Thread by @_serajali_

A Muslim family of three sits in front of me. We are sharing a compartment in a train to Madhya Pradesh.

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The woman takes out dinner and asks her husband and her child to join.
It's biryani.
And as this family eats it's meal, I'm sitting here with my thoughts racing

For some reason, images and names keep flashing before my eyes.

2/5

Junaid. Akhlaq. Junaid. Akhlaq.
A bloodied train.
A mob that doesn't care of what meat their victims are eating.

Already, I'm thinking of ways to face the first man of a mob that may come in any second.

Part of me knows nothing will happen.
But I cannot help but think it.

3/5

I wonder if other Muslims like me feel the same some times.

I wonder if this fear will ever go.

But what I do know, is that in the India of 2021, what I have been overthinking is not an impossible possibility.

4/5

The small dinner ends.
The child climbs up top to sleep.
The wife & husband spread their feet and start talking.

I'm relieved.
If only momentarily.

5/5