First walk was organized at Zakaria and Colutola Street to provide an overview of everyday lives of Muslims during Ramzan. About 50 participants from the different communities took part in Iftar programme. Another Know your neighbour walk was arranged to provide an overview of peaceful living of various religious communities.
The second version of the annual event ‘Dosti ki Iftari’ was held at Kidderpore at Al Hamd W.S.A School, organized jointly by SNAP, AIMS and Right Track. The event was meant to bring people from different faiths together over food and discussions. The iftar drew a diverse crowd which included theologians, journalists, activists, students and local residents. The imam, who inaugurated the proceedings with a beautiful rendition of a couple of verses from the Quran also spoke in his welcome address about the rituals associated with Ramazan besides impressing upon all the need for tolerance and universal brotherhood. Ms Shaheen Parveen – shared her ideas concerning Ramazan, femininity and domestic labour. A former resident of Kidderpore who had migrated to England spoke of his joy at being able to start a school for children who worked in Fancy Market. Krishna Mukherjee, a non-Muslim, spoke of her family's tradition of fasting for Ramazan. Two other speakers shared interesting stories of Kidderpore's history- as its home to famous poets as well as dock workers and its inclusiveness in terms of social character.
Association SNAP in collaboration with Tipu Sultan Memorial Society organised a communal harmony program at the Red Cross Society Bhawan in Asansol on 16th July 2017 as part of the ‘Know Your Neighbour’ campaign. The program was organized with the aim of bridging the lack of socio-cultural exchange among different religious communities. This is the first time that the KYN campaign moved beyond Kolkata to the other areas of Bengal. The program was a combined effort of local SNAP volunteer Kasturi Ghatak and Md. Sohail of Tipu Sultan Memorial Society.
Around 100 people attended the event; and the audience included people from different communities and all walks of life. Some of the eminent personalities who attended the program included, Swami Bharupanand of Ramkrishna Mission, imam of local mosque Mufti Md Saeed Asad Qasmi, Father Anil Kumar Tirkey of the local church, author and Sahitya Akademi Awardee Jaya Mitra, scientist Amirul Islam of Burnpur Steel Plant, Professor of BC College (Asanosol) Amitabha Mukhopadhyay and several other academics, teachers, social activists, students and common residents. Others present in the event were journalists, academics and activists from Kolkata.
“This event is an initiative to promote conversation between different communities in Asansol, to foster a sense of bonding to prevent any future communal tensions,” said Kasturi Ghatak, one of the organisers of the KYN campaign. Father Tirkey appreciated the idea of trying to know our neighbours and urged the community members to organise such programs at different levels. Swami Bharupanand Ji said that we all should strive towards becoming a better friend or neighbour rather than seeking one. Mufti Qasmi reminded that our combined identity outside the country is that we all are Indians, irrespective of our faith, adding that all religions teach humanity and brotherhood.
On Sunday, 21 January 2018 SNAP, Ebong Alap and Abhijaan Publishers jointly organized a Heritage Walk in Metiabruz under the banner of Know Your Neighbour. Like other KYN initiatives the event was organized with the broader aim of dispelling myths and taboos associated with Muslim neighbourhoods in order to promote communal harmony. The walk hence sought to acquaint outsiders with the locality of Metiabruz and its rich history, which people usually remain unaware of.
The guests gathered outside the Chaturbhuj Mishthan Bhandar in Kidderpore and from there proceeded to BNR Railway Club which once housed Parikhana and where Nawab Wajid Ali Shah lived briefly. From there they went to Surinam Ghat and then to Bichali Ghat. The last stop was Sibtainabad Imambara. There they had a sumptuous lunch delivered from the India Restaurant. Post lunch, the KYN program began where participants had an open and frank discussion on a number of issues. Participants included some eminent academics, publishers, teachers, writers of the city.
Know Your Neighbour collaborated with Calcutta Karavan and organized 'Karavan-e-Dosti' at Miloni High School, Mominpore on 25th February, Sunday for a unique experience. At the beginning of the event, Salman Hashmi recited some of his poems setting the tone of the program. The highlight of the program was the special guest from Delhi, Asif Khan Dehlvi who recited tales from Awadh, Dehli, of food and culture, and above all of living together, harmony and tolerance. Also present were Md Ashraf Saheb, Suparna Deb, Samim Ahmed, Manzar Jameel Saheb, Milan Da, Suman Sengupto, Nasima Islam, Atiq Rahaman, Mehboob Hoque and some other participants.
