City on Fire by Zeyad Masroor Khan offers an expansive and gripping account of life in his hometown amidst the chronic anxiety fuelled by tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities. In the book, the author introduces readers to the city of Aligarh, its ancient and new names, the fables surrounding it, the people who populate the city and the undercurrent of tension hardwired into the daily life of the place. Even though violence is seemingly the vehicle moving the narrative forward, the author balances it out with quaint details, folklore and humorous anecdotes, tilting the balance wherever possible towards the expansiveness of the world as opposed to the narrow confines of hatred.
Divided into three parts, the author depicts his childhood and boyhood growing up in Aligarh and his years in Delhi where he later shifts for higher studies and employment. In Aligarh, where the living areas are demarcated by class as well as religion, the people living in the “border areas” where the localities overlap and both Hindus and Muslims stay in proximity—like the neighbourhood of Upar Kot where Khan’s family house was located—are especially vulnerable. These are the places where armed mobs descend during riots looking to unleash their anger and weapons. At these times, your friendly neighbourhood shopkeeper may be the one who points you out to the incensed crowd. So as a matter of survival it was essential to have the ability to sniff the air and calculate the danger to ensure that life went on despite the disturbances. Khan writes, “For us, communal tension was a spectrum, a part of our existence, around which the lives of everyone around me were moulded… (but it also) honed our judgement and made us confident about making the call on how dangerous it was to go outside.”
When the author was four years old, he witnessed the riots that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It was around this time that he innocently pressed a button in his house hanging loose on the wall and then saw all hell break loose in the neighbourhood. The button turned out to be an alarm devised to warn people of incoming rioters—it was a button to save lives. The riots continued and people from both sides continued to die in violent skirmishes that flared up every now and then. He was 14 when the fires from the 2002 Gujarat riots reached Aligarh, and 32 when he narrowly escaped the violence that would ultimately culminate into the 2020 Delhi riots.
Khan puts a name to some of the people whose lives were snuffed out because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, in the wrong attire. Reflecting on the violence he experienced in Aligarh and Delhi, he observes how in his hometown even though tension between communities existed, people mingled with each other when things were calm, whereas the divide was sharper and deeper in the capital.
The author intertwines his life story with major political events in the country and beyond that have gone on to change the perceptions of the world—the 9/11 attacks, the bombardment of Afghanistan, Gujarat riots, Babri Masjid, CAA and Shaheen Bagh protests. Khan uses vivid metaphors to sharply convey the message and evoke the mood; “The bonhomie…was shattered like the glass window of a poor man’s shop,” “Destiny is like a devoted postman, it will eventually locate you and deliver the message that is meant for you, rain or shine.”
The memoir grapples with issues of identity, love, bravery and the chronic anxiety of people as they negotiate life amidst communal disturbances, acting as a mirror reflecting the fractured realities in the country today. It recounts the Muslim side of the story of communal violence that the author encounters, and we read about Hindus with humanitarian ideologies who stood up and saved countless lives putting their lives in danger.
City of Fire is a painful reminder of the lives torn apart by needless violence and the heartbreak of people caught in the continuous spiral of hatred and othering. It also offers hope to the idea of a country, where despite the differences, people live in proximity, harmoniously, choosing to celebrate their differences.
More Columns
Lost and Found Kanika Sharma
Travels through Time Kartik Chauhan
Forever Yours Kaveree Bamzai