Between The Mosque and The Temple

INTRODUCTION
Boman Desai is a famous writer born in Bombay, India in1950. He was educated in
the United States and began to write in 1976. He is the author of the short story
“Between the Mosque and the  Temple”. The story is an excerpt from his first
novel “The Memory of Elephants”. The story “Between the Mosque and the
Temple” is about a minor incident that could lead to bloodshed between the two
communities of Hindus and Muslims.

THE THEME OF THE STORY

Between The Mosque and The Temple mainly focuses on the conflict between
two religious parties of Hindus and Muslims. Perhaps, their misunderstanding
could be taken as the theme of the story. The story highlights the importance
attached to the religious places and the intolerance that rises from the
attitude. The story shows different sides of society as we move forward. It
shows how Banu went from being looked down on by the community heads
because of being a woman to her getting thanks from them after solving a
major problem with a smile.

ABOUT THE CHAIRMAN

Banu was the Chairman of the Sanitation Committee. She dressed in plain clothes.
She never wore bangles and rings. She was simple but smart in her approach.
Being the Chairman, Banu was supposed to settle a dispute between the Hindus
and Muslims about placing a rubbish bin. Hindus said that the rubbish bin was too
close to their temple, and wanted to move it farther away, but Muslims said that
it was already too close to their mosque and wanted to move it closer to the
temple. To solve the problem Banu wanted to examine the site so the Collector
sent a car, but Banu had chosen to walk because the site was not far. Moreover,
she wanted to show people that she was just like them.

BANU’S MARCH TO THE SITE

 When she was going to the site a group of Hindus and Muslim children joined
with her. It made Banu remember Gandhi’s Salt March in which Hindus and
Muslims of both genders united to show solidarity against the English. Soon the
collector who came by Rolls Royce car joined with Banu and took his place by her
side. They crossed dusty wadis, dirty paths, cobbled streets, etc. While crossing a
white cow Banu genuflected it and others did the same. When she reached the
site, the representatives of Hindus and Muslims with their followers were
surprised to see the crowd and a woman chairman.

BANU’S SOLUTION TO THE DISPUTE

  To find a solution to the problem Banu requested the crowd to walk with her
from the mosque to the temple and to count her footsteps. Everyone accepted it.
They walked with Banu, counting loudly in a singsong voice as if they were
learning numbers in school. They counted exactly two hundred and thirty-two
steps to the temple. Then she decided to keep the bin at one hundred and sixteen
steps from the mosque and the temple. She walked back to the mosque and
stopped at a  hundred and sixteen and the rubbish bin shifted away from the
mosque and near to the temple. No one objected against it.

CONCLUSION
Between The Mosque and The Temple is a great story of religious understanding. It
describes the conflicts and understanding after those conflicts between the two
religious parties. The problem of the two religious parties was solved by the person
from the third religion
. As Banu said, I’ve solved the problem because I am a Parsi, not a Hindu or a Muslim,
and more than that, I am a Woman.

Q-2
a) Arshad said that he bought a new cell phone for his mother.
b) Faizan said that he doesn’t like superhero movies.

Q-3
a) The book was too thick for me to read to the end.
b) Eminent journalist Ravish Kumar presented a report on unemployment.