This was the third annual “Dosti ki Iftari’ organized by Know Your Neighbour, in association with city-based NGOs Right Track, AIMS and Kidderpore based Welcare Diagnostics. This time it was the residents of Mominpore area who hosted the event where most of the guests were non-Muslims from the city.
Guests from different parts of the city and suburbs included journalists, social activists, writers, students, teachers, and professors as well as common people from different walks of life.
RJ and blogger Deepanjan Ghosh who attended the Iftar explained the context within which organizing events of this nature becomes important, “Our two communities, Hindus and Muslims, have been living together separately. We do not go to each other’s neighbourhoods, we do not bother to find out about each other’s customs and in this atmosphere of ignorance, hatred is spawned by the few who chose to profit from it...‘Dosti Ki Iftari’ attempts to bring together Hindus and Muslims over food and a frank and free-wheeling discussion, to encourage bonding and fraternising across religious boundaries.”
On 23 June 2018, KYN organised the second edition of the heritage walk to the 'Chhota Lucknow' of Kolkata, Metiaburz, this time in collaboration with Jadavpur University. The main participants were students from East Asian countries who had come to JU as part of a Summer School. As with the former walk, this too was organized with the aim to familiarize outsiders with this less popular neighbourhood of Kolkata.
About 50 students, academics, journalists and history enthusiasts participated in the KYN walk that began from Kidderpore, and on an auto moved to Garden Reach area stopping at Surinam Ghat, Shahi Masjid, Bichali Ghat and finally reaching the Sibtainabad Imambara where they had a freewheeling discussion. The tour ended at the India Restaurant where everyone had sumptuous dinner.
Know Your Neighbour in collaboration with Manobik Samaj organized a picnic in Panchla, Uluberia area of Howrah. This picnic was organized on board boats locally called shaltis. Decades ago the shaltis were rampantly used to navigate the Rajapur canal in the Panchla area. Now however, they have fallen out of use and those earning livelihoods by navigating the waterways to transport goods to the land or as fishermen have mostly lost their livelihoods. They have been turned to the category of casual labourers as a result of partisan development inland. To rejuvenate their lives and reinvigorate the childhood memories of those who had grown up in the area, along with the aim of familiarizing outsiders with this novel landscape, this innovative day long activity was organized from the Gabberia region of Panchla to Lalpol and back. The event spawned excitement and discussion among those who attended it.
The neighbourhood of Selimpur, Kolkata has been witness to a great deal of socio-spatial upheaval during the years of partition and in the following decades. On a rainy Sunday morning, Know Your Neighbour, in collaboration with Institute of Development Studies Kolkata, organized a neighbourhood walk and discussion in the area.
KYN volunteer Reyaz, spoke about our initiative. Anwesha Sengupta, assistant professor of history at IDSK deliberated on historian Joya Chatterji’s essay which focuses on Selimpur, ‘Of Graveyards and Ghettos: Muslims in West Bengal’. Prof. Achin Chakraborty, Director of IDSK also shared his views.
Mufti Shamim Shaukat, (former) CEO of West Bengal Wakf Board, spoke about the concept of wakf in Islam and also elaborated on the wakf properties in the state. Sabir Ahamed of KYN elaborated on some of the terms related to Islam/Muslims in general, but those, in particular, used in Chatterji’s essay, for instance, Shab-e-Barat, Eid-ul-azha, etc. Epsita Halder, assistant professor at Jadavpur University, spoke about Muharram based on her research. Deepanjan Ghosh, RJ and popular heritage blogger, shared some of the insights based on different blogs he has written on mosques and shrines. Heba Ahmed, a research scholar at JNU, was also present and shared a few words about her research.
Despite the rain, almost 50 people turned up for the programme and participated in a lively discussion followed by the walk.
