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With A Hug And Blindfold, Muslim Man Spreads The Love In Mumbai

With A Hug And Blindfold, Muslim Man Spreads The Love In Mumbai
Pigeons, India Gate, Colaba, Mumbai (Bombay), India
Peter Adams via Getty Images
Pigeons, India Gate, Colaba, Mumbai (Bombay), India

"I am a Muslim. I trust you. Do you trust me enough for a hug?"

These were the words written on a board at Mazim Milla's feet as he stood blindfolded, with outstretched arms, on Chowpatty in Mumbai.

Mid Day Editor, Sachin Kalbag, tweeted the pictures this morning, showing some Mumbaikars huggin Milla and others looking as by-standers.

A Muslim man stood at Chowpatty (in Mumbai) on Thursday and asked for trust and hugs. Mumbai trusted and hugged. pic.twitter.com/9Rz96VNAV8

— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) August 7, 2015

Milla told Mid Day that he did this as an 'experiment to see the reactions of people'.

However Milla isn't the first to try an experiment of this sort to check the trust of strangers.

Earlier this year, a Canadian Muslim, Mustafa Mawla took part in a similar experiment called the 'Blind Trust Project'. The experiment is a social experiment to "to break down barriers and eliminate the fear and ignorance projected towards Muslims and Islam."

The project was the brainchild of 24-year-old Canadian Muslim Assma Galuta - who teamed up with filmmakers Time Vision to shoot the video.

In an interview to Huffington Post, she said that the reason for having Mawla don a blindfold was to emphasize the extent to which he was willing to trust strangers. “Blindfolded, anyone could harm him or feel angered," she said. " (Here) he’s giving people his full trust and he wants to see if people trust him enough to give him a hug.”

In that video dozens of pedestrians, irrespective of age, gender and colour, stopped and embraced Mustafa Mawla.

Watch the video:

India just witnessed similar heartwarming moments thanks to Mazim Milla.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.