Mysuru: Brotherhood warms up in floods

Mysuru: In troubled times, religious difference are bound to disappear and it is happening in Kodagu district of Karnataka where a popular madrasa and a Hindu math have opened their doors to offer refuge to people of all faiths, displaced by the floods and devastating landslides.

This is happening ahead of  Id on Monday which makes the gesture all the more significant. The madrasa and marriage hall at Nellihudikeri in Somwarpet taluk and Kashi Matha in Bagama-ndala besides Basaveswar Bhavan in Virajpet have opened their doors to the victims setting an unique example.

“Hindus offered prayers at the nearby temple on the occasion of Varama-halakshmi on Friday and we all are all set to offer Bakrid prayers at the mosque and madarasa here on Monday. Kodagu is often portrayed as communally sensitive and the natural calamity has come as a blessing in disguise for us to prove our communal harmony.  I sleep amid Hindus under the same roof, eat the same food cooked for all of us by a Christian,” said Safiya Mohammed, a three-time member of Nelligudukeri gram panchayat who herself is a flood victim and is housed at the Nellihudikeri madrasa.

“While helping others out, I could not carry with me vital documents from my house which was flooded. With the help of ZP member Latif,  my husband, Muhammed, son Nauphal, daughter-in-law Arifa and grandchildren Nihaali and Nishma were shifted to the madarasa,” she said.

Among the 108 victims at Kashi Matha in Bagamandala, seven are Muslims.