Wednesday evening experience was unique for the whole Know Your Neighbour team. After organising, Dosti Ki Iftari, neighbourhood walks and a series of focused group discussions, on October 17, that is on the day of Maha Ashtami, KYN organised Dosti Ka Utsav, first of its kind interactive session during Durga Puja celebration. We tried to reach out to several Pujo Committees and we are thankful to Sunrise Estate Puja Organising Committee for giving us time just after the pujo and before the beginning of their cultural programs.
About 30 guests from different parts of the city had come to participate in the programme. But our special thanks to the residents of the apartments, from young children to grannies, for participating in the programme. Sunrise Estate is a Little India in itself where Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Marwadis, Bengalis and those with roots in Bihar and UP live together like one big family.
KYN volunteers Mohammad Reyaz, Md. Anwar, Dolon Ganguly, Kasturi Ghatak and residents of Sunrise Estate shared their views. Madhuri Katti, Prof Arunabha Adhikari, Nausheen, Shahina, among others also shared their thoughts with us.
On Thursday, November 8, Know Your Neighbour, co-hosted a group of writers, poets and translators from Germany for a discussion cum heritage walk of Khidderpore-Mominpur localities of Kolkata. KYN collaborated with Heritage Walk Calcutta for Toledo - Übersetzer im Austausch der Kulturen.
Together we explored the past and present of Khidderpore, with its churches, mosques and temples. The walk was preceded by a discussion session at the office of NGO Right Track where we had an engaging conversation on the historical diversity of the locality, its languages and culture, and how Khidderpur today retains much of its cosmopolitan nature.
Our next stop was the Shahani Begum Masjid, which was built by a family member of Tipu Sultan in the nineteenth century. This is one of the five mosques that belong to the family. We then moved on to St. Ignatius Church (estd. 1911), a Catholic Church of the Kerala style. Our next stop was St. Barnabas Church (estd. 1867) and the high school adjacent to this Protestant church. We finally visited what used to be poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta's house for few years before ending the tour with a sumptuous meal at the India Hotel.
On Sunday, November 18, Know Your Neighbour organised its first programme for children, in collaboration with Snacking Café- UniFest: Celebrating Children's Day and Diversity. It was an occasion where about 50 children from diverse communities – as diverse as Turkish, Bengali Hindus and Muslims, Urdu speaking Muslims, Marwadis, Gujarati, Oriya, Kannada, Malayali, etc. - came together to share food, tell stories, sing, and draw.
We heard many stories from our talented participants as young as five years old. Children and their guardians also heard delightful stories in different languages from our special guests- authors Anita Agnihotri, Joya Mitra and RJ Deepanjan Ghosh. Sudeshna Moitra too pitched in with a story. The children also treated us to beautiful songs. We heard a wide variety of songs beginning from shyamasangeet and soulful Rabindrasangeet to Turkish songs of bonding and unity. Popular Bengali singer Rupam Islam concluded the program singing to children songs and encouraging them to open the windows of hearts and minds.
Our drawing session turned out to be one of the best parts of our event thanks to the children’s group work and the wonderful effort of Rounak Patra. Social worker, columnist and KYN volunteer Dolon Ganguly helped Rounak in the difficult task of managing about 26 children who participated in drawings.
Everyone came together for the potluck and food. For the potluck, there were different kinds of food that children had brought from home. At the table, there was puri sabzi, sandwich, uppam, noodles, smiley fries, Turkish Baklawa, etc. Children bonded as they shared their food. Instead of making it a competition, we encouraged students to all work in a team, and so at the end there was no winner or losers but everyone got certificates and gifts. We also had some children from a city orphanage and we were pleasantly surprised by their confidence when they narrated stories and sang songs.
Overall the experience was one of bonding, sharing and brotherhood. Diversity is indeed our strength!
On 28 November, Wednesday evening Know Your Neighbour organised the third event of the month ‘Kolkata, a Migrant City: Field Trip’ in collaboration with Calcutta Research Group as part of Research Workshop and International Conference being hosted by CRG on ‘The State of the Global Protection System for Refugees and Migrants’.
About 25 participants of the Workshop from across world, and about 15 more participants from the city began from Shahani Begum Mosque and we then visited St Ignatius Church. Participants were then given a guided tour in bus to the Dock area before they all assembled at a migrant labourer cluster behind Five Star Market. Some of our journalist friends including Suvojit Bagchi from The Hindu and Riju Basu from ABP also joined us.
