As a child,he never read the Quran. He has read it now in the years spent inside Tihar Jail,following his arrest in the December 2001 terror attack on Parliament. On death row with the Union Home Ministry recently telling the President to reject his mercy petition Afzal Guru has revealed this and other details to Superintendent of Tihar Jail No. 3 Manoj Dwivedi. The officer heading the jail where Guru is imprisoned has written a 180-page manuscript in Hindi on the terror convict,which Tihar has denied him permission to publish. The two first met when Guru complained to Dwivedi that he wasnt getting his evening tea. The Superintendent intervened and,intrigued by a man who many want hanged without any delay,started having conversations with him on life and religion. Dwivedi,36,joined as Jail No. 3 Superintendent in 2009. I asked him why he used Guru as surname,and he explained that his family had converted to Islam but retained their Brahmin surname. That must have been a few generations before him, Dwivedi told The Indian Express. Guru,who has been reading extensively on world religions,wanted to know why young children were buried in Hinduism while adults were cremated. At another point,Dwivedi writes that Guru went to a missionary school in Sopore and wanted to become a doctor. His uncle,a cardiologist,was his ideal. The manuscript talks of his life at Delhi University,where he studied briefly. However,Dwivedi falls short of his claim that the book seeks to answer why Guru participated in the terror attack. Explaining his interest in a prisoner in his charge frowned upon by the Tihar authorities Dwivedi says: I figured I could write because I am also an observer. I interact with prisoners a lot. DIG,Tihar Prisons,R N Sharma,confirmed that they had denied Dwivedi permission for publication. Dwivedi,who remains hopeful of publishing the book once he has retired,says Guru himself has given a written go-ahead to him. He spoke about his fears; he knew he had no chance. Thats why he perhaps said yes to me when I asked him if I could write about him. The Superintendent adds: I asked him what if he dies. He said the book will tell the world how I lived. Guru has another wish,says the manuscript: When his son Ghalib grows up,he wants him to be a nice man and to be good to people.
