Being the Other

The clouds are moving ecstatically from Kashi to Mathura and the sky will remain covered with dense clouds as long as there is Krishna in Braj. These lines were composed by Mohsin Kakorvi a Muslim poet to celebrate not Lord Krishna's birthday but that of the Prophet Muhammad. Awadh the author's birthplace was steeped in this sort of syncretism in which Islam and Hinduism complemented and celebrated each other and Urdu culture merged with Awadhi and Brajbhasha. Sadly this glorious culture ha