Participants were joined there by over 50 young and old migrants from Bihar most of whom are engaged in odd labour or sell regular stuff on cart. Most of the migrants in this cluster are from Mithila region of Bihar. They shared their everyday experiences with the researchers, their tales and circumstances of migration, their living conditions in the city, their work and their homestead, and much more.
Know Your Neighbour collaborated with Swayam to give the message of peaceful coexistence and social harmony on December 6, remembering the black day of our democracy and urging people to break the barriers of ignorance and indifference. We gathered at Hazra crossing, sang songs together and spoke our heart.
On behalf of KYN, Mohona explained to the audience our aim and functions and different events we did. Madhuri di, used data and graphs to explain about cases of lynching and hate crimes while Md Anwar bhai narrated a beautiful poem. Dolon Di representing both Azad Foundation and KYN, read a poem she has composed herself on the theme of harmony and diversity.
On Christmas day, 2018, Know Your Neighbour organized a daylong trip to Chandannagar. Our journey commenced from Howrah Station. The first part of our program was ably guided by Souptik Choudhury of the Hugli River of Cultures Project who showed us around the town.
We visited the B.Ed College, an interesting example of colonial architecture built by local elites; the French cemetery, where we saw the coming together of different European forms of architecture and the tomb of the controversial Radhanath Sikdar, recently discovered; the Lal Dighi where a fort once stood; the Gala Kuthi, where glue was crafted, and which later became the Cancer Hospital, one of the few places where the characteristic French window can still be seen; the Nandadulal temple, built by a local ijaradar in the 1740s, in the style of aatchala.
Stopping for stimulating tea and snacks in the crisp winter afternoon, we went through the Burrabazar area where we saw an old French school, and many examples of how older structures were making way for newer ones, in between catching a glimpse of the জগৎধাত্রী ঠাকুর এর কাঠামো and the Strand area, where we passed by the schools and offices of the yesteryears. Our walk ended at the Sacred Heart Church, which was beautifully lit and decorated for the Christmas.
We then proceeded for the next part of our program to the book fair. Here we had a discussion session on the 'Representation of the Minorities in the Media'. KYN volunteer Mohona Maitra introduced Know Your Neighbour and our work to the audience. Sabir Ahamed elaborated on the importance of the initiative and its relevance in current times, and spoke of how the media perpetuates stereotypical images of the minorities. From his ongoing research, our guest Ashraful Amin explained how Bengali soaps and serials, portray images of the Muslims as barbaric, backward, uncivilized and in dire need of rescuing. KYN Volunteer Madhuri Katti spoke on the importance of social media and how its power is being misused to spread ruses and rumours.
We were pleasantly surprised at the responses from the audience, who shared with us their stories of amity and unity and made our initiative very meaningful. A local resident perfectly ended the program while sharing his experience with beautiful Bhakti song of Lallan Fakir.
On 13 January, Sunday, Know Your Neighbour organized the first event of the New Year at Khidirpur at Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan Community Hall, 'Breakfast with Bakarkhani' - discussion over food on winter delicacies like Bakarkhani, Paya and Dal-puri, coupled with a chance to savour these dishes.
The morning began with a talk session on how food is an important aspect of everyday life and how discrimination and interventions in this regard can be harmful. Our speakers Madhuri Di, Md Ashraf Sb of Right Track, Sabir Ahamed highlighted how food can bring people together, and how it is important to know about each other's food practices and habits and overcome taboos imposed artificially. Fatima Manzilat and Talat Kadri shared their expert knowledge on Nihari and Paya. A sumptuous breakfast followed, with nankarai, Dalpuri, Bakarkhani, and beef/mutton nihari.
On Sunday, 27 January, Know Your Neighbour and Azad Foundation jointly organized another unique event ‘Minority Women in the Public Sphere’ at Tangra as part of the One Billion Rising campaign. The purpose of such an event was to initiate a meaningful and fruitful dialogue on issues related to the women of the minority community in the public sphere. In particular, the goal of the event was to listen to the experiences of women from minority communities in their lives outside of their homes and their experiences as professionals participating in the workforce.
