Author: Will Evans

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0521/In-India-Hindu-and-Muslim-men-make-a-meal-to-heal-the-religious-divide

Ahmedabad, the Indian city from which Mahatma Gandhi led his nonviolent freedom struggle, has earned notoriety in recent decades for vicious religious violence between Hindus and Muslims. In 2002, mobs rampaged through the city, raping and killing. More than a thousand died throughout the region, mostly Muslims.

But through four decades of bloody clashes and increasing polarization, one slum has managed to maintain a strict tradition of unity. “It’s peaceful here,” says Somabhai Makwana, a Hindu community leader. “Whenever there are any troubles, all of us try to solve the problem and nobody asks who’s Hindu and who’s Muslim.”