Mohd. Fazil Khan said “घर आना हमारे बिरयानी खाने” and his joy turned into an ambiguous look and he asked “नाम क्या है”? | Another Story from field by Astha Bahuguna

We encounter people every day, we meet strangers and some gets stuck to us forever.
Another such person is Mohd. Fazil Khan whom I met while conducting interviews for a
project in Lucknow. He was a guy with a small rafu corner in front of one of the shops in
Hazratganj.
We talked to him, asked him questions and once we finished my group mate asked him if
there is some good place where we can have lunch. He asked us “बिर्यानी खाये हो लखनऊ
में’”? And we said yes but it was not all that good since we are not familiar with the place
and we do not know where we can get the best one.
Very excitingly and in full joy, he said “घर आना हमारे बिरयानी खाने” and we were about
to say yes when his joy turned into an ambiguous look and he asked “नाम क्या है”? And
we said Astha and Ganesh and that ambiguous look turned into a frown and the invitation
turned into a question “बिरयानी खाने आओगे & quot;? And we said yes- definitely, we will and he
said “चलीये देखते है।”
I still don’t know it was a question or an answer or a feeling which never managed to
escape the hearts of the millions of Muslims living in India. What did our name convey- a
no? Were our names enough for him to believe we won’t come? Do the Indian Muslims
face this dilemma every day? I mean I do not know- all I do is to remember Faiz every
time I encounter something of this sort “नजात-ए-दीदा-ओ-दिल की घडी नहीं आयी...चले चलो
की वो मंज़िल अभी नहीं आयी...चले चलो की वो मंज़िल भी नहीं आयी” and wonder “की क्या वो
मंजिल कभी आयेगी?”