THE MIRROR IS THE MESSAGE
Those of us that work with mirrors start to see them everywhere. It’s oddly comforting; there are mirror-like messages everywhere we look. You don’t have to look too deep. This from a ‘travelogue’ by a Calcutta writer, Amitav Ghosh , describing the murderous riots after India’s partition and the formation of Pakistan and ‘East Pakistan’ (soon to become Bangladesh):
“There had been flames dancing around the walls of our house in Dhaka (Bangladesh) and there had been a riot in Calcutta too, similar in every respect except that there it had been Muslims who had been attacked by Hindus. But equally, in both cities – and this must be said, it must always be said, for it is the incantation that redeems our sanity – in both Dhaka and Calcutta, there were exactly mirrored stories of Hindus and Muslims coming to each others’ rescue, so that many more people were saved than killed.”
In the end, it seems, we come to each others’ aid.
