In grand opening, a semblance of closure

In a five-part series ahead of the consecration ceremony, a walk through the past, present and future of Ayodhya and the Ram Temple

- Dhrubo Jyoti

In a city locked in India's most contentious religious dispute, the Ram Temple offers a chance to turn the page. Muslims say they want to move on from the horrors of 1992. As memory of the feud fades, new myths are taking its place 

It is all that is left of Mohammad Shahid's childhood; a hulking arc of rusting metal, jutting out of a sea of weeds and cracked bricks. It was once a home that was flourishing; a home with a courtyard; the home of an important man the last imam of the Babri Masjid, Haji Abdul Gaffar Khan, Shahid's grandfather. Today, there is only a crumbling wall that separates it from the road, overrun by creepers and time, and the skeletal frame of a charred window.

Shahid remembers looking out that window, 32 years ago, petrified. He remembers the communal frenzy that blanketed Ayodhya, and the mob that began to assemble. He remembers sprinting breathlessly behind his father Mohammad Sabir, weaving one way and then the other, as menacing crowds marched through the streets. The family had been preparing for a wedding and the courtyard was festive. But the riots didn't spare his father and uncle. Then 21, Shahid fled town with his mother Taibunnisa Begum. By the time they returned, their home had been set ablaze. The only constant in the neighbourhood since then has been a thicket of police barricades.

For three decades, the house has held its breath. Every anniversary of the razing of the Babri Masjid has meant a return to fear. Shahid would send his family away to Gonda. Hostilities choked the city's economy, incomes dried up, and Shahid's three brothers moved abroad. Their wages helped steady the ship a little, but peace was elusive. "Now, I hope we can end all this strife. The Ram Temple is opening, and we hope it brings peace and development to the city," said Shahid. "We have little left, but want to see our children grow up in safety."