Hyderabad, Jan. 25 -- A Hindu festival at a Muslim shrine! Sounds incredible. It may even seem improbable to some.

Yet every spring, Hyderabad's Hazrath Shaikhji Hali Dargah in the old city offers precisely this stirring spectacle. Basant Panchami arrives, the dargah comes alive in a riot of yellow, echoing India's centuries-old tradition of shared cultural and spiritual spaces.

As winter loosens its grip, the shrine resonates with soulful Sufi melodies and gets drenched in yellow, mustard blossoms and marigolds, symbols of renewal and hope - adorn its precincts. The moment carries added significance for Hyderabad: only last week, the desecration of a temple and damage to a shrine in Puranapul had sparked communal tension and violence. ...