My maternal grandmother was a simple woman with simple beliefs. She loved the Ramayana and found Mahabharata too complex and difficult to follow. She had firm faith in Lord Rama, Gahanagar Baba (Nag Devta of the local serpent shrine in Faizabad) and other local village deities.

She hardly worshipped or went to temples other than occasionally with others. She disliked going to Hanuman Garhi for number of stairs one had to climb. “Vanar is always a Vanar, perched up like on a tall tree!” she said. For her,taking names of her beloved deities would suffice.

Although she knew that she was Hindu, she had no conception of “religion”. She knew “Musalmans” worshipped differently & that one must avoid old city & mosque areas on Fridays because “Muslims are quarrelsome that day”. No menace or hatred, just a matter of fact for her.

She used to describ an Isaai (Christian) family thus: “The bhaiyas are neither Hindu nor Muslim!” It was somewhat a cause of bewilderment for her. She knew of “Janmasthanwali masjid” (the colloquial phrase will horrify liberals) but no Babri masjid.

She would talk about her younger days when whole village would go for 14-kosi or 5-kosi parikrama a kos is 1.8 km of “Sri Ayodhya”. She remembered the singing, cooking food on the way, bathing in Sarjuji (Saryu) & darshan at Nageshwarnath. For her there was no mosque but temple.