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One of the daughters, an impressive student-athlete, struggled so much that she needed counseling and missed months of school. The family often debates whether to stay in their mixed Hindu-Muslim neighborhood in Noida, just outside Delhi. Mariam, their oldest daughter, who is a graduate student, leans toward compromise, anything to make life bearable. She wants to move.<\/p>\n
Anywhere but a Muslim area might be difficult. Real estate agents often ask outright if families are Muslim; landlords are reluctant to rent to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have started taking it in stride,\u201d Mariam said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI refuse to,\u201d Mr. Salam shot back. He is old enough to remember when coexistence was largely the norm in an enormously diverse India, and he does not want to add to the country\u2019s increasing segregation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But he is also pragmatic. He wishes Mariam would move abroad, at least while the country is like this.<\/p>\n
Mr. Salam clings to the hope that India is in a passing phase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, is playing a long game.<\/p>\n
His rise to national power in 2014, on a promise of rapid development, swept a decades-old Hindu nationalist movement from the margins of Indian politics firmly to the center. He has since chipped away at the secular framework and robust democracy that had long held India together despite its sometimes explosive religious and caste divisions.<\/p>\n
Right-wing organizations began using the enormous power around Mr. Modi as a shield to try to reshape Indian society. Their members provoked sectarian clashes as the government looked away, with officials showing up later to raze Muslim homes and round up Muslim men. Emboldened vigilante groups lynched Muslims they accused of smuggling beef (cows are sacred to many Hindus). Top leaders in Mr. Modi\u2019s party openly celebrated Hindus who committed crimes against Muslims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On large sections of broadcast media, but particularly on social media, bigotry coursed unchecked. WhatsApp groups spread conspiracy theories about Muslim men luring Hindu women for religious conversion, or even about Muslims spitting in restaurant food. While Mr. Modi and his party officials reject claims of discrimination by pointing to welfare programs that cover Indians equally, Mr. Modi himself is now repeating anti-Muslim tropes in the election that ends early next month. He has targeted India\u2019s 200 million Muslims more directly than ever, calling them \u201cinfiltrators\u201d and insinuating that they have too many children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This creeping Islamophobia is now the dominant theme of Mr. Salam\u2019s writings. Cinema and music, life\u2019s pleasures, feel smaller now. In one book, he chronicled the lynchings of Muslim men. In a recent follow-up, he described how India\u2019s Muslims feel \u201corphaned\u201d in their homeland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIf I don\u2019t pick up issues of import, and limit my energies to cinema and literature, then I won\u2019t be able to look at myself in the mirror,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat would I tell my kids tomorrow \u2014 when my grandchildren ask me what were you doing when there was an existential crisis?\u201d<\/p>\n
As a child, Mr. Salam lived on a mixed street of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims in Delhi. When the afternoon sun would grow hot, the children would move their games under the trees in the yard of a Hindu temple. The priest would come with water for all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI was like any other kid for him,\u201d Mr. Salam recalled.<\/p>\n
Those memories are one reason Mr. Salam maintains a stubborn optimism that India can restore its secular fabric. Another is that Mr. Modi\u2019s Hindu nationalism, while sweeping large parts of the country, has been resisted by several states in the country\u2019s more prosperous south.<\/p>\n
Family conversations among Muslims there are very different: about college degrees, job promotions, life plans \u2014 the usual aspirations.<\/p>\n
In the state of Tamil Nadu, often-bickering political parties are united in protecting secularism and in focusing on economic well-being. Its chief minister, M.K. Stalin, is a declared atheist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Jan Mohammed, who lives with his family of five in Chennai, the state capital, said neighbors joined in each other\u2019s religious celebrations. In rural areas, there is a tradition: When one community finishes building a place of worship, villagers of other faiths arrive with gifts of fruits, vegetables and flowers and stay for a meal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cMore than accommodation, there is understanding,\u201d Mr. Mohammed said.<\/p>\n
His family is full of overachievers \u2014 the norm in their educated state. Mr. Mohammed, with a master\u2019s degree, is in the construction business. His wife, Rukhsana, who has an economics degree, started an online clothing business after the children grew up. One daughter, Maimoona Bushra, has two master\u2019s degrees and now teaches at a local college as she prepares for her wedding. The youngest, Hafsa Lubna, has a master\u2019s in commerce and within two years went from an intern at a local company to a manager of 20.<\/p>\n
Two of the daughters had planned to continue on to Ph.D\u2019s. The only worry was that potential grooms would be intimidated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proposals go down,\u201d Ms. Rukhsana joked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A thousand miles north, in Delhi, Mr. Salam\u2019s family lives in what feels like another country. A place where prejudice has become so routine that even a friendship of 26 years can be sundered as a result.<\/p>\n
Mr. Salam had nicknamed a former editor \u201chuman mountain\u201d for his large stature. When they rode on the editor\u2019s motorcycle after work in the Delhi winter, he shielded Mr. Salam from the wind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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They were together often; when his friend got his driver\u2019s license, Mr. Salam was there with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would go to my prayer every day, and he would go to the temple every day,\u201d Mr. Salam said. \u201cAnd I used to respect him for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years ago, things began to change. The WhatsApp messages came first.<\/p>\n
The editor started forwarding to Mr. Salam some staples of anti-Muslim misinformation: for example, that Muslims will rule India in 20 years because their women give birth every year and their men are allowed four wives.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, I said, \u2018Why do you want to get into all this?\u2019 I thought he was just an old man who was getting all these and forwarding,\u201d Mr. Salam said. \u201cI give him the benefit of doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n