Source: The Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070821/FOREIGN/108210067/1001
CALCUTTA — Members of India's large Muslim minority are often adopting Hindu names and dress styles in an attempt to avoid widespread prejudice that keeps them from housing and jobs.
Shaikh Salim, a Muslim who runs a food stall in the central office district of Calcutta, uses the common Hindu name Shankar Maity and calls his stall "Shankar's Fast Food."
Shaokat Ali, a Muslim student who came to the city to do his master's degree in English, tutors Hindu students using the name Saikat Das and keeps a large picture of the popular Hindu goddess Kali hanging on a wall in his room.
Jahanara Begum takes off a silver talisman embossed with 'Allah' in Arabic each morning, replacing it with a spot of vermilion powder on her forehead and red-and-white conch bangles of a married Hindu woman before heading to work in a fish market, where she is known as Parvati — the name of a Hindu goddess.
Analysts say there could be thousands of Muslims in Calcutta who, like these three, are quietly hiding their religious identities in order to fit in.