HYDERABAD DIARIES

shoots from a single Banyan tree, which is said to be 400 years old. Its old name was Pir Laman, but now it is known as ‘Pillalamarri’. A businessman of Mahbubnagar took me along to see his rice mill, where he had had modern machinery installed. He explained that there were no less than seven stages in the process of producing polished rice from unhusked grain. I told him that this was nature’s lesson to man—the lesson of gradualism, of doing things in a properly phased manner. Many are those who fall by the wayside because, failing to appreciate this, they try to achieve success in one gigantic leap. Another businessman being by profession of a practical turn of mind, expressed the view that one certain solution to the communal problem would be to establish better relations with our fellow countrymen. He felt that instead of making speeches against the government, and approaching the administration for solutions, it would be better to improve and increase our channels of communication. He gave many instances in support of this view. It is, of course, a fact, that if Muslims had exerted themselves to improve their relations with their neighbours, instead of squandering their time and energy in protestations and complaints, all their problems could have been solved long ago. In the course of the conversation, I laid emphasis on introducing Islam to all people. This sparked off the argument that when Muslims themselves are far from being truly Islamic in thought, word and deed, it is unlikely that they will encourage others to do so. I put forward the idea that this was the work of Satan. It was Satan who had engraved this misconception upon the modern Muslim mind, for Islam is not judged on the strength of Muslim behaviour, but by virtue of its own essential truth. In support of this, I cited the example of Yousuf Islam, an Englishman, and several other notable people, who had embraced Islam, knowing full well that the moral status of contemporary Muslims was seriously in decline. Returning to Delhi by flight number 539, I found myself seated next to Mr D. P. Gupta, the General Manager of BHEL. From our conversation, I gathered that he was a competent, hardworking officer and an able administrator. Further questions on my part brought to light the fact that this was due to his religious background. His father, a highly qualified person, fluent in English, Hindi, Persian and Arabic, had learnt many verses of the Quran by heart, and often recited them. Mr Gupta The only way, to keep on progressing is to remain in perpetual intellectual pursuit of whatever is new in the world around us.