One uniqueness of this event was that all the speakers and presenters were females. Saba Parveen of KYN delivered the welcome address while Mohona Maitra delved on the KYN campaign and what it is all about. Deotima Chowdhury of Azad Foundation and Afreen Zaman of KYN moderated the session wonderfully in a mix of Bengali, Hindustani and English. Dolon Ganguly from Azad Foundation then set the context of the program, on why we think it's relevant and why we conceptualized the program like this. She said, “We are hoping that our dialogues and discussion will show women, women from minority communities as well as the society, in general, a direction to move forward to a discrimination-free and inclusive society.” Actor Gulshan Ara, Head Mistress of Dekunda SARM Girls High Madrasa at Beldanga Murshida Khatoon and three of her students (who are volleyball players), Social Activist Rahima Khatoon, Chauffeur at the Park Hotel Sajira Laskar, senior journalist Shabina Akhtar, PR and Social Media Consultant Afreen Zaman, young law student Nayab Ashraf, among others shared the challenges they face, first as a woman who dare to venture out and create an identity for themselves, and then particularly as women from minorities communities.
A common point that most reiterated was that their struggle is not against any religion in particular as women in all societies are suppressed but their fight is against that patriarchal mindset that wants to confine women within the four walls of the house. In between, musical band Paridhi cheered the audience with songs specially composed and curated for the event that also had social messages in it. Among the audience were some very eminent personalities, including author and social activists Joya Mitra, Sudeshna Moitra, Anuradha Kapoor, Tabassum Siddiqui, restauranteur Manzilat Fatima, and editor of Anandabazar Patrika Anirban Chattopadhyay, among others.
The KYN team was invited by the Department of Sociology, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata to present its work on neighbourhoods and talk about creating social discourse/ dialogue about diversity and inclusion among communities. KYN volunteers Madhuri Katti, Mohona Maitra, Sabir Ahamed and Mohammad Reyaz had the opportunity to share KYN’s goals and ideas, our activities and future plans with students and teachers of the department.
Students came up with pertinent points about stereotyping of the minorities and the common social behaviour they encounter in the interactive session. Certain experiences are becoming very common - for instance Uber drivers refusing to drive to certain Muslim dominant areas or cancelling trips of passengers with Muslim names and vice-versa; people switching over to speak in Hindi/Urdu with Muslim persons even though the person is fluent in Bengali, etc. A young student shared how sweet shops discriminate subtly if her mother is in veil.
On Sunday evening, April 7, Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh was remembered at the Sibtainabad Imambara built by her husband Nawab Wajid Ali Shah as Shamm-e-Azadi on her 140th death anniversary. The program was jointly organized by social harmony campaign 'Know Your Neighbour' and Manzilat, the founder of which is the great great granddaughter of the two.
This was a one-of-a-kind program in Kolkata where heritage enthusiasts, civil society members, and academics came together to remember the queen who bravely fought for India, and presented a fine example of communal harmony.
The program began with putting flowers on the graves of Wajid Ali Shah and the photograph of the Begum as she is buried in Kathmandu, Nepal, followed by the recitation of verses from Holy Quran by young local boy Md Kaif.
Manzilat Fatima welcomed an overwhelming number of over 100 guests at the Imambara to commemorate the 140th death anniversary of Hazrat Mahal. Blogger and KYN volunteer Madhuri Katti said, ‘it is very intriguing to see the how she had mobilized not just sepoy rebels but also Hindus, Muslims, Dalits, farmers, peasants, landlords, landless, men, women and everyone to fight the East India Company forces to win back Awadh'.
Shaikh Sohail, founder of Break free Trails, gave a detailed account of how the Nawab ended up in Kolkata while his Queen fought but was later forced to take exile in Kathmandu. He also briefly mentioned about cultural contributions of Nawab who promoted art, dance and other forms of cultural expressions. He was himself a poet and patronized both Kathak and thumri.
Awadh was at one time paragon of syncretic Ganga-Jamuni Tahzeeb. Researcher Sabir Ahamed, Know Your Neighbour Convener, explained the politics of history writing and how certain figures in history are monumentalized while others are conveniently ignored.
