National

Real-Life Heroes

All seems not lost when one hears redeeming stories of amity, compassion and unity against all odds.

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Real-Life Heroes
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Virsinh Rathod, Naroda
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He risked his life and made his way into the slum. "I was told that some families had escaped the mob and were hiding inside the chawl. I wanted to bring them to safety," he says. Rathod brought over 20 families to his home and then transported them to the relief camp. Over 2,000 others were also transported to the community relief camps in the area in trucks hired by him.

Amritbhai Rabari, Chanakyapuri

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Amritbhai Rabari (fourth from left in the photograph), a resident of the Hindu-dominated Chanakyapuri locality, Ahmedabad, has emerged as another fearless samaritan during the riots. The middle-aged landlord hid two Muslim youngsters, Raju and Shabir (second and third from left in the photograph), in his chawl days before they were transported to a relief camp by the army. Says Rabari: "I called the army because I wanted to ensure that they would get out of here safely. This area is surrounded by Hindu families."

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Says Shabir: "We owe him our lives. He took good care of us. He took a personal risk by keeping us here. Our presence here was a secret."

Zakia Jaffrey, Chamanpura

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Her home was torched by rampaging mobs and her husband was burnt alive, but the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffrey has the grit to be positive. "I saw some of my neighbours in the mob, but I will have to forgive them. They were led by others. If we can’t overcome this, what will happen to our country?" asks 65-year-old Zakia Jaffrey. She is among the survivors of the Chamanpura holocaust, where over 35 people were burnt alive by mobs who set fire to the Gulbarg housing society in Ahmedabad on February 28. Her husband had sheltered scores of residents in their home which was set on fire when he tried to protect them. Zakia says she escaped unharmed because she had gone to the upper storey of the house early in the morning and during evacuation had to climb over charred bodies of friends and relatives.

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In spite of the trauma, Zakia says she will return to Chamanpura and rebuild her life there. "My husband lived among Hindus in that area since he was a child. He gave his life to secularism. I want to continue his work," she says. Until she can return, she is putting her personal grief aside to help raise the spirits of other victims of the tragedy. "I will be visiting the relief camps where they are housed. At a time like this, you need support," she says.

Ram-Rahim Nagar, Behrampura

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Ahmedabad was on fire but this slum has not as much been touched. The 20,000 residents of Ram-Rahim Nagar in Behrampura are a heartening example of the amity between Hindus and Muslims. Says Pyar Ali Kapadia, president of the Ram-Rahim Nagar Jhopadwasi Mandal: "As soon as the unrest broke out, we maintained a vigil to prevent mobs from coming inside. We were also very alert about rumours which could inflame passions." He points out that the slum remained peaceful through the earlier communal riots in Ahmedabad during 1969, 1985 and 1992. At the heart of the slum, residents have constructed a temple and dargah facing each.A testimony to the essence of secularism.

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