Interview with a mumin bhai in Randhikpur, Dohad district, Gujarat
When the rioters of Randhikpur (near Dohad) tried to torch mumineen shops during the infamous Gujarat riots nearly a decade ago, they were restrained by an interesting reality: adjacent Hindu homes. So they did something else – they looted our shops.
My shop lost material worth Rs 13 lacs. They cleaned my shop out. Not a rupee’s material was left. Whatever we had earned in life was wiped out within minutes. Our first thought: leave Randhikpur immediately.
A few days later, we heard something unexpected: Huzurala asking us to return. Our honest reaction: How would we be able to return? We didn’t have the guts to put a toe inside Randhikpur. We were worried stiff that if we dared set up shop, neighbours and competitors would drive us out. More importantly, even if we returned, how would we be able to resume business? We had no working capital. How would we stock material? Ghani waar, zehen ma khayaal aavto ke Dahod ma jayne wasi jaiyye. Kai bhi nahnu-mohtu kari laiysu. But on the other hand, there was Huzurala’s farmaan... ’Go back to your watan and resume business’ and ’Mix with other communities and conduct your trade’. So we asked what was the next most logical qiuestion: ’What if the looters came as customers?’ and the reply same: ’Ehna si hali-mali ne vepaar karvo, dil milaawi nay dhando karjo. Koi malaal nahin. Koi allegation nahin.’ We were temporarily cross and confused. Yahaan hamaari zindagi ni kamaai thayi gayi saanf, aney yahaan Huzurala kehta ke hali-mali ne vepar karjo? Kem thayi?’
Point number one: We respected Huzurala’s directive, returned and resumed our business. Huzurala conferred dua and Rs 786 per shop to start all over again. Mumineen were told ’Recommence your business with this money.’ Thereafter, Huzurala provided us with qardan hasanaa. We leveraged whatever goodwill we enjoyed within our trade. This enabled us to start re-stocking Ek ruki hui gaadi na phari si dhakko laago. For the first few days, we commuted daily from Dohad, bringing stocks in instalments. However, a few incidents in those critical few days convinced us that Dai na kalaam hiqmat si khaali na hoyi.
Point number two: Humey pehla banyan, underwear, blouse piece aney running item stock karvaanu shuru keedhu. There was a fear that non-Muslims would boycott us. The other fear was that the residents of Randhikpur would not permit us to enter. That is when a miracle happened: Adivasis, who had been our erstwhile customers, sent us a message; ‘Bhai Vohra, please return at the earliest, tamaara wagar humnay nahi chaaley.’ Nahin chaaley? There was an interesting reason: over the decades, mumineen traders had built up a reputation that bhai Vohras would stock material not found in other shops; besides, the prices in bhai Vohra’s shops would be more reasonable than in the other stores. Mumineen har wakht em sochey ke rupiya no maal ek rupya nay dus paisa ma vechey; beeja dodh rupya ma vechey. Besides, Bhai Vohra would provide credit for a month and in some instance due to circumstances would even agree to extend this credit period without charging penal interest whereas other vepaari pehla divas si vyaaj no meter chalaavey. So it was evident that bhai Vohra ni dukaan ma cost, quality aney vehwaar no faaydo. The irony was that following the riots, respect for mumineen increased in Randhikpur.
Point number three: something interesting transpired in the marketplace. Earlier, we would stock Rs 7 lacs of stock and report daily revenues of Rs 10,000. Now with Huzurala’s dua mubarak, we started reporting the same daily volume with a seventh of the stocked material. Our working capital started generating a signficiantly higher return. The customer who we would have to show varied designs before they would hestatingly buy, now would barely see two before buying immediately. This had never happened before in our trade. For years, we had reported a lower percentage reurn on a higher working capital outlay; we were now reporting a higher return with lower capital! Burhanuddin Maula yeh famayu hatu key mumineen tamey aag ma si baagh thai jaaso aney teepa dariya bani jaase, to temaj thayu!
Point number four: Interestingly, we did not just report higher incomes; we also experienced a rebound in our ikhlaas. Pehle Maula ma yaqeen karta, pun havey Maula par ekdum yakeen thayi gayo. Normally, people like us would have lost their deeni moorings. Hamara Randhikpur ma – aney saara Gujarat ma – thayu opposite.
Point number five: Huzurala’s strict farmaan was that everyone should co-exist peacefully. Dushman nay bhi dost banaavjo; tamaara dukaan ya ghar par aavey to dushmani na nikaljo, bhaley tamaaro maal looti gayo hoi. We knew from the local grapevine as to who had robbed our shop. But now that Maula had pronounced a peace strategy, we extended our hand in friendship. This surprised the others completely; ki aa bhai Vohra ne khabar chhey aney tey baad bhi izzat si pesh aavey chhey? The result was that a number of people who had robbed mumineen shops now felt deeply repentant. In fact, they are now curious about the progress that bhai Vohra has made in the last few years.
The result is that we have repiad our qardan hasana. We are now growing our business with our net worth. Jitni barkat pehla hati, ehna si kahi zyaada barkat havey chhey. Aa hamara rehbar na sabab!
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