ramadan in india?

i'm sorry, palexudry, you're right. i should also have said that i am grateful for those who did answer my question. your response, as well as anish's and karpediem's, were very helpful and actually told me a lot of what i wanted to know. sorry i overlooked you guys in my annoyance at either being misunderstood or possibly really offending someone... :)

till recently (3-4 years) ago india had more muslims than pakistan had. Which made us the second most populous muslim nation in the world. 15% or so of 1 billion. Second only to Indonesia.

At least in Mumbai, muslims which fall in the middle class and lower categories do tend to stick together and live in "enclaves". Sure there are no boundary walls or high gates, but yes, there is a distinct demarcation between hindu and muslim areas.

Travel informs at least that is my prayer..

Well, you're looking at a course in contemporary Indian religions. Whether you decide to do your homework before your trip or in India is up to you. And remember that Indians are not as forgiving as these posts have been. Get over yourself and your biases. You've never seen a Bollywood movie about Muslims? Are you expecting movies explicitly about Hindus or Muslims? Maybe you should do yourself and India a favor and take your cultural insensitivities to some other country.

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<hr> muslims which fall in the middle class and lower categories do tend to stick together and live in "enclaves". <hr></blockquote>

#13 -IR - You have opened an interesting thread.World over muslims or any ethinic minoriy tend to stick togather which sort of creates a ghetto feeling ( situation) which leads to greater differences between communities.Part of the reason for this "ghettoisation" ( just my expression ) is also because of the rigidity of the majority. India is no different.

I have always been impressed by SM Lee Kwan yew.There were many things he did which are sensible , practical even today.For example,when Singapore became a reality, he ensured that the township the government was developing had equal representation of all communities.He ruthlessly destroyed Tamil, Chinese and Malay enclaves and made Singapore truely multicultural.People are people.Irrespective of colour,religion,race,education or wealth,given half a chance, we will always find ways to self destruct.That is where the role of good governance comes to play.Unfortunately in India,we started off with a wooly headed dreamer in the form of Nehru, succeeded by a crooked daughter who were never a statesman.Now the janata which passes off as our political leaders in all the parties are dominated by a set of lowest common denominators who are destroying the country every time they open their mouths.

this is turning into a threadjack, but...

yes this ghettoisation exists. Whether its manchester or devon or sunnyvale or harlem.
Well just recently even the honourable supreme court has OKed the exclusionist housing colony rules. It is OK for a jain community to allow only jains to live in a particular building, or parsis to allow only parsis in their colonies.

i know officially there cannot be a fatwa against allowing muslims in hindu dominated colonies but i have seen personally upper end colonies in upper end areas not allowing muslim families buy into their housing complexes. The muslim guy turned out to be a big shot and got the Police commissioner to intervene and force the society to complete the formalities.

After the 1992/93 riots the local shiv sena shaka in santacruz issued a diktat that no one should sell their apartments to muslims. As a result we do not have a single muslim family in a lane which has 400 or so families and 1000+ slumdwellers.

A broker who we were dealing with for a place was giving the run around to a certain gentleman who was a director level person at one of india's biggest PSUs.
He said that some of the builders he was representing didnt want to sell apartments to muslims and this gentleman was a muslim. So his high post not withstanding, he was still discriminated against.

Coming closer to home, my relatives were refused a place in a building in south mumbai because we are not jains. Once again, a supposedly high end society. And forget being muslims, we are not even meat eaters. As close to jains as any other community can get.

In the face of such biases, it is only natural that birds of a feather tend to stick together.

Anish, exactly what is that the OP has to be "forgiven" for? What stereotyping are you talking about? Saying that "most" in stead of the correct "many" muslims fled to Pakistan? Or for assuming that there are neighbourhoods with distinct religious or ethnic flavours (which is obviously true)? For overestimating the number of sikhs? Or for asking a honest question about practices of Muslims in India? I simply cannot understand why it takes so little for people to start attacking OPs just for asking simple (sometimes slightly naive) questions.

Considering the fact that muslims and hindus left india/pakistan in an unorderly fashion leaving behind their estates, businesses, houses and everything else, i could define them as fleeing. Both sides of the borders i.e.

Hell, I am sitting right now in one such building which was leased by some muslim Mr. Patel in 1929 from the govt. In 1947 they "left" leaving this behind and it was listed as "Enemy property" and ultimately transfered to the City Govt.

If Mr. Patel like scores of others not fled then he would have probably sold his building, his businesses in a proper manner and not live in huge camps such as ulhasnagar and start their lives all over again.

The OP has no more of a bias than a lot of indian tourists who would hold on tightly to their bags in new york city, just because an african-american is walking close to them.

Indianresident, you are very right and good contribution to the debate. One little thing though: Actually I am not able to detect ANY bias in the OP's post (certainly not comparable to people fearing black people). He got a few historical facts SLIGHTLY wrong and that is it. But apparently that is enough for certain people to start lecturing about "cultural sensitivity" and ignorance (#1, 4 and 6).

How long are you going for? Are you just going around from place to place or do you want to stay in one place for awhile? I have done that here in Pakistan and have learned alot, made friends and such. I am volunteering teaching English..

If you are traveling in Ramadan, you of course won't have to fast and they won't care, and if you are with Moslems, they'll still cook you food.. lol At sundown they break the fast and have dinner. That may be more social and communal.

Do you have a particular interest??

Note: Most Moslems are in Indonesia and Pakistan is #2. They must be having more babies.. (And they have lots of people here.. lol)