Young Zainab Fatima, the great great great granddaughter of Begum, also recited one of the poems Hazrat Mahal had written while in exile in Kathmandu.
There was also a very lively interactive session at the end, where the audience that included reputed authors, teachers, Journalists, and civil society activists among others were present. Authors Jaya Mitra and Maryam Wali also shared their views. The program ended with the national anthem.
The 2019 edition of the Dosti Ki Iftari was held at Shadman Palace in Khidirpur on Sunday, 26 May 2019. Over 100 people from different walks of life, and belonging to different faiths came together for an inter-faith iftar and discussion to give the message of peace and harmony. The annual flagship event of the initiative ‘Know Your Neighbour’ (KYN) was jointly organized by Khidirpur Unit of Social and Welfare Activities, Right Track and Association SNAP.
In attendance this year was senior IPS officer Humayun Kabir, Special Secretary MA&ME Shakil Ahmed, IA&AS Suparna Deb, famous Bengali singer Moushumi Bhowmik, local lad and Bengal actor Rezwan Rabbani Sheikh, several city-based academics, journalists, activists, teachers, bureaucrats, students, among others. Several heritage walk enthusiasts also attended this year’s event. The sole message that all speakers emphasized upon was that in our diverse faiths, languages, cultures we all are one and as responsible citizens, we need to have better relations with our neighbours and fellow citizens.
Imam of a local mosque Maulana Mohammad Ashraf Qasmi stressed on the need of such interfaith dialogues for peaceful and harmonious coexistence in these troubled times. Dwaipayan Banerjee of People’s Film Collective narrated some recent examples from the city when Muslims had difficulties in finding houses in some localities and how interventions by civil society members have helped.
The icing on the cake for the event was Mausumi Bhowmick singing few stanzas of Sufi song of Pir Majiruddin of Syedpur in Sylhet:
Pranonath Bondhu re
Aparadhi hoilam ami
E kon bichare
Aadi hoite eki mata
Tobe keno bhinno bhrata
Ami bhoye knapi bhinnotari dore
On Sunday, 28th July, KYN organized a neighbourhood walk around Central Kolkata for the students of Wake Forest University, USA who are visiting India on a 'study abroad' program.
To orient them with the diversity and history of the city we visited the Neveh Shalome Synagogue, the Parsi fire temple, Tiretti Bazar (old China town), Mohammad Ali library (established in 1930 and named in the memory of great nationalist Mohammad Ali Johar - founder of Jamia Milia University) and Jackaria House (Zakaria) in Zakaria Street area.
Apart from acquainting them with the standard heritage tales, Know Your Neighbour also enabled the students to have a deeper connect with the places by talking and interacting spontaneously with anyone present in the premises or in the locality.
Masood, care taker of Neveh Shalome Synagogue not only opened the doors for us, but also shared the history of the place and restoration tale. The fact that Jewish synagogues of Kolkata have survived and been taken care of by Muslim families is an extraordinary tale which has been covered internationally.
Next at Parsi Fire temple, on request a senior Parsi gentleman Mr. Postwala joined us with tales about their community roots in India and in the city. He also regaled us with stories of how their surnames are either related to their trade or vocations or places they belong to, for example- Postwala, Poonawala etc.
Our next stop was Old China Town. We visited a few temples here. At Sei Vui Temple we were not only welcomed by care taker Mr. Paul Wen into the church/temple, he also ushered us into community space for some much-needed rest and offered soft drinks/mineral water to the group.
The visit to Md. Ali library and Zakaria House was icing on the cake. We saw rare Urdu books which have enriched Urdu literature and helped many research scholars. Md. Khalil Sahab who has been secretary for past 60 years spoke to students despite ill health. At Zakaria House - we had another insightful interaction and look at interiors of ground floor of a nearly 100-year-old building that still houses the third generation of the same family!
The walk ended with lunch at Flury’s – a colonial legacy which has already become favourite with the students.
It was interesting to revisit Kolkata’s rich cultural history, diversity and the legacy of largely peaceful co-existence spanning more than 200 hundred years that has very few dark chapters. The response of some community members and care takers who welcomed us despite no prior notice was the proof that the city is still warm and loving at heart!