Silence of Gulbarg: some inadequate images

Abstract

On our way to Chamanpura, a working class locality in Ahmedabad, Farooq bhai suggested that we pick up Imtiaz. It was well past lunch time, but he insisted that we visit Gulbarg Society before heading to Teen Darwaja to eat kabab and halwa. Farooq had been driving me around the city since the morning. I'd got to know him a few days back when I arrived in Ahmedabad - having hired his auto-rickshaw at the railway station. On the way to the place where I was staying, I told him why I was in the city - to look for public remnants of the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom for a research project on collective memories of mass violence. I felt embarrassingly voyeuristic to say this even as I wanted to befriend Farooq, but his relaxed disposition had offered an invitation that allowed me to rest the inhibitions of a first meeting. He very forthcomingly agreed to show me around a few days later.