolled around…nothing happened. 

Today, we heard more news of a curfew tomorrow, but finally…FINALLY…we found out why.  And it’s a good reason too!  So I found out only today, that for the past 60 years, Hindus and Muslims in India have been fighting over a small area of land, called Ayodhya, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.  This land was where Rama, a Hindu god and hero of the Ramayana, was allegedly born.  Later, Muslims built the Babri Mosque on this land and then in 1992 it was attacked and destroyed by a group of Hindus.  The debate has lasted for decades over who the rightful owner of the land is.  It seems that Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Jains all have religious connections to the land. 

Tomorrow, September 30, the Allahabad High Court will decide who owns the land.  It’s an exciting time to be in India!  People have predicted violence no matter what the outcome.  My afternoon classes have been cancelled, and we’ve been advised not to leave the building after the verdict is announced, which is at 3 o’clock I believe.  I am excited to hear the verdict, and see what the effect is.  There may not be much commotion in Mysore, given we’re so far south, but you never know!  I’ll do a follow-up post soon.

Love,

Julia