Communities to host each other this Independence Day

A nationwide campaign called #MereGharAaketoDekho (Visit My Home, Be My Guest) will be launched on August 15 to combat hate and divisiveness. Families from different faiths in Mumbai will open their doors to each other to share meals and stories in an effort to break social barriers. Similar meetings will be held in other areas, and the campaign is expected to continue until January 2024. The initiative aims to promote understanding and unity among communities.

Strap: #MereGharAaketoDekho: Civil society’s soft campaign against divisive forces

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Mumbai: In order to combat the cacophony of hate and divisiveness that have enveloped civil society, a nationwide campaign -- #MereGharAaketoDekho (Visit My Home, Be My Guest) – will be launched on August 15. It was Delhi-based activist Shabnam Hashmi’s idea to involve citizens in such an initiative.

On the designated day, in Mumbai, families from various faiths will open their doors to each other in Cheeta Camp, near Trombay, to share meals and community stories. This modest act, they believe, will go a long way in breaking existing socially constructed barriers.

Dolphy D’Souza, one of the members of the organizing committee in Mumbai and president of Bombay Catholic Sabah said after the national campaign was announced recently, the idea received much traction and many groups have started signing up to participate. “We call this process meeting together, healing together and breaking myths,” said D’Souza.

The ‘Us vs Them’ narrative has managed to fan misleading myths about communities and religious groups, he added. But with this initiative, “an individual belonging to a family has an option to connect with members from other faiths”. “It is also an opportunity to embrace and understand other sections such as the LGBTQ communities. It may not end up with an elaborate meal, but it could be a visit, a simple chai paani or a hello. That’s the first step -- home to home,” said D’Souza.

On Independence Day, after the first hosting in Cheeta Camp, similar meetings will be held in Govandi, Nagpada, Bhendi Bazar, Mumbra and Thane. The campaign is likely to extend till January 2024. To facilitate this, the Mumbai chapter is creating a database of willing hosts, and has already received encouraging responses.

For instance, Sharmeela De Vas, a resident of Turner Road, Bandra, and an activist who works with Mumbai Citizens’ Forum, that fights against civic issues, has signed up to host a Muslim family from the neighbourhood for tea on August 15 “to build bridges”.

“I will speak from the heart to start conversations. I believe in the brotherhood of mankind as a Christian and I am proud to be an Indian first. I have upheld secularism since the time I came to India as an East African refugee in 1972,” she said, adding, people should also start hosting household helps. She will visit her Hindu maid’s house during Ganapati and the Adivasi maid’s place during Christmas.

Another participant, an activist, Mukta Srivastava, has convinced 11 Hindu middle-class families from Thane to host meals for Muslim families from Mumbra. “All of them are sensitive, secular and liberal. They have agreed to participate to beat the polarisation in society today.”

Yasmin Memon, a resident of Lal Matti, Bandra Reclamation, will open her doors for all communities. “I plan to begin with hosting a meal for Hindus; we do not have many non-Muslim visitors. My kids are curious about Hindus sporting tilaks. These cultural differences can be understood, when we understand each others’ histories,” she said.

Endorsing the apolitical campaign, Brinelle D’Souza, an academic and activist from TISS, and a part of the organizing committee, said, “Propaganda works because we don’t know each other as there is very little engagement between communities. Hence, negative forces are able to influence and strengthen divisiveness. Mumbai is multi-cultural and cosmopolitan, but this fabric has frayed over a period of time and the boundaries have sharpened.” Hasina Khan, from the NGO Bebaak Collective, added, the diversity in our country needs to be sustained “and we need to break myths that are being created to divide”.