Mukandi Lal, a nondescript chaatwala, always seen around the Maulana Azad Library of Aligarh Muslim University, died recently. Apparently the non-event would be forgotten quickly without as much as pausing to spare a thought for him. Never having been associated with Aligarh Muslim University formally— in fact, he might not have attended school — his death is not even a dot in the metanarrative of the university. How does a little history that he represented stay relevant to the big history of the university? A little dot, however, when joined with other dots, can unravel a lot; can even reveal the big picture that Aligarh Muslim University seeks to represent.
Aligarh has had a history of communal disturbances. The city was often under curfew from 1989 to 1993 following the Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi controversy. This was the time when the division between Aligarh city and the university area was complete. The university area, essentially Muslim, and the city, predominantly Hindu, appeared to belong to two different time zones. Trust was the first casualty in those vicious times. In fact, the university had a nightmarish experience defending itself against some blatantly malicious reporting in the local Hindi newspapers in 1990.
Even in those troubled times Mukandi Lal would walk unselfconsciously on the university campus, giving the lie to the stories planted in the newspapers. When asked if he had any fears moving around the campus at such times, he would say, “I never felt any fear on the university campus.” It was his little history of trust and confidence which says something about the atmosphere in the university.
Most students and the faculty of the university do not know who he was; how he was as a father, brother or husband is not known to most people. However, it is not the interpersonal relations of an individual but rather his or her politics that has greater meaning for his surroundings. As in the case of millions of Indians, Mukandi Lal’s was the politics not of sloganeering but of lived secularism. Aligarh Muslim University was the domain where he could practice his secularism without any self-consciousness.
Starting as Mukandi Lal, he would graduate to being called Panditji, a term of affection and respect that had nothing to do with his learning or even caste. In his 40 years’ association with the university, students would seek him out for his chhole, which often tasted cold and insipid but could fill hungry stomachs. From morning to evening he could be found flashing his friendly smile, displaying his warm earthy manners and giving the impression of knowing each and every student as well as faculty member intimately.
The secular, Ganga-Jamuni culture of Aligarh Muslim University, though often under threat, consists of many such dots. Panditji brought up a bright one.
