Hyderabad, Jan. 19 -- Lest the political fanfare and the changes in nomenclature and anachronistic happening on the eve of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya create any amnesia and sense of deliberate unfamiliarity about the monstrous demolition of the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992, by karsevaks from all over the country charged- up by the passionate and vociferous call by L K Advani and Murli Manhor Joshi gathered in Ayodhya and the subsequent seminal developments climaxed by the much-heralded inauguration of the Ram Mandir over the ruins of the 16th century mosque on January 22 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had travelled on that black day as a karsevak.

The following is a recollection of my visit to Ayodhya in November of 2010. Eighte...